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CHAPTER 23

作者: PUREBLISS
last update 公開日: 2026-01-28 00:47:12

Chapter 23: The CFO’s Betrayal

The office smelled like ozone and expensive scotch. Rain lashed against the floor-to-ceiling glass, blurring the city into a gray smudge. I sat in Abram’s high-backed chair, watching the steam rise from a porcelain teacup.

A sharp knock rattled the heavy mahogany door.

"Come in, Marcus," I said. My voice was a soft, velvet hook.

Marcus, the CFO of Silas Enterprises, shuffled in. He looked like a man who hadn't slept in a week. His tie was loose, and sweat beaded o
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  • ALHPA ABRAM: And the four daughter   ENDING

    "You're late." Abram didn't turn from the stove. The smell of frying garlic and sea salt filled the small, sun-drenched kitchen. He flipped a fillet of bass with the precision of a man who used to handle a different kind of steel."The engine stalled." I dropped the bag of groceries on the wooden table. My lower back ached, the weight of the eight-month bump pulling at my spine. "And Leo found a 'treasure' near the old lighthouse.""A treasure?" Abram turned, wiping his hands on a grease-stained apron. The brand on his chest had faded to a silver ghost of a scar. He looked younger. The red in his eyes had settled into a warm, human brown. "What did you find, kid?"Leo stepped into the light. He wasn't holding a sharpened shell. He was holding a battered, salt-crusted compass. He held it up, his small fingers steady. "It points to the mountains, Papa. Not the sea.""That’s because we’re done with the sea." Abram knelt, ruffling the boy’s hair. Leo didn't flinch. He leaned into the touc

  • ALHPA ABRAM: And the four daughter   59

    "Is it sharp enough to kill a man?" Leo held the jagged shell up to the light. The sun caught the fractured edge, turning the calcium white into a predatory glint.I stopped breathing. The salt air in my lungs turned to lead. I looked at my son. He was three. Three years old, sitting in the white sand of a beach that was supposed to be our sanctuary."It’s just a shell, Leo." My voice came out as a raspy thin line. I knelt beside him, my knees crunching on the dried seaweed and grit. "Put it down. We need to go back to the house. Papa is waiting.""Papa is sleeping." Leo didn't look at me. He ran his thumb along the edge of the shell. A thin, red line appeared on his skin. He didn't flinch. He didn't pull away. He watched the blood bead up, dark and heavy, before it dripped into the sand. "He’s been sleeping since the loud noises started.""Leo—""He has a hole in his head, Mama. Like the one I made in the moth." He turned the shell over in his small, steady hands. "Does the blood mea

  • ALHPA ABRAM: And the four daughter   58

    "Hand me the whiskey." Abram didn’t look at me. He kept his eyes on the horizon, where the sea swallowed the sun. His fingers traced the jagged 'S' branded into his chest. The skin around it was still pink, still angry."You've had enough." I stayed in the shadows of the porch. My hand rested on my stomach. Flat. For now. "The doctor said your liver is already doing most of the heavy lifting for this family.""The doctor is a local drunk with a shaky hand." Abram let out a dry, rattling cough. He leaned back in the creaking chair. "He’s just happy I haven't broken his fingers yet. Besides, we're celebrating.""Celebrating what? Another day without a bullet in the door?" I walked to the railing. The salt air stung the raw skin of my neck."We did it, Elara." He finally looked at me. His eyes were bloodshot, but they had that old, terrifying light. The Sovereign. "No Syndicate. No fathers. No lab. We’re free.""No one is ever free, Abram." I pulled the folded sonogram from my pocket. I

