I didn't want you to worry.
Different men.
Different decades.
The same excuse.
I hung up.
***
I didn't sleep that night.
I kept thinking about Lily.
Her little hands.
Her bright smile.
The way she had described my face to me before my surgery.
"Mommy, your eyes look like chocolate."
Now I could see her.
I could see both my children.
And I couldn't bear the thought that someone might use them as part of another experiment.
The following morning, I met Dr. Harris again.
He had contacted a former administrator from Rowan's research foundation.
The information was disturbing.
Project Lumen had been officially discontinued eighteen years earlier.
But some of its records had been transferred to a new private organization.
The Rowan Vision Institute.
Nigel's father had helped establish it.
Although Charles Rowan had reportedly died twelve years ago, the institute still operated.
Its current medical director was Dr. Margaret Ellis.
