Chapter 12 - Love Unwritten

𝙇𝙐𝘾𝘼 𝙋𝙊𝙑

The deeper I went, the worse it got.

Julian hadn't spoken a word since I joined him in the underground archives beneath the west wing—a restricted section of the university's old library that barely anyone used anymore. He just handed me the file.

I opened it.

Top page:

"PROJECT ALCHEMY – Confined Research Unit // LAV-A1"

Stamped with the university seal.

Signed off by three familiar names—none more shocking than the third.

Adrian Demon.

My father.

---

"What the hell is this?" I asked.

Julian pushed a thick folder across the table. His face was pale, his fingers trembling slightly.

"Your dad wasn't just funding research, Luca," he said quietly. "He owned it."

---

The file included transcripts of interviews, experimental logs, and something worse—surveillance reports.

LAV-A1 wasn't a code for a device. Or a test subject in the abstract.

It was a person.

A teenager. Female. High aptitude. High memory retention. Behavioral anomalies during stress simulations.

They called her The Vault.

But her real name… was Lilly.

---

I stared at the medical scans, the biometric profiles—all dated years ago, back when she would've been no older than sixteen. Too young to know what any of it meant.

"She never knew," I muttered. "They tested her without her knowing."

Julian nodded grimly. "It looks like they used secondary environments. Community-based exposure. She was being evaluated from the outside in. Monitored through school counselors, 'routine' clinic visits—any contact linked to the university health fund."

---

I felt sick.

All that time Lilly thought she was just poor. Unlucky. Unwanted by the system.

But the truth was worse:

She'd been studied.

Like a case file. Like a lab rat.

---

I flipped to the last page and froze.

A research note.

Handwritten. My father's script.

> "LAV-A1 exceeds all predictive markers. Genetic resonance links confirmed. Recommend reactivation of Phase Two. Must secure consent via emotional entry point. Target: LD."

LD.

Luca Demon.

My stomach dropped.

They weren't just studying her anymore.

They were using me to trigger her.

---

"He's been playing me," I said, voice low and furious. "The apologies. The sudden offers to help with Lilly. His sudden change in attitude—"

Julian looked like he'd already figured it out. "Your father didn't want you involved emotionally. He wanted you close to her. To open something up in her."

"Why?" I demanded. "What the hell is so important about her?"

Julian just pointed to the next document.

Subject exhibits adaptive neurological traits consistent with memory inheritance. Further testing may unlock latent capabilities rooted in genetic memory.

---

I stared at it.

Memory inheritance.

They thought she was some kind of key. Not just to a past—but to someone else's knowledge. Legacy encoded in DNA.

Specifically… her father's.

The man who nearly burned the university to the ground with illegal experimentation.

---

"Where is this all leading?" I asked.

Julian met my eyes.

"Your dad's not the only one trying to control her. Dominic Vale may be trying to save her… or use her for himself."

"And Samantha?"

"She benefits if Lilly falls before the hearing. With the Legacy Grant re-channeled, she'd get full board nomination—and academic immunity."

So many people. So many stakes.

And only one girl in the middle of it all.

---

I sat in the dark, staring at my hands, wondering what I had become in this game. A weapon? A lever?

What if I'd already done damage I couldn't undo?

---

I pulled up my phone and called her.

No answer.

Then a second call. Straight to voicemail.

I froze.

That wasn't like her.

I opened a security app Julian had installed. Checked live campus feeds near the janitorial wing.

Nothing.

Then I checked the last motion-triggered capture from outside her dorm.

It was time-stamped five minutes ago.

A hooded figure.

Entering her building.

And she hadn't picked up the phone.