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1. Shattered Illusions
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2025-02-09 05:27:05Aurora’s POV
Love was supposed to be built on trust. On faith. On the belief that no matter what, the person you gave your heart to would never betray you.
I used to believe that.
The small velvet box felt warm in my palm, a fragile promise of the future I had envisioned with Adrian Sinclair. Tonight, I would surprise him—not just with the key to his apartment, but with the decision I had finally made. I was ready. After years of waiting, of holding onto my beliefs, I had decided that maybe… maybe I could give in.
Maybe love didn’t need to wait until marriage.
With a nervous smile, I pushed open the door to Adrian’s apartment.
The moment I stepped inside, something felt… wrong.
The living room was dimly lit, but my senses sharpened as I took in the details—the faint scent of vanilla perfume in the air, the discarded pair of heels by the couch. A sick feeling coiled in my stomach.
Then I heard it.
A muffled moan. A breathy giggle.
From the bedroom.
I froze, my entire body going numb. No. It couldn’t be.
Step by step, I walked forward, my fingers tightening around the box until the edges dug into my skin.
With a trembling hand, I pushed open the door.
My heart stopped.
Adrian was there. Half-naked. Tangled in silk sheets with a woman who wasn’t me.
The sound of my breath catching in my throat made them turn. The woman gasped, clutching the sheets to her chest, but Adrian didn’t move fast enough. His gaze locked with mine, shock flickering in his green eyes before irritation replaced it.
“Aurora…” His voice held no remorse. Only annoyance.
For a long, agonizing second, I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t think.
Then the box slipped from my fingers, hitting the floor with a soft thud. The key I had planned to give him tumbled out, rolling until it stopped near the foot of the bed—an ironic symbol of the home I would never have with him.
“How long?” My voice was barely above a whisper, yet the weight of it pressed down on the room like a storm.
Adrian sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “Aurora, don’t do this—”
“How. Long.”
A muscle in his jaw ticked. Then, in a voice far too casual, he muttered, “A couple of years.”
The air left my lungs. My world shattered.
I had spent years believing in him. Trusting him. Holding on to my values while he had spent years lying to me.
I swallowed back the sob rising in my throat. My body felt cold, like I was standing in the middle of a snowstorm with no shelter.
And the worst part? He wasn’t even sorry.
Adrian sighed again, exasperated. “Does it really matter now?”
Something inside me snapped.
A sharp, bitter laugh bubbled out of me. “Does it matter?” My voice trembled, not from sadness, but from the pure, burning rage clawing its way up my chest. “You disgust me.”
I turned on my heel, walking away before I could break in front of him.
“Aurora, wait—”
I didn’t.
I walked out of the apartment, out of his life, and out into the cold, empty night—leaving behind the last pieces of the girl who once believed in love.
Damien’s POV
The bar was loud. Crowded. Reeking of desperation and bad choices.
Damien Pierce didn’t belong in places like this. He preferred his whiskey in the solitude of his penthouse or a high-end lounge where men like him—men with power—gathered. But tonight, something had pulled him here.
Or rather, someone.
His gaze landed on the woman slumped over the bar, her golden-brown hair cascading over her shoulders. Even in dim lighting, she was striking—delicate yet resilient. But what caught his attention wasn’t her beauty.
It was the emptiness in her eyes.
She stared at her glass like it held all the answers to her problems. Her fingers trembled slightly as she reached for it again.
Too much. Too fast.
Damien’s jaw tightened.
He wasn’t the kind of man who got involved in strangers’ problems. He didn’t play the hero. But something about her—something raw and broken—made him pause.
Then, the moment he had been waiting for came.
A man in a designer suit slid into the seat beside her, his presence immediately unwelcome. Damien knew his type—arrogant, entitled, a predator in expensive cologne. The man leaned in, his hand brushing her hair, his mouth moving too close to her ear.
Damien saw it before it even happened.
The moment she swayed. The way she blinked, confused. Drugged.
His muscles coiled, his body already moving before his mind could process why he even cared.
“She’s with me.”
The words left his mouth, laced with the kind of authority that made men pause.
The bastard barely had time to react before Damien’s fist collided with his jaw. The impact sent him crashing into the bar counter, glass shattering as he groaned in pain.
Damien didn’t even look at him. He was already catching her as she nearly collapsed, her body limp in his arms.
“Who…?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
Damien’s grip tightened, his fingers flexing around her waist.
“You shouldn’t have run,” he murmured.
Even though he knew she wouldn’t remember him saying it.
Then, before anyone else could lay their hands on her, he lifted her into his arms and walked away.
And just like that, the night that had begun in betrayal ended in the hands of a man far more dangerous than she could ever imagine.
