Chapter 5 - Shadows of the SyndicateThe force of the shot at point-blank range hit me like a sledgehammer.
The Kevlar weave beneath my suit jacket caught the lead bullet, but the kinetic impact shattered two of my lower ribs. I stumbled backward, coughing up blood, as Dominic kicked me away, scrambling back toward the open vault door.
“You’re too late, Matteo!” Dominic yelled, clutching his bleeding head as he backed into the outer corridor. “Your mother already authorized Phase Two! The strike team is on their way down!”
He slammed his hand against the wall control panel outside, initiating the emergency lockout sequence.
The heavy steel vault door began to slide shut again, its heavy hydraulic pistons roaring.
“Matteo!” Grace screamed, pulling desperately against her chains.
Ignoring the agonizing pain tearing through my chest, I threw my body forward, sliding under the descending iron door just before it sealed shut with a heavy, airtight THUD.
I was back in the concrete hallway. Dominic was sprinting toward the stairs leading up to the main estate, his footsteps echoing against the damp walls.
I pulled myself up, my vision blurring at the edges as blood pooled under my vest. I picked up my Beretta from the floor, raised the sights, and lined up the shot at the back of Dominic’s knee.
BANG.
The bullet tore through his leg. Dominic shrieked, collapsing forward onto the concrete steps, tumbling down until he hit the bottom landing near my feet.
I dragged myself over to him, stepping heavily on his crushed knee. He screamed in agony, thrashing on the floor.
“Where is the key for her chains?” I growled, pointing the gun straight between his eyes.
“It’s... it’s on Victoria...” Dominic gasped, blood spraying from his lips. “She has the master ring... Matteo... listen to me... your mother... she didn't just plan this for the money...”
“Talk!”
“She’s not your mother!” Dominic wheezed, a grotesque, blood-soaked smile spreading across his face. “Look at the black notebook in your pocket... look at the adoption papers from forty years ago... Victoria Rossi is barren! You were the first synthetic prototype, Matteo! You were the first one!”
My mind went completely blank. The cold rain from outside seemed to leak through the ceiling, falling directly onto my face, but I couldn't feel it.
I pulled out the leather-bound notebook I had taken from Dr. Vance’s pocket. With shaking, blood-stained fingers, I flipped past pages of terrifying medical charts, chemical formulas, and genetic sequences.
Then I reached the back cover.
Tucked inside a clear plastic sleeve was a faded yellow birth certificate dated thirty-two years ago.
Subject Name: Matteo - Generation 1.
Maternal Donor: Victoria Rossi (Host).
Paternal Origin: Classified - Syndicate Project Apex.
Below it was a photograph of a younger Victoria Rossi standing outside this very basement, holding a newborn child with unnatural, bright white eyes.
“You... you aren't a heir, Matteo,” Dominic whispered, his voice fading as he bled out onto the floor. “You’re just... Version 1.0. And your son... is Version 2.0. She’s replacing you...”
I stood there motionless in the dim, flickering light of the basement, holding the proof that my entire life, my legacy, my name, and my blood were nothing more than a manufactured lie created in a laboratory beneath the house I called home.
Behind me, the ceiling speaker crackled to life once more.
“Fascinating, isn't it?” Victoria’s voice said, sounding closer now—not through the intercom, but from the top of the stairs.
I slowly lifted my head.
May you like
Standing at the top of the concrete staircase, flanked by six heavily armed men in unmarked tactical gear, was my mother. She held a pearl-handled revolver in one hand and a gold master key card in the other.
“You were always my favorite experiment, Matteo,” she said softly. “But every prototype eventually becomes obsolete.”
