로그인Chapter Four TwoCairos’s POVI followed the doctor into the small private room and closed the door behind me.My heart was beating harder than usual, and I did not like the feeling at all. I had faced armed enemies without fear, walked into dangerous territory alone, and made decisions that could determine whether people lived or died, but standing in that room waiting for a piece of paper somehow felt worse than all of that.The doctor walked toward his desk and picked up a sealed envelope.“The DNA test is ready,” he said.I stared at the envelope in his hand.For a moment, I could not move.I had already considered the possibility that Zuri could be my daughter. The matching blood type had put the thought into my head, and once it was there, I could not get rid of it. Still, thinking about it and seeing the result were two completely different things.The doctor walked toward me and handed me the paper.I took it, but my fingers tightened around it without opening it.I stared at
Chapter 41 Cairos’s POVI had seen Zuri sick before, but this time was different.The moment I saw her lying on that bed with her eyes barely open, something inside me tightened in a way I could not explain. I had faced armed men without hesitation, walked into places where death was almost certain, and made decisions that could determine whether hundreds of people survived or died, but watching that little girl struggle to breathe had left me more unsettled than any battlefield ever had.I stayed beside her while the doctors worked.Veyra was on the other side of the bed, holding Zuri’s hand and refusing to move away from her.Astra was there too.I barely paid attention to her.My eyes remained on Zuri.When the doctor told us that she needed blood, I volunteered without thinking twice.I did not know why I reacted so quickly.Perhaps because Zuri had become important to me long before I ever admitted it to myself.Perhaps because, after everything we had survived together, the tho
Chapter 40Veyra’s POVThe days after everything with Astra became quieter, but the silence did not bring me the peace I had hoped for.I was still living in the same house, still waking up beside the same walls, still seeing Cairos every day, but something inside me had changed, and I could no longer pretend that I felt the same way I had before.I tried to focus on Zuri because she was the only thing that kept my mind from going too far, and for a while, it worked.Until one morning, Zuri suddenly became sick.At first, I thought it was only exhaustion because she had barely eaten the night before, but when I touched her forehead and felt how hot her skin was, fear immediately rushed through me.“Zuri,” I whispered as I sat beside her. “Sweetheart, open your eyes.”She slowly opened them, looking weak and confused.“Mama, I don’t feel well.”“I know, baby. We are going to the hospital.”I quickly called for help, and within minutes, we were on our way to the medical center.The enti
Chapter 39Veyra’s POVI stayed in my room for a long time after Astra left, staring at the same spot on the floor while her words kept playing in my head.You are not needed here anymore.I hated that those words had gotten to me, but no matter how many times I told myself that Astra was only trying to hurt me, I could not completely silence the doubt she had planted inside me.Maybe I really had stayed too long.Maybe I had already lost my place in this house without realizing it.I had given up my position at the Defense Center, watched people who once respected me treat me like an ordinary employee, and then come home to see Astra sitting comfortably beside Cairos and Zuri as if she had always belonged there.I had tried to convince myself that none of it mattered, but deep down, it did.I could not keep waking up every morning feeling like a stranger in the place I once considered my home.I wiped my face and slowly stood from the bed.I had made my decision.I was leaving.I did
Chapter 38 — You Are Not Needed AnymoreI sat on the edge of the bed with a book open in my hands, but I had been staring at the same page for several minutes without understanding a single word.My mind kept returning to everything that had happened since I gave Astra my position.The Defense Center.The laughter.The way people had started speaking to me as though I had never been their Head.The way Astra had sat in my old office while I worked at a small desk among the regular employees.And then coming home to find Astra sitting comfortably with Zuri and Cairos as though she had always belonged in our home.I closed the book and rubbed my forehead.I was tired of thinking about it.I wanted to forget the whole day, even if only for a few hours.The bedroom door opened, and Cairos walked inside.I looked up at him.He stood near the door for a moment before walking toward me, his eyes studying my face.“I tried keeping Zuri busy today when Astra joined us,” he said quietly.I lowe
Chapter 37 — Someone Else’s FamilyHer POV By the time I returned home that evening, I felt as though I had spent the entire day carrying a weight that no one else could see.My first day back at the Defense Center as an ordinary employee had been worse than I had expected, and even though I had tried to convince myself that it did not matter, every small thing that happened there had stayed in my mind. I had spent five years walking into that building as its Head, giving orders, making decisions, and having people come to me whenever something went wrong, but today I had sat at a small desk among people who once worked under me while they sent me from one place to another as though those five years had never happened.I did not want to think about it anymore.All I wanted was to come home, see Zuri, see Cairos, and forget everything that had happened.I opened the door quietly and stepped inside.I had barely taken two steps when I heard laughter coming from the living room.I stopp







