Color Of Love

Chapter 0026: Truth Beneath the Skin

The lights overhead flickered as the voice faded, leaving behind a silence that throbbed with tension. Zara's breath hitched. The corridors ahead were dark, but the path was unmistakable—a trail of calculated clues laid for her alone.

"We split up," Ryan said firmly. "Zayn and I will secure the west wing. Amira, stay with Zara. Rehan wants her—it's her he'll come for."

Zara looked at him. "No. We finish this together."

"Together doesn't mean recklessly," Ryan countered. "We came too far to be careless now."

Amira loaded her weapon with a click that echoed down the cold hall. "Let's move. We don't have time for sentiment."

They separated with a promise: reconvene in twenty minutes, no matter what.

Hall of Archives – East Wing

Zara and Amira advanced through the corridor, walls lined with medical documents, research notes, and black-and-white photographs. Every step deeper brought more unease.

"He was running experiments here," Amira muttered. "These aren't just files. They're case studies."

Zara stopped cold in front of a folder labeled Ayla – Phase II.

Inside: blood test results, cognitive assessments, psychological profiles. It read less like a medical file and more like a dossier on a weapon being engineered.

"She's not just a girl," Zara whispered. "He's trying to mold her into something—"

A sudden sound cut her off.

Footsteps. Approaching fast.

They ducked into a side lab, weapons raised. But the figure that entered wasn't Rehan.

It was Ayla.

Eyes wide, trembling, she raised her hands. "Don't shoot. I'm not with him."

Zara stepped forward, heart pounding. "Ayla?"

"I've been waiting for you," Ayla said softly. "He told me lies… but I never believed them all. I want to leave."

Zara's voice cracked. "You… you really are my sister?"

Ayla nodded. "Half-sister. Same mother. Different hells."

Tears stung Zara's eyes, but before she could step closer, the lights flickered violently—and a siren blared.

"Intrusion confirmed," a robotic voice announced. "Initiating lockdown."

Amira cursed under her breath. "We need to get out. Now."

Control Room – Rehan's Lair

Rehan watched the monitors, unfazed. A slow smile crept across his face as he adjusted the dials.

"She's found her," he whispered. "Now let's see if she can keep her."

To his right, a switch blinked red.

He flipped it.

Gas vents opened.

Lower Wing – The Escape

Thick, white gas burst from the ceiling as Zara pulled Ayla close. Amira tossed a mask to each of them, donning her own.

"We're going underground!" she yelled. "Back route! There's a service tunnel."

Through the blinding fog, they sprinted. Ayla stumbled but Zara caught her, half-dragging her sister forward.

Behind them, shadows moved.

Rehan's guards.

Bullets sliced through the smoke.

Zara ducked, rolled, and fired back. Amira dropped two men with perfect precision. Ayla screamed—but stayed close.

At the edge of the corridor, a steel hatch glinted under emergency lights.

Amira slammed her shoulder into it.

It gave.

They tumbled into darkness as the door shut behind them.

They had escaped the trap.

But they hadn't escaped the war.

The tunnel was damp and narrow, lit only by the dim glow of Amira's flashlight. Their footsteps echoed against concrete, and water dripped steadily from a rusted pipe overhead.

Zara held Ayla's hand tightly, her mind racing with everything she had just learned. Her half-sister. The experiments. The betrayal woven into their bloodline.

"How long have you known?" she finally asked Ayla, her voice barely above a whisper.

Ayla glanced at her, guilt etched into her face. "I suspected… but he told me our mother abandoned me. That you had a life without me. I didn't know what to believe."

Zara nodded slowly. "And now?"

"Now… I believe you're the only family I've ever really had."

Ahead, Amira held up a hand, signaling silence. She pressed her ear against the tunnel wall.

"There's movement above us. We're beneath the west wing now," she murmured. "If Rehan's smart, he's tightening the perimeter."

"We need to regroup with Ryan and Zayn," Zara said, glancing behind them. "We can't outrun him forever."

As if summoned by her words, the tunnel suddenly shook—an explosion from above sent dust and small rocks cascading down.

"Move!" Amira shouted.

They sprinted through the narrow shaft until they found an iron ladder leading up into a maintenance room. Amira climbed first, then helped the others up.

