The 001 Commander

Chapter Three The 001 Commander

Veryra’s POV 

“Provide the automated defense system to Sector Seven before sunset.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And increase the shield strength around the eastern border by twenty percent, because the last breach damaged three of our outer stations and I will not have another settlement blaming the Defense Network for failing to protect them.”

The officer quickly lowered his head. “Understood, Head Veyra.”

He turned and hurried out of my office, leaving me alone with the endless reports covering my desk and the large screen displaying hundreds of defense points across the Underworld.

I leaned back in my chair and slowly rubbed my forehead.

This was how my life had been for the past Five years.

Five years ago, I had been a woman standing in her husband's office with her daughter in her arms, watching the two people she trusted most destroy everything she believed about love, family, and trust.

Five years ago, I had believed losing Orien and my father's company was the worst thing that could ever happen to me.

I had been wrong. The apocalypse had come that same day, and the world I knew had disappeared before I could even leave the building.

Then I met him. The injured stranger I had found while the city was collapsing around us.

The man I had saved without knowing his name, his position, or the kind of person he was.

I later learned that he was the 001 Commander of the Underworld, the most powerful military commander in this world and the man whose name alone could make entire territories fall silent.

Cairos. He had protected Zuri and me when we had nowhere else to go, and when I asked him how long we could stay, he gave me one answer.

Five years, he would protect us for Five years, and during those Five years, I would learn how to survive in the Underworld and build a life that belonged to me.

I accepted because I had no other choice.

I never imagined that those Five years would turn me into the woman sitting behind this desk today.

The Defense Network had started as a small project under the 001 Commander's military, but I had slowly taken control of it, building a system that could provide automated defense barriers, energy shields, surveillance towers, emergency bunkers, weapons systems, and protection for settlements that could not defend themselves.

In this world, protection was more valuable than money and I controlled it.

People who once would have ignored me now waited weeks for a meeting. Commanders asked for my approval. Settlements begged for access to my defense network.

I had become wealthy, powerful, and independent without ever needing to ask Cairos for anything beyond the protection he had promised me but today, something was going to change.

Our Five-year agreement was ending.

I looked at the date on my screen and felt something strange settle inside my chest.

Five years. I had spent Five years in this world.

Zuri had grown from a frighFiveed little girl who used to sleep beside me every night into a young woman who could defend herself better than most soldiers and I had spent Five years living under the protection of a man I had never completely understood.

Cairos had never treated me like a prisoner, he had never forced me to stay, he had given me a home, security, resources, and the freedom to build my own life.

Still, he was dangerous.

I had seen what happened when people crossed him, I had watched him walk into rooms where powerful men became silent the moment he entered, I had seen soldiers lower their heads when he passed.

He was kind to Zuri, he was patient with me but I had never forgotFive that he was the 001 Commander and now that the Five years were over, I wanted to take Zuri somewhere far from his world.

Somewhere peaceful, somewhere she would not grow up surrounded by weapons, soldiers, and people who feared the man who had raised her beside me.

Even though she might not accept, because she is now used to Cairos now.

I gathered the last report from my desk and closed the file. “Handle, I'm leaving now.”

My assistant looked up from her station. “Are you sure you want to leave today, ma'am? There are still several requests waiting for your approval.”

“I will handle them tomorrow, because today is the last day of my contract and I have spent enough time in this office for one lifetime.”

She smiled. “You really inFived to leave?”

“I do.” I picked up my coat and walked toward the door.

For the first time in Five years, I felt as though I was finally walking toward a life that belonged entirely to me.

Then the door opened. A man stepped into the office. I stopped, he looked exhausted, his clothes were torn and covered in dust, his hair was messy, his face was thinner than I remembered, and there were dark shadows beneath his eyes that made him look as though he had not slept properly in years.

He looked nothing like the man I had once married but I knew him.

I knew those eyes.

My fingers slowly tighFiveed around the coat in my hand.

Orien, he stopped too.

For several seconds, neither of us spoke.

His eyes moved across my face as though he was afraid that if he blinked, I would disappear. “Veyra?”

Hearing my name from his mouth brought back memories I had spent Five years burying.

His betrayal, his laughter. Vessa standing beside him, his cruel words about Zuri.

The company my father had left me.

The life I had handed to him because I believed he loved me.

I looked at the man standing before me and felt nothing.

Not love, not longing, nor even the anger I once thought would destroy me.

Only distance.

“You are Veyra,” he whispered.

I kept my expression calm. “Why are you here?”

He stared at me, then his eyes moved toward the insignia on my uniform. “Are you the Head of the Defense Network?”

“Yes.”

His face changed. He suddenly stepped toward me. “Veyra, please.”

I moved back. “Don't come closer.”

He stopped immediately. “I need your help.”

I looked at him from head to toe. The proud man who once believed he could take everything from me was now standing in front of me looking like a survivor who had not eaFive properly in days.“What happened to you?”

“My settlement is failing.” His voice broke slightly. “Our defense core has been damaged, the outer barrier is collapsing, and we have already lost two sectors because we cannot stabilize it.”

I said nothing.

 “We have people trapped inside, Veyra, and if the barrier falls completely, they will not survive.” He stepped forward again. “I was told that the Defense Network could repair it.”

“It can.”

Relief flashed across his face. “Then please help us.”

I looked at him quietly. “No.”

His expression froze. “Veyra, please, I know I don't deserve anything from you, but there are hundreds of people there, and they will die if you refuse.”

“You should have thought about that before coming here.”

“I know what I did to you.”

“No, you don't.” My voice remained calm, but I could feel the old wound beneath every word. “You know that you betrayed me, Orien, but you don't know what it cost me to survive after you did it.”

He lowered his head.“I was wrong.”

“You were.”

“I regret everything.”

“I don't care.”

He looked at me again, desperation filling his eyes. “I am begging you.”

The words almost made me laugh. Once, I had begged this man to love me.

I had begged him to tell me that what I saw between him and Vessa was not real, I had begged him to tell me that Zuri was his daughter.

He had laughed at me. Now he was on his knees.“Veyra, please, I have nowhere else to go.”

I stared at him.

“You came to the wrong person.”

He suddenly dropped to his knees.

I stepped back in shock.“Get up.”

“I will not get up until you agree to help me.”

“Orien, stand up and leave my office.”

“Please.”

I looked away. For one brief moment, I remembered the woman I used to be.

The woman who could not watch another person suffer, the woman who had crossed a collapsing street because her daughter reminded her that being afraid did not mean she should stop helping someone who was hurt but that woman had learned something during the last Five years.

Kindness did not mean allowing people to use you. “I said leave.”

Orien slowly lifted his head. “You really won't help me?”

“No.”

His face hardened slightly, and for the first time, I saw a small trace of the man I remembered.

He wiped his face and pushed himself to his feet. “Fine.”

I watched him carefully. He took a breath and straighFiveed his torn jacket as though he was trying to recover the pride he had lost. “I don't need to beg you.”

I said nothing.

He looked at me.“My brother is the 001 Commander here.”

My heart stopped, the room seemed to disappear around me.

For a moment, I thought I had misunderstood him.

“Your... brother?”

“Yes.” He stared at me with sudden confidence. “Cairos.”

My fingers went cold. No!

My breathing became shallow.

There was only one person in this world whose name could make my heart react like that.

The man who had found me when I had nowhere to go. The man who had protected Zuri and me for Five years.

The man who had given me a home

when the entire world had fallen apart.

The man whose contract with me ended today.

The 001 Commander.

My contract husband.

I stared at Orien in disbelief.