6. Mother Knows Worst

[ZEKE]

My father used to say, “Always be prepared for the worst. You never know what life’s going to throw at you.”

Especially in our world, where the stakes are life and death, and mistakes aren’t just costly—they’re final.

And I’ll give the old man this: when Dominic Russell still had his wits, he was sharp. Collected. Steady. A pillar.

But something changed. It was like watching the ocean dry up overnight, leaving behind a cracked and barren version of the man I once knew and admired.

And the cause? A woman. Beautiful. Dangerous.

That was all it took to bring an empire to its knees.

My mother likes to say my father fell madly in love with her. Maybe he did. But if that’s true, then how do you explain the woman who came after her? The one half her age who turned him into a stranger?

I still remember the heaviness of his calloused hand in mine, the rasp of his last flickering breath. That night, I made myself a promise: I would never marry. At twenty-four, I believed vows had power.