Chapter 5: The Memory They Stole
I couldn't breathe.
The room seemed to tilt around me.
Dorian was staring at the page.
“What did you see?””
I looked at him.
“I don't remember.””
Mara stepped closer.
“You were seventeen.””
“I know.””
“Maybe something happened to you.””
Dorian looked at her sharply.
“Don't.””
“What?””
“Don't speculate.””
She folded her arms.
“You've spent months accusing her of things she didn't do.””
Dorian's expression hardened.
“That's enough.””
“No,” I said.
Both of them looked at me.
“I want to know.””
Dorian went silent.
I picked up the file.
The photograph of Lucas seemed to pull at something buried deep inside my mind.
A hallway.
A slammed door.
A boy crying.
A man's voice.
Then nothing.
I closed my eyes.
“Lucas was at our house.””
Dorian stared.
“When?””
“Before he disappeared.””
“Why?””
“I don't know.””
“Try.””
I opened my eyes.
“I remember a storm.””
Rain.
Thunder.
A broken lamp.
Lucas standing at the bottom of the stairs.
He was bleeding.
I pressed a hand to my temple.
“Alina?””
“I remember…”
My voice shook.
“He was scared.””
Dorian moved closer.
“What did he say?””
I swallowed.
“He said someone was going to hurt him.””
“Who?””
“I don't know.””
“Did you see anyone?””
I shut my eyes again.
A man's hand.
A gold watch.
Blood on the floor.
Then a door.
A heavy door.
And Lucas whispering—
Don't tell Dorian.
My eyes flew open.
“He told me not to tell you.””
Dorian's face changed.
“Why?””
“I don't know.””
“You must have known something.””
“I was seventeen!””
My voice broke across the room.
“I was seventeen, Dorian. I was terrified.””
He stopped.
I looked at him through tears.
“And then everyone told me Lucas ran away.””
Dorian's jaw tightened.
“Why didn't I remember him?””
“I don't know.””
“No.””
His voice became quiet.
“Why don't I remember him?””
Nobody answered.
A police technician entered.
“Detective Warren needs you.””
Dorian turned.
“Why?””
“He found something in the basement.””
We followed.
A forensic team had opened a section of concrete floor.
Inside was a metal box.
Dorian stared at it.
“That's impossible.””
The detective looked at him.
“Why?””
“That box belonged to my father.””
Mara looked confused.
“Your father died twelve years ago.””
“Yes.””
“And?””
Dorian pointed.
“My father kept that box in his office.””
The detective opened it.
Inside were old photographs, bank records, medical reports, and a cassette tape.
I picked up the photographs.
One showed Dorian as a child.
Another showed Lucas.
Another showed me.
I froze.
The picture was taken the summer I was seventeen.
Lucas stood beside me.
Dorian wasn't there.
On the back was a handwritten date.
*THE NIGHT BEFORE THE RELOCATION.*
I looked at Mara.
“What does relocation mean?””
She shook her head.
“I don't know.””
Dorian took the cassette.
“There may be a player upstairs.””
They found one in a storage room.
Dorian inserted the tape.
Static filled the air.
Then a man's voice.
Richard Cross.
Dorian's father.
“If this recording is being played, someone has opened the box.””
Dorian stared at the machine.
His father's voice continued.
“Lucas is alive.””
Mara gasped.
Dorian gripped the table.
“I knew it.””
I stared at the speaker.
Richard continued.
“He was removed because he witnessed an incident involving the Cross family medical foundation.””
Dorian whispered,
“What incident?””
The recording answered.
“Several experimental fertility trials were conducted without proper consent.””
My blood went cold.
The medication.
The forged record.
The pregnancy.
Richard's voice continued.
“Lucas discovered the records.””
A pause.
“He tried to tell Alina.””
I stopped breathing.
“He trusted her.””
Dorian turned toward me.
The tape continued.
“Unfortunately, Alina witnessed the confrontation.””
My memory flashed.
Blood.
Rain.
Lucas.
A gold watch.
A man's hand.
Richard continued.
“To protect the family, her memory was chemically suppressed.””
Mara whispered,
“Oh my God.””
I stepped backward.
“No.””
Dorian looked at me.
“Alina…”
“No.””
I shook my head.
“That isn't possible.””
But my body remembered.
My head throbbed.
A needle.
A white room.
Someone saying—
She'll forget by morning.
I stumbled.
Dorian caught me.
I shoved him away.
“Don't touch me.””
He immediately released me.
The tape continued.
“Dorian was also treated.””
Dorian froze.
“Because he began asking questions.””
His father's voice sounded almost emotionless.
“Both children were given false explanations.””
Dorian's eyes closed.
“Lucas was relocated. Alina was told he ran away. Dorian was told Lucas died.””
I stared at him.
“You thought your brother was dead?””
Dorian nodded slowly.
“All my life.””
“And you never remembered him?””
“No.””
The tape clicked.
Richard's final words were almost a whisper.
“The people who funded the program never stopped.””
Static.
Then silence.
Dorian stared at the machine.
“Who funded it?””
The tape gave no answer.
Detective Warren entered.
“Mr. Cross.””
Dorian looked up.
“We have another problem.””
“What?””
“The medical files we found downstairs?””
“Yes?””
“Most are from the Cross foundation.””
“And?””
“One file isn't.””
Warren handed him a document.
Dorian read it.
His expression changed.
“What?””
He handed it to me.
The header belonged to *Mercer Biomedical*.
Under patient identification was my name.
But the date was impossible.
*Eleven months from now.*
The treatment section contained one line:
*POST-DELIVERY GENETIC TRANSFER — SUCCESSFUL.*
My stomach twisted.
“What does that mean?””
Dorian's eyes stayed on the document.
“I don't know.””
Mara took it.
She scanned the page.
Then her face went white.
“There’s a name.””
I looked.
At the bottom, under attending physician, was a signature.
*Dr. Elaine Mercer.*
I stared at it.
“The doctor who told me I was pregnant.””
Dorian immediately reached for his phone.
“Call the hospital.””
Noah answered.
Dorian spoke rapidly.
“Put someone outside Dr. Mercer's office.””
A pause.
Then Noah said,
“Sir, that's going to be difficult.””
“Why?””
“Because Dr. Mercer left the hospital twenty minutes ago.””
“Where did she go?””
“We tracked her car.””
Dorian's face hardened.
“Where?””
Noah hesitated.
“She went to the old Cross cemetery.””
Dorian looked at me.
I didn't understand.
Then Mara whispered,
“Why would a doctor go to a cemetery?””
Dorian's phone buzzed.
A new message.
One photograph.
Dr. Mercer standing beside a grave.
The grave belonged to *Lucas Cross*.
May you like
Under the photograph were three words:
*HE IS ALIVE.*
