CHAPTER 15 MAYA BECOMES THE TARGET
“Come home, Maya.”
Ofelia's voice echoed through the darkness.
Then silence.
I stood frozen.
Richard looked at me.
“That wasn't a recording.”
“No.”
Helena's face had gone pale.
“She wants us to follow her.”
Miguel shook his head.
“It's a trap.”
I looked down at the photograph.
Richard's father.
Eleanor.
My sister.
And beneath them, the words:
THE REAL BOARD MEETING IS TONIGHT.
I turned to Richard.
“Where?”
He stared at the photograph.
“I don't know.”
“Your family does.”
“My family has been lying to me for years.”
“Then we make them stop.”
Richard looked at Miguel.
“Can you track Ofelia?”
Miguel nodded.
“Maybe.”
He pulled out his phone.
“No signal.”
“Why?”
“Because this tunnel is shielded.”
Helena suddenly pointed at the photograph.
“Look.”
I leaned closer.
There was a reflection in the window behind Richard's father.
A building.
Tall.
Glass walls.
A clock tower.
I recognized it immediately.
“The old Vance Hotel.”
Richard shook his head.
“That building was demolished ten years ago.”
“Not all of it.”
He looked at me.
“What do you mean?”
“My father took me there once.”
“When?”
“I don't remember.”
Helena stared at me.
“You do now.”
I closed my eyes.
A memory surfaced.
A marble lobby.
My father's hand.
A red carpet.
Ofelia standing near an elevator.
And a little girl.
My sister.
I opened my eyes.
“The hotel wasn't demolished.”
Richard looked stunned.
“The underground levels were preserved.”
Miguel nodded.
“That could be where the board meets.”
We reached the surface through an emergency tunnel.
It was almost dawn.
The city was quiet.
Too quiet.
Richard called an old contact.
No answer.
He called another.
Nothing.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message.
STOP LOOKING.
Another arrived.
YOU HAVE UNTIL SUNRISE.
Then a photograph.
My apartment.
The apartment I had rented after leaving Miguel.
The curtains.
The kitchen.
My father's photograph on the shelf.
Someone had been inside.
I felt a chill.
“They've been watching me.”
Miguel looked at the picture.
“Not just you.”
He zoomed in.
There was a second photograph.
A man standing outside my building.
I recognized him.
“The driver.”
Richard looked confused.
“What driver?”
“The man who drove me to my caregiver interview.”
Miguel's face changed.
“That company was fake.”
“What?”
“The caregiver agency.”
My stomach dropped.
“The job?”
“Was never a job.”
Richard looked at him.
“What was it?”
Miguel answered:
“A way to bring Maya into the Vance house.”
I stared at him.
“So they wanted me there.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Miguel looked at Richard.
“To observe Richard.”
Richard's face hardened.
“Me?”
“You were the only Vance heir they couldn't control.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“They put me in a wheelchair.”
“Yes.”
“And used Maya to monitor me.”
Miguel nodded.
“But they didn't expect you two to uncover Nightfall.”
I looked at him.
“Then why did Richard tell me to lock the door?”
Richard answered quietly.
“Because I knew someone was listening.”
I looked at him.
“And you chose me because?”
He hesitated.
“Because your father trusted you.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
I looked at Miguel.
“Because Nightfall wanted me near Richard.”
Then it hit me.
The job advertisement.
The unusually high salary.
The private room.
The Vance family.
Everything had been arranged.
My divorce.
My caregiver job.
Richard's accident.
My arrival.
All of it.
Not coincidence.
A design.
We reached the old Vance Hotel just after sunrise.
The building above ground was abandoned.
Broken windows.
Faded signs.
We entered through a side door.
Richard found an old service elevator.
“There's no power.”
Helena stepped forward.
“There is.”
She opened a panel.
Behind it was a hidden control box.
She entered six numbers.
The elevator came alive.
Miguel stared.
“How do you know the code?”
Helena looked at me.
“Maya knows it.”
I frowned.
“What?”
She placed my hand over the keypad.
My fingers moved automatically.
1-9-8-7-0-3.
The elevator descended.
Past the basement.
Past the underground parking.
Past levels that shouldn't have existed.
Then the display stopped.
LEVEL -8.
The doors opened.
A long corridor stretched ahead.
White walls.
Medical lights.
Cameras.
Nightfall.
Again.
But this place was different.
There were offices.
Conference rooms.
Private bedrooms.
A dining hall.
It wasn't a laboratory.
It was a headquarters.
At the end of the corridor was a massive black door.
Richard whispered:
“The board.”
I walked toward it.
Before I touched it, the door opened.
Eleanor stood inside.
She was alone.
She looked exhausted.
Older than the woman I had known.
But her eyes were still cold.
“Maya.”
I raised my gun.
“You killed my father.”
Eleanor didn't deny it.
“Yes.”
Richard stepped forward.
“Mother.”
She looked at him.
“I never wanted you involved.”
“You put me in a wheelchair.”
“No.”
“You allowed them to.”
“I saved your life.”
Richard laughed.
“You call that saving?”
“I kept you alive.”
“Why?”
“Because your father wanted you dead.”
Richard froze.
“My father?”
Eleanor nodded.
“He believed you were weak.”
Richard's jaw tightened.
“He ordered the accident?”
“Yes.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because Richard discovered the truth.”
Richard looked at me.
“I found financial transfers.”
Eleanor continued.
“He was going to expose the consortium.”
“So your father tried to kill you.”
“Yes.”
“And you let it happen.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I stopped him from finishing the job.”
“How?”
“I intercepted the second attempt.”
She looked at Richard.
“I made sure you survived.”
Richard stared at her.
“Then why keep me paralyzed?”
“Because your father was still watching.”
