Chapter 13 - The Real Adoption
The cold leather of the stranger's glove brushed against Lily’s arm, sending an electric shock of suppressed memories flooding through her brain. The hospital lights, the sterile smell of antiseptic, and the sound of crying babies echoed in her mind. Mark and Elena weren't her parents at all. They were actors—or guards—hired by a secretive organization to keep her contained, hiding her true identity behind manufactured fires and fabricated sleepwalking episodes.
"Don't touch her!" Elena screamed, throwing caution aside as she lunged forward, grabbing a heavy brass candlestick from the hallway console and swinging it at the stranger’s head.
The man in the trench coat ducked with practiced agility, catching Elena’s wrist mid-swing and twisting her arm behind her back with casual cruelty. Elena let out a sharp cry of pain, dropping the candlestick to the floor.
"You should have stayed out of this, Elena," the man said coldly, his eyes narrowing. "You were just paid to watch the asset. You were never meant to form an attachment."
"We raised her!" Elena sobbed, her voice breaking with genuine maternal anguish that caught Lily completely off guard. Despite everything, Elena’s tears looked real. "We protected her when the agency wanted to terminate the project! We are her family!"
The stranger sneered, shoving Elena away so hard she crashed against the wall and slid to the floor. He turned his attention back to Lily, grabbing her by the shoulder.
"You're coming with me, Lily. It's time to go home. The real laboratory is waiting, and they want to see what happens when the subject remembers everything."
Lily stared up at the man, the terror draining out of her, replaced by an overwhelming, searing surge of heat. The amber glow returned to her fingertips, burning brighter and hotter than before, melting the leather of the stranger's glove where he touched her shoulder.
The man hissed in surprise, jerking his hand back as smoke rose from the charred fabric of his glove. He stared at her in wide-eyed shock, realizing too late that the control measures had failed.
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Before he could grab her again, a heavy crash echoed from the attic stairs above them. Mark dropped down from the dark opening, blood streaming down his forehead, slamming his full body weight directly into the stranger's back and sending them both crashing hard against the hallway floorboards.
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