Chapter 3 - The House Without Mirrors.
There were no mirrors in Luka's brownstone.
I noticed because every reflective surface had been covered with dark cloth, even the small glass panel above the fireplace.
“Cameras can see through ordinary mirrors,” Luka explained.
“So can people who own the building across the street.”
June examined me, stopped the bleeding, and warned that I should not be standing for at least a day.
I ignored her and searched every room for a way out.
All the doors opened from the inside.
Luka had not imprisoned me.
That made trusting him more difficult, not less.
He placed a weathered envelope on the kitchen table.
My name was written across it in my father's handwriting.
Nora Bennett.
Not Nora Hale.
I touched the ink but could not make myself break the seal.
“Where did you get this?”
“Thomas Bennett gave it to me the night he disappeared.”
“My father never knew anyone like you.”
“Your father knew exactly what I was.”
Luka removed his coat and revealed an old burn scar running from his shoulder to his wrist.
“He pulled me out of a laboratory fire when I was nineteen.”
“What laboratory?”
“Morrow Biologics.”
The name appeared on every fertility bill Grant had insisted on paying personally.
After two miscarriages, he had taken me to Morrow and promised that their treatment would give us the family we wanted.
I remembered injections, blood draws, consent forms, and Grant's hand covering mine whenever I tried to read the fine print.
He had brought me soup after every appointment and kissed each bruise left by the needles.
I had mistaken careful supervision for tenderness.
The clinic always scheduled my procedures on mornings when I was exhausted from medication.
Grant answered the nurses' questions before I could speak and carried the forms away before I received copies.
I suddenly understood why he had become angry whenever I mentioned changing doctors.
Our most private hope had been managed like a business acquisition.
I opened my father's letter.
Nora, if you are reading this, M-17 has found you again.
The next line blurred behind my tears.
Trust the man with the burned arm only until he gives you a reason not to.
“That is not exactly a loving endorsement.”
“It was more than he gave most people.”
Ava stirred in the bassinet.
I lifted her, and a hard corner beneath her hospital band scratched my thumb.
June cut open the plastic strap.
Inside was a memory chip no larger than a grain of rice.
Luka placed it in an isolated computer.
An audio file began playing.
Grant's voice filled the room.
“The maternal subject is stable.”
Vivian answered him.
“And the donor?”
“Moretti's sample was confirmed.”
My skin went cold.
Another voice, an older woman I recognized as Dr. Eleanor Cross, interrupted them.
“Once M-17B is delivered, Mr. Hale's marriage is no longer operationally necessary.”
Grant laughed.
“Nora will believe I left because the baby isn't mine.”
The recording ended.
I stared at Luka.
He looked as shaken as I felt, but the computer screen reflected something behind his expression that resembled guilt.
June opened a second file from the chip.
It was security footage dated eighteen months earlier.
The camera showed Luka entering Morrow Biologics after midnight.
He carried a metal case marked LM-04.
I picked up the pistol he had left on the counter and pointed it at his chest.
“Tell me the truth.”
May you like
My hands trembled, but my voice did not.
“Did you put your child inside me?”
