CHAPTER 8 – THE FINAL NAME ON THE LIST WAS... ISABELLA
Three months later...
The world had changed.
The Circle had collapsed.
More than two hundred powerful people had been arrested.
Governments launched investigations.
Billions of dollars in stolen assets were recovered.
News channels called Isabella Hartwell...
"The Woman Who Destroyed the Most Powerful Secret Society in Modern History."
But Isabella didn't feel like a hero.
Every night, she dreamed of Ethan falling into the ocean.
His body had never been found.
Neither had Victor's.
Everyone assumed they were dead.
Everyone...
Except Isabella.
One rainy evening, she returned to the abandoned Hartwell mansion.
She wanted to say goodbye to the past.
As she entered her grandfather's old library, something felt wrong.
One bookshelf was slightly open.
Behind it...
A hidden elevator.
Her heartbeat quickened.
She stepped inside.
The elevator descended nearly one hundred feet underground.
The doors slowly opened.
An enormous underground laboratory stretched before her.
Hundreds of computers.
Medical equipment.
Cryogenic chambers.
And on the wall...
The Phoenix symbol.
Project Phoenix had never ended.
It had only gone underground.
A giant monitor suddenly came to life.
A familiar voice echoed through the room.
"Welcome home, Isabella."
Her blood ran cold.
"Ethan?"
He stepped out of the shadows.
Alive.
Bruised.
But alive.
Before Isabella could run to him...
She noticed the black Phoenix emblem on his jacket.
"No..."
"Ethan... tell me this isn't real."
He looked at her with tears in his eyes.
"I tried to escape."
"I couldn't."
"They saved my life after the fall."
"They gave me one choice..."
"Join them..."
"...or watch you die."
Isabella wanted to believe him.
She truly did.
But then another figure emerged from the darkness.
Victor.
Alive.
He smiled as if nothing had ever happened.
"You see, Isabella..."
"The Circle was only the first layer."
"Project Phoenix is far older."
"It doesn't recruit members."
"It creates them."
Victor pressed a button.
A massive digital screen lit up.
Thousands of names appeared.
Scientists.
Presidents.
Military generals.
Billionaires.
Each name had one word beside it.
ACTIVE.
Then the screen scrolled to the bottom.
The final file opened automatically.
A childhood photo of Isabella appeared.
Below it, glowing in red letters, were the words:
SUBJECT PHOENIX-01
She stared in disbelief.
"What... is this?"
Victor smiled.
"You thought you were protecting the formula."
"You never understood."
"You ARE the experiment."
Elizabeth suddenly collapsed to her knees.
Crying uncontrollably.
"I'm sorry..."
"I never gave birth to you."
Silence.
The world stopped.
Isabella slowly stepped backward.
"What did you say?"
Elizabeth couldn't even look at her.
"You weren't born..."
"You were created."
"Your grandfather never invented a medicine."
"He created the first genetically engineered human."
"You."
Everything Isabella believed about herself shattered in an instant.
Victor laughed.
"The little girl who thought she was exposing our secrets..."
"...was our greatest success."
Before anyone could move...
The laboratory alarms screamed.
SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED.
A mechanical voice echoed throughout the underground facility.
"Ten minutes until total destruction."
Smoke filled the corridors.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Ethan grabbed Isabella's hand.
"We have to go!"
She pulled away.
"No."
"I'm ending this tonight."
She turned toward the central computer.
If she destroyed Project Phoenix...
She might never learn who she truly was.
If she saved the files...
The technology could either cure millions...
Or become the most dangerous weapon humanity had ever seen.
She had one decision.
One chance.
One impossible choice.
And somewhere in the burning laboratory...
A child’s voice suddenly whispered,
"Mom..."
Isabella slowly turned around.
Standing alone in the smoke...
Was a little girl with the exact same eyes.
The exact same face.
The exact same DNA.
May you like
Another Isabella.
And she smiled.
