The bedroom was too quiet.
Ivory had expected answers to feel like relief.
She had spent years wondering about her parents --- wondering where she came from; why her mother had been the way she was; why whenever anyone had spoken about her family, it was like there was something they refused to say.
She sometimes wondered how her life would have turned out if her parents could have taken care of her; where she'd be living, what man she'd be dating, and how her life would have played out. Would she had ever known Viper or Lily?
When Blue entered the room with a dark blue folder, she thought the truth would finally put the pieces together. Instead, it made the pieces sharper.
Blue stood behind his desk, holding a file. Not a digital record. Not a report displayed on a screen.
A real file.
Ivory noted that it was old and worn, like it had been opened many times before, like it had existed for hundreds of years.
Ivory looked at it.
"What is that?"
Blue didn't answer immediately. All he did was place it in her lap.
"This belongs to you."
Her eyebrows pulled together. "My name isn't on it."
"It doesn't need to be."
Something about his voice made her uneasy.
"I don't want there being any more secrets between us," Blue said. "You're my wife; we're a team. You must know this last piece of information."
Ivory wasn't sure she wanted to see what was inside. She wondered what Seraphyne secret was behind this old folder. Everything she thought she knew was apparently not enough. There were even more secrets.
Slowly, she opened the folder. The left side had a photograph of a blonde woman with pretty green eyes. Ivory was confused.
"That's your mother," Blue replied.
Ivory's eyes widened and she looked up at Blue.
"Really?"
Her mother.
Ivory stopped breathing.
She had never met her. Her mother's image had died before Ivory was old enough to remember her. She had grown up with stories, rumors, and fragments. A woman everyone described differently.
A woman some called unstable.
A woman some called dangerous.
But the woman in the photograph looked different.
She looked young and scared behind her smile. She looked human before humanity was stolen. Her big beautiful eyes told a story of a woman who tried to appear normal but really wasn't. She was a woman who tried to appear happy and confident even though she was none of those things.
Ivory stared.
"She looks..." She stopped.
Blue watched her.
"Different."
"Yes."
Ivory swallowed. "I don't look like her," Ivory replied.
Blue shook his head. "Keep looking," Blue replied.
She turned the page. She saw an ID number on the right side of the folder. Ivory narrowed her eyes, and wondered why there was an ID photo for her mother.
The next photograph made her freeze.
Her mother was holding a baby.
Ivory looked deeply at the photo -- Ivory had a baby photo of herself. This baby wasn't familiar to her.
Ivory looked up at Blue.
Now she understood. The photo was not Ivory; it was another baby.
There was a number beside the picture. Ivory realized that it was an identification code.
Ivory frowned, and her fingers became colder. She looked at the baby once more, and her heart pumped faster. This baby in the photo had light blue hair that almost looked white.
"No."
The word came out quietly.
She looked through the pages faster.
Pictures.
Records.
Measurements.
Notes.
Her mother's name was barely mentioned.
Instead, there was an identification number; the very on the right side of the folder. A subject number. A file number.
Ivory looked up. "What am I looking at?"
Blue's expression didn't change. "Your mother."
"No." Her voice hardened. "Tell me what this is."
A pause.
"You know what this is," Blue smirked.
Ivory rummaged through the photos in the file. "No, no, no!"
"Your mother was considered unstable."
Ivory's stomach tightened. "Because she was sick?"
Blue shook his head. "Because people didn't understand what was happening to her."
She looked back down. "Then what happened?"
Blue's eyes met hers. "They used her."
The words landed harder than she expected.
Ivory went still. "What does that mean?"
Blue didn't answer.
And suddenly she understood. She flipped through the other pictures of other babies, numbers, and reports. Her mother's face appeared again and again without her real name, just her file number.
That's all her sick mother was, a testing subject.
Ivory's breath caught.
"No."
She shook her head.
"No."
Blue stayed silent.
"They..."
She couldn't finish. All she could do was look down at the pictures again. Her mother holding children .... for them. Whoever they were.
"You knew? This entire time my mom was taken from me all for these sick people?"
"You wouldn't have wanted her anyway," Blue replied.
"Blue," Ivory's eyes burned.
"She was difficult to deal with --- not only is your family rooted in mobster heritage, but here, your family is also with mine. The people involved, The Dominion, did this to preserve the Seraphyne Bloodline."
"Then why did they put me in an orphange?"
"Your father knew what the government was going to do to your mother, so he placed you there to keep you safe. Unfortunately, for your father, he had no idea Ms. Campbell worked for me. She recognize your father and reached out to me."
"How did the government even do this? How --- how did they decide her?"
"Your father's gang and my gang worked together," Blue said and Ivory's eyes widened. "Our fathers knew each other. They did some work for one another, and The Serapyhne were working with the government to help expand military forces, but humans didn't know the bigger picture. They didn't know that we would one day take full domination.
My father had connections with New York City's best lawyers, prisons, jails, and officers, so your mother wasn't going anywhere. Her mouth would have ruined our gang lives and my future plans."
Ivory saw a white chart behind the photographs and took it out, and bought it closer to her face.
It was a family chart.
Names. Connections. Her parent's names, and her own. Her baby picture was taped to the chart. She touched it. Her name wasn't just on there, others were too.
Her heart started pounding. "Who are these?"
Blue looked at the page.
Silence.
Ivory looked up. "Blue."
Finally, he answered.
"Your siblings."
She stared at him.
"What?"
"You have half siblings."
The room felt like it tilted.
"No."
"Yes."
"I don't."
"You didn't know about them."
Ivory looked back at the photographs.
All those babies. All those numbers. All those lives.
Her throat tightened. "How many?"
Blue didn't answer.
That scared her more.
"How many, Blue?"
"Enough."
She looked at him.
"Who did this?"
A long silence passed.
Then Blue spoke.
"I know who the man was."
Ivory froze.
"The Seraphyne who was involved."
Her expression changed.
"How?"
Another pause.
"Because he is a close friend of mine."
Ivory stared.
The words were almost worse than the file. A friend.
The man who had been part of destroying her mother's life was someone that Blue knew. Someone Blue trusted.
Ivory felt the room get distant again. Blue placing his hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality.
"You know him?"
"Yes."
Ivory's hands trembles as she closed the file; a photo fell out. She looked at the photograph one last time; it was her mother.
Her mother. A woman she never knew. A woman whose life had been taken apart before Ivory ever had the chance to meet her.
Then Blue spoke. "Like I said, I don't want any more secrets between us. This is why I gave you the file."
Ivory looked at him.
The sentence felt wrong, because secrets were exactly what had brought her here. Her whole life had been built on them. Ivory knew that she would now never have a way out of the gang.
Blue stepped closer. "Everything you deserve to know, you will know. You are no longer just a person connected to the past."
A pause.
"You are part of the future."
Ivory felt a chill, because she finally understood.
This wasn't just about her family; It was about Blue, The Seraphyne, The Dominion; and whatever future he had already planned.