Chapter 13 — The Real Nathan
Chapter 13 — The Real Nathan
The voice told Grace to come alone to the old lake house.
No federal agents.
No Noah.
No Margaret.
Grace agreed while secretly activating a tracking device inside her coat.
Noah discovered her leaving.
“You can’t go alone.”
“He says he’s Nathan.”
“And that could be Shaw.”
“What would you do?”
Noah had no answer.
Grace arrived at the lake house just before midnight.
A man stood beside the fireplace.
His face was partially burned along the right side.
But he was unmistakably another Cole brother.
“Grace.”
She remained near the door.
“Prove it.”
He slowly removed his wedding ring from a chain around his neck.
Inside the band were the words:
G + N — HOME IS A PERSON
Grace had chosen that engraving herself.
Only Nathan knew it existed.
She covered her mouth.
He crossed the room, but she raised a hand.
“Why didn’t you come home?”
“Because Shaw told me Nicholas had taken my place and you were helping him.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It does when you wake up drugged, burned and imprisoned.”
Nathan explained that he had escaped the second lake house fire but was captured again by Shaw’s people. For three years, she had shown him fabricated videos of Grace living happily with Nicholas.
“She wanted me angry,” Nathan said. “She wanted me to kill both of you.”
“Why?”
“Because the Cole family was her final experiment. Three identical brothers. One woman. Competing memories.”
Grace felt nauseated.
“Where is Shaw?”
Nathan looked toward the dark hallway.
“Here.”
Dr. Shaw stepped into the room holding a gun.
Noah emerged behind her with his hands raised.
Grace’s heart sank.
“You followed me.”
Noah looked ashamed.
“I couldn’t let you face this alone.”
Shaw smiled.
“Perfect. All surviving subjects in one room.”
Nathan moved toward Grace.
Shaw aimed at him.
“Stay where you are.”
Grace stared at the woman who had shaped half her life.
“You murdered Alexander.”
“No. Nicholas did. I merely provided an opportunity.”
“You destroyed three children.”
“I studied adaptation.”
“You called torture research.”
Shaw’s expression remained calm.
“History remembers results, not discomfort.”
The door opened behind Grace.
Nicholas walked in.
His face was bruised from the clinic explosion, but he was alive.
He held Margaret by the arm.
Nicholas smiled.
“Now the family is complete.”
Grace looked at the three identical brothers.
Nathan—the husband she had lost.
Noah—the man who saved her.
Nicholas—the man who stole everything.
And Shaw, who had turned all of them into weapons.
Nicholas raised his gun toward Nathan.
“I have waited three years to finish this.”
Grace stepped between them.
“No.”
Nicholas laughed.
“You still think this is your choice?”
Grace looked directly at Shaw.
Then she said the phrase Margaret had whispered to her in the hospital.
“Mnemosyne Protocol Seven.”
Every light in the lake house turned red.
May you like
Steel shutters slammed across the windows.
Dr. Shaw’s confident expression finally broke.