As they emerged, Zara felt a chill settle in her bones.

This room… she knew it.

She looked around the dim chamber, walls lined with old surgical equipment and broken monitors.

"This used to be my mother's research wing," she whispered. "Before he twisted it."

Ayla walked to a dusty cabinet and opened it slowly. Inside were pictures—black-and-white photos of a younger Zara, her mother, even a baby… Ayla.

"He kept these," Ayla said. "Why?"

Zara stared at the images, her throat tightening. "Because obsession isn't the same as love."

Behind them, the metal door creaked open.

Ryan stepped in, breathless, Zayn right behind him.

"Thank God," Ryan breathed. He saw Ayla and froze. "Is this…?"

"This is her," Zara confirmed.

Zayn gave a curt nod, eyes scanning the room. "We need to move. That blast was no accident. He's trying to trap us again."

But Zara lingered by the photographs, picking up a small one of her mother holding two infants.

"This was the truth he tried to bury," she said quietly.

Ryan took her hand. "Then let's dig it up. On our terms."

They left the room together, stronger as one.

But in the shadows, behind a one-way mirror, Rehan watched them.

And smiled.

"They think the truth is their weapon," he muttered. "But they've never seen what lies beneath it."

Rehan stood in the surveillance chamber, surrounded by screens streaming live footage from every corridor of the compound. Each flicker of motion, each muffled footstep echoed like music to his ears.

He turned to his assistant—an expressionless man in a grey suit known only as Faizal. "They're heading toward the archival wing. Just as I expected."

Faizal nodded. "Shall I deploy the guards?"

Rehan smirked. "No. Let them think they're gaining ground. It's more fun that way."

—

Down below, Zara, Ryan, Ayla, Zayn, and Amira moved in silence through the echoing corridors of the forgotten facility. Each room whispered secrets of a past buried beneath layers of deception and pain.

"I used to think the worst thing my father ever did was abandon me," Ayla said, her voice brittle. "But this… this is a museum of manipulation."

They reached the archival wing—a circular room filled with metal filing cabinets, each labeled with cryptic symbols and codes. Dust floated in the air like old memories.

Zayn immediately moved toward the back wall, running his hand along the panels. "There should be a trigger. This wall isn't just decor—it hides something."

Zara and Ryan helped, tapping and pushing, until a loud click echoed—and the center cabinet slid open to reveal a narrow chamber behind it. Inside was a vault. Sleek. Imposing. Locked with a biometric scanner.

Amira stepped forward, pulling out a thumb-sized drive from her boot. "Let's see if our hacker friend was right."

She inserted the drive into the scanner's override port.

The lights flickered. The lock blinked red. Then green.

The vault creaked open.

Inside: dozens of sealed folders, video tapes, and data drives. Everything Rehan had tried to hide. Everything that tied him to experiments, bribery, disappearances—Zara's mother's death… and so much more.

But one folder stood out.

Zara pulled it carefully. It bore a single word in bold, stamped letters:

"EXPERIMENT: PHOENIX"

She opened it slowly.

There were photos. Notes. Medical charts. And one final page that made her stomach drop.

Ayla's name. Her file. Her creation.

"You weren't just separated," Zara whispered. "You were engineered."

Ayla staggered back, her eyes wide.

"Does that mean… I'm not even… real?"

"You're real to me," Zara said firmly, gripping her hand. "You're my sister. No matter what they tried to make you into."

Ryan spoke, scanning more files. "This is enough to dismantle Rehan's network. Legally, socially, financially—we can expose him."

But Amira was already shaking her head. "He won't wait. He knows we've found this. The moment we step outside this room, we're targets."

Just then, the screens inside the vault blinked on. Rehan's face filled the center screen.

"Well done, Zara. You've finally stepped into the truth."

His voice echoed around them.

"But you've made one mistake."

"What?" Zara whispered.

"You assumed this ends with files and confessions." Rehan leaned in, his smile venomous. "This doesn't end in a courtroom. It ends with blood."

The screen went dark.

Behind them, the metal vault door slammed shut with a deafening bang.

Locked in.

Time ticking.

The walls had ears.

And the game had just entered its deadliest stage.

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(To be Continue...)