CHAPTER 8 — THE CREATOR
The screen went black.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Alessandro was still standing beside Clara.
Daniel was watching the monitor.
Amelia had moved closer to the little boy.
And Vittorio—
Vittorio looked terrified.
Not angry.
Not confused.
Terrified.
Alessandro noticed immediately.
“You know what that message means.”
Vittorio didn't answer.
“Dad.”
Nothing.
Alessandro stepped closer.
“What is Project Zero?”
Vittorio slowly looked at him.
“You shouldn't have found him.”
Alessandro frowned.
“Found who?”
Vittorio pointed toward the child.
“Not him.”
Everyone turned.
The little boy looked up.
Vittorio's voice dropped to a whisper.
“The man who created him.”
Clara tightened her arms around the boy.
“Who?”
Vittorio looked at the ceiling.
“Your great-grandfather.”
Alessandro froze.
“My great-grandfather died before I was born.”
“Yes.”
“Then how could he have created this?”
“He didn't create it alone.”
“Who helped him?”
Vittorio hesitated.
Then he said the name that made Clara's blood run cold.
“Eleanor.”
THE WOMAN WHO STARTED EVERYTHING
Alessandro stared at him.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“You told me Eleanor joined the Circle.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because I was trying to protect you.”
Alessandro's laugh was bitter.
“You've spent my entire life protecting me with lies.”
Vittorio lowered his head.
“I thought I could end it.”
“You didn't.”
“No.”
“Instead, you disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“You let them take my children.”
“I couldn't stop them.”
“You could have tried.”
“I did.”
“Then why did you fail?”
Vittorio looked at Clara.
“Because Eleanor was smarter than all of us.”
Clara stepped forward.
“What did she want?”
“Immortality.”
Silence.
Daniel stared at him.
“That's impossible.”
Vittorio shook his head.
“Not the way you think.”
“What does that mean?”
“She wasn't trying to live forever.”
He pointed toward the files.
“She was trying to preserve herself through blood.”
Alessandro frowned.
“Explain.”
Vittorio walked toward the computer.
“The Circle believed certain genetic traits could preserve memory, intelligence, emotional resilience, even personality patterns.”
Olivia stared at the screen.
“You mean…”
“They wanted to create descendants capable of carrying the same neurological patterns.”
Daniel whispered:
“They were trying to reproduce a person.”
Vittorio nodded.
“Exactly.”
Clara looked at Zero.
“And he was the first successful result.”
“No.”
Vittorio looked at the child.
“He was the proof that the theory worked.”
ZERO
The little boy sat quietly.
Alessandro crouched beside him.
“Do you know why they called you Zero?”
The boy nodded.
“Because I was first.”
“First what?”
“First.”
He looked at Clara.
“Mom knows.”
Clara shook her head.
“I don't.”
The boy touched her cheek.
“You will.”
Alessandro looked at Vittorio.
“What does he know?”
“Everything.”
“What?”
“He remembers things from before he was born.”
Nobody spoke.
Olivia stared at him.
“That isn't possible.”
Vittorio answered:
“That's what Eleanor believed.”
“And was she right?”
“Yes.”
“Then how?”
Vittorio looked at the child.
“He remembers through emotional imprinting.”
Clara frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He remembers people who touched his life.”
Alessandro looked at Zero.
“You remember me?”
The boy nodded.
“Before I saw you.”
“How?”
“You were crying.”
Alessandro's face changed.
“When?”
“When Mom was taken.”
The room went silent.
Zero continued.
“You stood outside the blue room.”
Alessandro swallowed.
“I was there?”
“Yes.”
“What did I say?”
The boy looked at him.
“You said you would find us.”
Alessandro closed his eyes.
He remembered nothing.
But the child did.
THE HIDDEN MEMORY
Zero suddenly pointed toward the old laboratory.
“There.”
“What?”
“The wall.”
Alessandro looked.
“What about it?”
“Open it.”
Reed examined the wall.
There were no visible switches.
