THE SECRET I CAN’T KEEP

Helena’s POV

I’ve worked with Liam Westwood for seven years. He’s rich, smart, and secretive. Everyone sees him as a billionaire genius, but I’ve seen his other side, which hides behind labs and locked files.

The file in my drawer has Aria Sterling’s name on it.

A coded tag on the vial. A signature on the injection form. Her eyes blinked slowly as the drug took hold. Her hand drifted to her stomach, then fell off.

She left the facility with nothing in her eyes. No memory of the room, the machine, or the promise she whispered before the lights went out.

I locked the file, washed my hands, and told Liam it was done.

And for a while, it was.

Years passed before Aria Sterling walked into Westwood Biotech, unknowingly uncovering buried secrets from a long-time experiment that went wrong.

I was shocked when Liam asked me to bring Aria back into Westwood Biotech.

“What?” I had blinked at him across his office table.

“You heard me,” he said without looking up from his laptop.

“Liam, are you serious? After everything?” My heart slammed harder against my ribs. “She’s not supposed to remember anything. She’s not even supposed to be anywhere close to us.”

He looked at me. His blue eyes, which used to be calm and cold, now had something else—something warmer.

“She won’t remember,” he murmured, reassuring me. “Just keep her close.”

I did what he asked and sent the job offer to her email. I didn’t ask further. But the moment I saw Aria again, I froze.

She looked exactly like the child. The same hazel eyes. The same curly hair. The same rare gene mutation that we thought only the child had.

And now…the Aria from our past is here, working with us, in the same building. She walked past me in the hallways like we hadn't met before and all I did was watch her like a shadow. Silent. Allowing her to dig into her terrible past without her knowing.

But today, something changed.

I checked her search history on her work computer.

“Memory triggers,” I whispered, reading her screen. “Why’s she searching for this?”

I felt my chest tighten. Aria wasn’t supposed to know anything. But clearly, she’s feeling something. A pull. A hint. Something deep in her brain is starting to awaken.

She doesn’t know about the child. She doesn’t know the child was hers.

If she finds out… she’ll break.

Or maybe she’ll break everything—our project, Liam’s plan, and everything we built over the years.

I sat at my desk, hands shaking.

“Maybe we were wrong to do this,” I muttered. “Maybe she should’ve known the truth.”

Just then, my phone buzzed. A message from the main lab—Child 47’s blood sample no longer matches previous logs.

I frowned. That couldn’t be right.

I texted back: Check again. Use the old frozen samples.

The reply came fast: Already did. It’s not the same DNA.

I stood up so fast that my chair fell.

“No,” I yelled. “That’s not possible.”

Had someone tampered with the child’s blood?

Or… could this not be the same child anymore?

My thoughts raced. I stormed into Liam’s office.

He was sitting with a glass of scotch, looking out the large glass window at the city lights. “I need to talk to you, sir,” I said sharply.

He didn’t turn. “About what?”

“Aria,” I replied. “I think she’s remembering.”

He turned slowly, placing the glass down.

“What did she remember?”

“She’s searching for neurological triggers.”

He nodded once, as if he expected it.

“You planned this,” I said, stepping closer. “Didn’t you?”

“She was always going to remember,” he said calmly.

“But why did you bring her back?” I snapped. “Why now? Why let her walk around here with no idea that she had a child? That we took it away?”

“I didn’t take anything away from her,” he said coldly. “We saved her.”

“Did we?” I asked.

We stared at each other. The air between us was tight.

“Also,” I continued, voice shaking, “Child 47’s blood doesn’t match anymore. It’s different.”

He paused, then leaned in, his voice low.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Completely sure. It’s a full mismatch.”

Liam’s face darkened. “Who else knows?” he asked.

“No one yet.”

He rubbed his chin, his jaw tense.

“That child had a very rare DNA code,” I said softly. “If it’s different now… either someone changed it… or that’s not Aria’s child anymore.”

Liam looked at me for a long time. Then, out of nowhere, he said,

“She kissed me the other day.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Aria. She kissed me.”

My brows arched in surprise. “You’re getting involved with her?”

“It just happened,” he said.

“She’s the subject of our most secret project, and you’re sleeping with her?”

“I never said that,” he said sharply, not denying the fact that he was getting involved with Aria.

“This is dangerous, sir. She’s already searching for the truth, and if she gets close to the child…”

“She won’t,” he said.

“How do you know?”

“Because I won’t let her.”

I stepped back, breathing hard. “Is this still all about science?” I asked. “Or you are in love with her.”

Liam didn’t answer. His silence told me everything.

“I thought I knew you,” I whispered.

“Helena…” His voice was soft.

I turned to leave, but he grabbed my hand.

“Let this be a secret between us. I know Aria is gone. She’s nowhere to be found, but don’t tell anyone what we discussed,” he said.

I looked down at his hand, then up at his face.

“You’re not protecting her,” I said. “You’re hiding the truth from her.”

“She’s not ready.”

“She might never be ready, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve the truth.”

He let go of my hand and I walked out.

I felt something change in me. I had protected Liam’s secrets for years. I have done things I’m not proud of.

But this… this was different.

Now I’m starting to wonder who the real villain is.

Back at my desk, I opened the old files.

Aria’s pregnancy was marked as “terminated.” But something about the file felt off. I clicked deeper into the folder.

Then I saw it.

A hidden note—one I had written years ago but forgot about.

“The subject showed strong rejection of the termination drugs. Possibility of hidden gestation. Further testing needed.”

My heart dropped.

Between this and the message from the lab, a terrifying truth was forming:

Did someone tamper with the DNA? Or… is this not the same child anymore?