I understood.
“If they believed you were helpless…”
“They stopped fearing me.”
Eleanor nodded.
“But I couldn't remove the paralysis without revealing the truth.”
Richard's eyes hardened.
“You could have told me.”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because there was another person inside the mansion.”
I looked at her.
“Who?”
Eleanor looked directly at me.
“Your sister.”
I froze.
“She was there?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“For years.”
“Where?”
Eleanor pointed toward the room behind her.
I walked inside.
A child's bedroom.
Pink walls.
Old toys.
Photographs.
I saw myself.
At three.
At five.
At ten.
At seventeen.
Then I saw another girl.
Identical to me.
But the photographs were labeled:
ISABEL.
I touched one.
“She lived here?”
Eleanor nodded.
“She lived in this house for six years.”
“Why?”
“Because Ofelia couldn't hide her forever.”
I turned.
“Where is she now?”
Eleanor's expression changed.
“She's the reason you're being hunted.”
“Why?”
“Because she remembers what you don't.”
A screen on the wall activated.
My sister appeared.
Older now.
Thirty-nine.
Identical to me.
Same face.
Same eyes.
Same voice.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Maya.”
I stepped closer.
“Who are you?”
She smiled.
“You already know.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
She touched her face.
“You've been seeing me your whole life.”
I shook my head.
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“Show yourself.”
“I will.”
The screen went black.
Then another image appeared.
My wedding.
Miguel standing beside me.
Ofelia behind us.
And in the far background—
a woman.
My face.
Watching.
I gasped.
“She was there.”
Miguel stared at the screen.
“I never saw her.”
“She wanted you to.”
The screen changed.
A second photograph.
My divorce.
I was leaving the courthouse.
The woman stood across the street.
Watching me.
Then another.
My first day at the Vance mansion.
The woman was standing near the gate.
Then another.
The night Richard whispered:
Lock the door.
The woman was outside the house.
Watching.
I whispered:
“She followed me everywhere.”
Eleanor nodded.
“She was protecting you.”
I turned.
“From whom?”
Eleanor looked at Richard.
“From the people who created her.”
Suddenly, the entire facility went into lockdown.
Red lights flashed.
Doors slammed.
A siren began screaming.
Eleanor looked toward the hallway.
“They found us.”
“Who?”
She whispered:
“Your sister.”
I stared at her.
“She came here?”
“No.”
Eleanor looked terrified.
“She controls this facility.”
The lights went out.
Then came footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Approaching from the corridor.
Miguel raised his weapon.
Richard moved beside me.
Helena stepped backward.
The footsteps stopped.
A woman's voice came through the darkness.
“You've been asking for me.”
I knew that voice.
I had heard it before.
On the phone.
In my dreams.
At the edge of memories.
I whispered:
“Isabel?”
The lights came back on.
She stood at the end of the hallway.
My face.
My body.
My eyes.
But her expression was different.
Colder.
Older.
She looked at me for a long time.
Then smiled.
“Hello, sister.”
I couldn't breathe.
Miguel whispered:
“Maya…”
She raised a gun.
But she wasn't pointing it at me.
She pointed it at Eleanor.
“You lied to her.”
Eleanor didn't move.
“I protected her.”
“You destroyed her life.”
“I saved her.”
“You took her husband.”
Eleanor's eyes hardened.
“I kept Miguel close because he was the only person who could protect her.”
My sister laughed.
“Protect her?”
She looked at Miguel.
“From you?”
Miguel lowered his gun.
“I never wanted to hurt her.”
My sister looked at him.
“I know.”
Then she looked at me.
“That's why you're still alive.”
I stepped toward her.
“Why did you watch me?”
“Because you were the only person I had left.”
“You could have found me.”
“I did.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every time I tried, they erased the people around you.”
I remembered my father's warning.
My divorce.
Miguel's lies.
Ofelia's manipulation.
Richard's accident.
Everything.
My sister's eyes filled with tears.
“They took our childhood.”
She stepped closer.
“They took our parents.”
“They took our memories.”
“They took our names.”
“But they couldn't take this.”
She touched her chest.
“Us.”
I swallowed.
“What do you want?”
Her expression became serious.
“I want Nightfall destroyed.”
“Then why are you working with them?”
“I am not.”
“Valerie said you were.”
“She lied.”
“Cole?”
“Dead.”
Richard looked shocked.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“How?”
My sister smiled.
“I stopped him.”
Then the doors behind us opened.
Valerie walked in.
Her gun was raised.
She looked at my sister.
Then at me.
“Don't listen to her.”
My sister laughed.
“Still lying.”
Valerie's face hardened.
“She'll kill you.”
“No.”
My sister pointed at me.
“She'll wake me.”
I stared.
“Wake you?”
She nodded.
“Because I'm not the final key.”
“What am I?”
She stepped toward me.
“You are.”
She touched my pendant.
“The final key is both of us.”
The facility shook.
A deep mechanical sound came from below.
Valerie looked terrified.
“No.”
My sister smiled.
“It's already started.”
“What?”
“The original Nightfall system.”
She looked at me.
“It's waking up.”
A screen activated.
One sentence appeared:
TWIN NEURAL LINK — ESTABLISHED.
Then another:
MEMORY TRANSFER — INITIATED.
I grabbed my head.
Pain exploded behind my eyes.
Images flooded into my mind.
My mother.
My father.
The laboratory.
The red door.
Miguel.
Ofelia.
Richard.
Valerie.
Eleanor.
And one final image.
A man sitting in a dark room.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Alive.
Richard's father.
He looked directly into the camera.
And smiled.
Then he said:
“Maya, welcome home.”
My sister screamed.
The entire facility went black.
May you like
And somewhere beneath our feet—
something enormous began to move.