Zero walked toward it.
He pressed a tiny section of stone.
A panel opened.
Everyone stared.
Inside was a small metal box.
Alessandro removed it.
There was a lock.
Zero placed his hand against the scanner.
The box opened.
Inside was a single cassette tape.
And an envelope.
The envelope had Alessandro's name on it.
FOR MY GREAT-GRANDSON.
Alessandro's hands trembled.
He opened it.
The letter was written decades earlier.
The handwriting belonged to his great-grandfather.
THE LETTER
If you are reading this, then Project Zero survived.
That means Eleanor failed.
But it also means the Circle will eventually find you.
You must understand something.
Zero was never created to inherit the family.
He was created to expose it.
Alessandro stared at the words.
He continued reading.
I discovered that Eleanor had been conducting experiments on children.
At first, I believed it was for medical research.
Then I learned the truth.
She was attempting to reconstruct human memory.
She believed memories could be transferred.
She believed identity could be preserved.
She wanted to create another version of herself.
I tried to stop her.
Instead, I created Zero.
Alessandro looked up.
Vittorio was crying.
Clara stared at him.
“You knew.”
Vittorio nodded.
“I knew.”
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because the truth would have killed you.”
Clara shook her head.
“The truth almost killed us anyway.”
THE CREATOR
Alessandro turned the page.
There was one final paragraph.
Zero carries the original sequence.
But the sequence alone is useless.
It requires a second component.
Memory.
The person who possesses both will become the key to everything.
Alessandro stopped.
“What second component?”
Vittorio answered.
“Eleanor.”
Clara looked at him.
“She has the memory.”
“Yes.”
“And Zero has the genetic sequence.”
“Yes.”
“Then together…”
“They could reproduce the process.”
Olivia's eyes widened.
“They could create copies.”
Vittorio nodded.
“Not copies of bodies.”
He looked at the monitor.
“Copies of minds.”
THE PHONE CALL
Alessandro's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Who is this?”
A woman's voice replied.
“Hello, Alessandro.”
He froze.
He knew that voice.
Eleanor.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere you can't reach.”
“What do you want?”
“What I've always wanted.”
“Control?”
“No.”
She laughed softly.
“Family.”
Alessandro tightened his grip on the phone.
“You've destroyed enough families.”
“I created yours.”
“You stole my children.”
“I gave them purpose.”
“You tortured them.”
“I made them strong.”
“You almost killed my daughter.”
“I never touched Livia.”
“Vanessa did.”
A pause.
Then Eleanor said:
“Vanessa was useful.”
Alessandro's eyes narrowed.
“You knew about her?”
“I chose her.”
Clara stepped closer.
“What?”
Eleanor continued.
“Bianca was never the real threat.”
Alessandro's blood ran cold.
“Then who was?”
“You.”
He frowned.
“Me?”
“You were always the obstacle.”
VANESSA'S ROLE
Alessandro remembered something.
Vanessa.
The woman who had pushed the stroller.
The woman who had lied.
The woman whose betrayal had exposed the first layer of the conspiracy.
He had assumed she acted alone.
Now he realized she had never had the intelligence to design such a plan.
Someone had given her instructions.
Someone had told her exactly where to stand.
Exactly when to push.
Exactly what to say.
And someone had known Clara would save the baby.
Because the entire incident had been designed to accomplish one thing.
Make Alessandro distrust Clara.
Eleanor spoke again.
“I needed you angry.”
“Why?”
“So you would destroy the one person who could identify Zero.”
Alessandro looked at Clara.
“You wanted me to kill her.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Clara remembered the original laboratory.”
Clara's face went pale.
Eleanor continued:
“She remembered everything.”
Clara whispered:
“I did.”
“And that's why I couldn't allow you to remember.”
THE SEVENTH MEMORY
Zero suddenly spoke.
“Mom.”
Clara looked at him.
“Yes?”
“Tell them.”
“Tell them what?”
“What happened before I was born.”
Clara stared.
A headache struck her.
She grabbed her head.
