Chapter 4 - The Shadow of the Past
While Mark was at the prison, I sat in the NICU, holding Lily’s tiny, fragile hand. She was breathing on her own now, but the doctors were still monitoring her brain activity to ensure the twelve minutes without a pulse hadn't caused permanent damage. Every time the door to the unit opened, my heart leaped into my throat.
My phone buzzed. It was a text from Mark: She won't talk. But she knows. Elena, she smiled when she saw the video. There is something horrible going on.
I looked down at Lily. My maternal instinct, fierce and primal, took over. If the police couldn't find the answers fast enough, I would have to look for them myself. I called my brother, Leo, a brilliant investigative journalist who specialized in deep-web research and corporate corruption.
"Leo, I need your help," I whispered into the phone, tears finally spilling over my eyelashes. "Someone tried to kill Lily. It looks exactly like Mark's Aunt Elaine, but Elaine is in prison."
"Jesus Christ, Elena," Leo gasped. "Are you guys okay? Where are you?"
"We're at St. Jude’s Hospital. The police are here, but they're chasing ghosts. Please, Leo. Dig into Elaine’s past. Look into her medical records, her birth records, anything. There has to be a reason why two versions of her exist."
"I'm on it," Leo promised. "I'll call you the second I find a thread."
Two hours later, Mark returned to the hospital, looking entirely defeated. He slumped into the chair next to me, burying his face in his hands. "She's a monster, Elena. She sat there and mocked us. She said something about debts being paid in blood."
Before I could comfort him, my phone rang. It was Leo. His voice was trembling.
"Elena, I found something. It was buried deep in sealed medical records from a private clinic in Switzerland that went bankrupt twenty-five years ago. Elaine Mercer didn't have a twin sister. But thirty-two years ago, before Mark's parents died, his father and Elaine were partners in a highly controversial biomedical research firm called Janus Genomics."
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"Janus Genomics?" I repeated, catching Mark's attention. He lifted his head, his eyes narrowing.
"Yes," Leo continued, his voice dropping to a panicked whisper. "They weren't just studying DNA, Elena. They were experimenting with advanced human cloning and cellular replication. And according to the final, shredded logs I managed to recover... they succeeded once. Elaine Mercer didn't have a twin. She created a clone of herself."