  • ALHPA ABRAM: And the four daughter   57

    "Take the boy and go through the cellar." Abram shoved the Beretta into his waistband, his chest heaving. The salt on his skin had turned to a cold, sticky film."I'm not leaving you here to die for a 'King' who won't even mourn you." I gripped the handle of the heavy kitchen knife. My knuckles were white. Blood from the earlier struggle had dried into a stiff, brown crust on my floral nightgown."It’s not an ask, Elara. Get him to the boat." Abram grabbed my shoulders. His fingers dug in. Hard. He was shaking. Not from the fear of the black cars crawling up the gravel path, but from the raw, jagged realization that the silence of the village was a lie."The boats are already in the harbor, Abram. We’re surrounded." I looked at the window. The searchlights from the tactical ships were sweeping the cliffs. White knives cutting the dark. "The 'Glass Empire' didn't just crack. It's dust."Leo sat on the floor between us. He wasn't crying. He wasn't hiding. He had a small, sharp stick in

  • ALHPA ABRAM: And the four daughter   56

    "He was loud, and then he was quiet." Leo didn't look up from the small, jagged piece of limestone in his hands. He dragged the rock across the wooden porch, the screeching sound sets my teeth on edge."Leo, look at me." I grabbed his chin. Hard. I forced his head up until his dark, "Silas eyes" met mine. There was no fear there. No guilt. Just a flat, glass-like surface. "Mateo almost died. Do you understand that? He stopped breathing because you sat there and watched.""He was noisy." Leo’s voice was too steady for a three-year-old. Too melodic. "The water went in his mouth. Then he stopped making the noise. It was better."My hand went numb. I let go of his face like I’d touched a live wire. The "Cerebral Demon" wasn't just a part of my past anymore. It was sitting on my porch in a pair of stained overalls. I didn't see a toddler. I saw a perfected version of every cold-blooded instinct I’d ever tried to bury."Abram, we have to talk. Now!" I slammed the screen door so hard the mes

  • ALHPA ABRAM: And the four daughter   55

    "Where the hell is the boy, Elara?" Abram slammed the front door, his boots heavy with the stench of the docks. He dropped a string of fresh sea bass onto the wooden counter.Elara didn't look up from the radio she was rewiring. Her fingers were steady, but the soldering iron shook just enough to sizzle. "He’s at the tide pools. Watching the crabs again.""Alone? He's barely three." Abram wiped sweat from his neck, his shirt sticking to his skin. "I told you, he needs to be around the village kids. Needs to learn how to lead, not just how to sit in the dirt.""He doesn't want to lead them, Abram. He wants to see how they work." Elara finally turned, her eyes hard. "He doesn't play. He dissects. Last week I found his wooden blocks lined up by weight. Perfect rows. He hasn't touched the stuffed wolf you bought him since the day he pulled the eyes out to see what was behind the glass."Abram laughed, a dry, proud sound. "That’s the Silas blood. Analytical. The kid’s a genius.""It’s not

  • ALHPA ABRAM: And the four daughter   CHAPTER 11

    Chapter 11: The Serpent’s Key"Don't look at them. Just look at me."Abram’s voice was a low growl in my ear. He had his hand clamped onto my waist, dragging me out of the private elevator and into the main office of Silas Enterprises.The air here was different. It didn't smell like the flowers in

  • ALHPA ABRAM: And the four daughter   CHAPTER 10

    Chapter 10: The Tether"You dropped this."Vane’s voice was like sandpaper. He knelt down, his scarred hand picking up the book I’d "accidentally" dropped on the garden path. The terrace smelled like wet dirt and expensive flowers.I looked down at him and let out a small, tired breath. "I’m just c

  • ALHPA ABRAM: And the four daughter   CHAPTER 9

    Chapter 9: The SetupThe penthouse groaned as a storm hit, rain hammering the glass like it was trying to break in. Abram had been gone for an hour. He’d headed to the docks to "clean up" the mess I’d found in his books.I couldn't stay in that bed. The sheets felt gross.I threw on a silk robe and

  • ALHPA ABRAM: And the four daughter   CHAPTER 8

    Chapter 8: The VirusAbram was practically glowing. It was a scary look on a man who’d killed my boyfriend just a few days ago. He walked into the bedroom with this smug, bouncy stride, clearly riding high on the "win" I’d given him in the office.He was holding a slim silver box like it was a trop

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