Alessandro caught her.
“Clara!”
She gasped.
The room disappeared.
For a moment, she was somewhere else.
A hospital.
Twenty-three years earlier.
She was lying on a bed.
Seven babies were crying.
A young Eleanor stood beside her.
And behind the glass—
a man.
Not Vittorio.
Not Margaret.
Not Matteo.
Someone else.
Clara looked at him.
She remembered his face.
She remembered his voice.
And she remembered him saying:
“Begin the transfer.”
She opened her eyes.
Alessandro was holding her.
“What did you see?”
Clara whispered:
“Your grandfather.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“But he was dead.”
“He was alive when this started.”
“What happened to him?”
Clara looked toward Zero.
“He transferred his memories.”
Everyone froze.
“To whom?”
Clara pointed at the boy.
“Zero.”
THE IMPOSSIBLE TRUTH
Vittorio stepped backward.
“No.”
Clara looked at him.
“Yes.”
“That can't be.”
“I remember.”
Vittorio shook his head.
“Your grandfather died twenty-five years ago.”
“His body did.”
“But his mind…”
Clara nodded.
“Was transferred.”
Alessandro stared at Zero.
The little boy looked back at him.
Then said:
“He talks to me.”
Alessandro felt a chill.
“Who?”
“Great-grandfather.”
“Where?”
“Inside.”
Clara covered her mouth.
Olivia whispered:
“That's impossible.”
Zero looked at her.
“He tells me things.”
“What things?”
“How to remember.”
“How to do what?”
Zero turned toward the computer.
“How to wake him.”
THE MACHINE
The old laboratory suddenly came alive.
Lights flickered.
Monitors turned on.
A low mechanical hum filled the room.
Vittorio stepped backward.
“Shut it down.”
Alessandro looked at him.
“How?”
“I don't know.”
Olivia rushed to the terminal.
“The system is activating.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Zero walked toward the machine.
“Because he knows we're here.”
“Who?”
Zero looked at the screen.
“My great-grandfather.”
The machine displayed a message.
MEMORY RESTORATION INITIATED.
Clara grabbed Zero.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Don't be afraid.”
“What's happening?”
“I'm remembering.”
“Remembering what?”
He closed his eyes.
Then he spoke in a voice that sounded strangely mature.
“The beginning.”
The machine flashed.
And every monitor in the room displayed the same image.
A man.
Alessandro's great-grandfather.
Alive.
Speaking directly into the camera.
“If you are seeing this…”
He paused.
“…then Zero has finally come home.”
Alessandro stepped closer.
The recording continued.
“Do not trust Eleanor.”
Clara stared.
“Why?”
The man answered from the screen:
“Because she is no longer Eleanor.”
The room went silent.
Alessandro looked at Clara.
“What does that mean?”
The recording continued.
“She transferred her consciousness years ago.”
Vittorio whispered:
“No…”
The screen displayed another image.
A woman.
Then another.
Then another.
Different faces.
Same eyes.
Same expression.
Same voice.
The voice spoke:
“I have lived through many bodies.”
Alessandro's blood ran cold.
Eleanor.
The woman they had been hunting wasn't the original Eleanor.
She was a host.
A vessel.
A continuation.
And the real Eleanor had been moving from body to body for decades.
Then the screen displayed one final message.
CURRENT HOST: UNKNOWN.
Alessandro's phone rang again.
He answered.
Eleanor's voice whispered:
“You finally understand.”
“Where are you?”
A soft laugh.
“Closer than you think.”
Alessandro looked around the room.
Then Clara suddenly grabbed his arm.
Her face had gone pale.
“Alessandro…”
“What?”
She pointed toward the doorway.
Someone was standing there.
A woman.
Holding Livia's hand.
Alessandro froze.
“Rosalie?”
The woman smiled.
But it wasn't Rosalie's smile.
It was Eleanor's.
She gently released Livia's hand.
Then said:
“Hello, family.”
May you like
The lights went out.
And the door slammed shut.