Bab terbaru
Broken Vows, New Promises CHAPTER 149 : Ashes of the Failsafe
Silence pressed against their ears as they approached the lowest chamber. The air was heavier here—thick with ozone and dread, as if the facility itself exhaled the weight of its own malice. Damien’s flashlight beam danced across the walls, revealing veins of circuitry pulsing beneath steel plates. Each step echoed like a verdict.Aurora’s grip on her rifle tightened. “This corridor leads straight to the core. Seraph must be close.”Asher flanked Damien’s other side, unblinking in the dim light. Though forged in Monroe’s broken crucible, the boy’s courage was pure—a reminder that hope could grow from ashes.Null’s voice crackled in their earpieces. “I’m seeing systems coming back online. Ten minutes before full lockdown. We need to move.”Elias checked his watch. “Understood.”They rounded the final corner and stopped.A vaulted chamber yawned before them. In its center, illuminated by a ring of harsh white light, stood Seraph. Taller than a child but smaller than an adult, she was fr
Broken Vows, New Promises CHAPTER 148 : The Sleeper Below
The silence grew heavier the deeper they went.Null’s map guided them through a maze of subterranean halls—some cold and sterile, others torn by time and disuse. The smooth hum of generators still echoed in places, interspersed by flickering emergency lights that bathed the world in sickly red pulses.Damien led the way with Aurora and Asher close at his heels. The boy in the containment pod had given them everything—coordinates, access routes, and warnings. Seraph wasn’t like Daemon or Omega.He was worse.“Bio-signature locked,” Null murmured, eyes on the scanner as they reached another sealed door. “There’s something down there. No readable vitals, but movement… constant. Pacing, almost.”“He’s waiting,” Aurora said.Asher’s small voice cut in, soft but certain. “He doesn’t think. He reacts. He was made to become… everything they wanted me to be.”Damien knelt beside him. “You don’t have to face this.”Asher looked up. “I do. If we don’t stop him, he’ll come for us. For others.”Au
Broken Vows, New Promises CHAPTER 147 : Into the Heart
The elevator doors closed with a reluctant groan, sealing them in.Inside the narrow shaft, the only light came from their tactical gear—soft glows against skin and metal. Aurora stood beside Damien, her hand brushing against his, an anchor in the silence. Asher stood between them, staring straight ahead, lips pressed into a thin, focused line.The descent felt longer than it should have. As if the very walls were stretching around them—preparing to swallow them whole.Then the lift jolted to a stop.A hiss of depressurization followed. The doors slid open with a groan, revealing a corridor bathed in cold white light. Clean. Too clean. The sterile scent of disinfectant and ozone clung to the air like a ghost.“This is it,” Null said quietly. “The Core Lab.”They stepped out as one.Unlike the upper floors, this level was pristine. Not abandoned. Not even neglected. Lights functioned. Doors responded to biometric scans. Cameras followed their every move, some still tracking with soft c
Broken Vows, New Promises CHAPTER 146 : Before the Storm
The sun dipped low, setting fire to the horizon in hues of crimson and ash. From the ridge above the temporary camp, Damien stood alone, watching shadows stretch over the forest like fingers reaching for something they could never quite hold.Below him, the others prepared in near silence. The kind of silence that didn’t come from fear—but from knowing. From understanding just how close they were to the end.The wind curled around him, carrying the scent of pine and steel and something colder. A storm was coming. Not of weather—but of reckoning.“You always find the highest place when you need to think.”He didn’t turn. He didn’t need to.Aurora’s voice always settled beneath his skin like a familiar hum—gentle and steady.She stepped up beside him, hands tucked into the sleeves of her jacket, her gaze following his to the horizon.“You used to be quieter,” he said. “Before all this.”“I used to have more to be afraid of,” she replied, half-smiling. “Now I just have more to lose.”He
Broken Vows, New Promises CHAPTER 145 : A Name Among the Ashes
The boy didn’t speak of the dream again.But something in him shifted after that night. His steps were a little steadier. His gaze no longer darted to the exits first. He stayed near Damien, yes, but not like a shadow clinging to light. Now, it felt like a tether, an anchor—not dependence, but choice.Damien noticed it when they trained in the clearing behind the safehouse. The boy followed directions without flinching, without looking over his shoulder every five seconds like he expected Monroe to appear from behind the trees. And when Kai handed him a blade—not sharp, just a practice knife—he held it with the curiosity of someone discovering a piece of themselves.“What do we call him?” Eli
Broken Vows, New Promises CHAPTER 144 : Echoes in the Light
The morning sunlight felt wrong.Too bright. Too open.After days in the Hollow’s synthetic twilight, Damien squinted at the skyline like it was some forgotten relic. The world outside was still broken, scarred by everything Monroe had built, but out here—beneath real sky—it felt like breathing for the first time in weeks.They moved through the forest trail in silence, Aurora walking beside Damien, the child—now clothed in a borrowed jacket and boots too large—staying close to Damien’s side like a shadow tethered to light.No name.No past.
Broken Vows, New Promises CHAPTER 143 : The First Breath
The air inside the chamber thickened as the hum of the cryopod deepened, soft lights tracing across its surface like veins awakening after a long slumber. Damien stood with his hand hovering just above the control panel, eyes locked on the boy within. A-00.The child who shouldn’t exist.The child who had been discarded—forgotten—yet had outlived the project meant to replace him.Aurora touched Damien’s arm gently. “Are you ready?”He didn’t answer right away. His gaze was still fixed on the boy’s face. So young, so still. Yet somehow, it felt like staring into a mirror that refused to reflect.
Broken Vows, New Promises CHAPTER 142 : Into the Hollow
The helicopter blades sliced through the Ural sky like a warning.Beneath them, the forest spread like a sea of frozen pine and fractured stone, untouched and unwelcoming. The coordinates Null had provided pointed to a narrow canyon—its jagged sides veined with ice and shadow—where no human path should've ever led.Damien sat beside Aurora, eyes locked on the narrowing terrain below. The cold had begun to seep in through the insulated layers, but it wasn’t the temperature that clenched his gut.It was the silence.Even at this altitude, the absence of wildlife was unnerving.As if nature itself refused to brea
Broken Vows, New Promises CHAPTER 141 : Fractures Beneath the Surface
The wind had changed by morning.Geneva’s neutral calm felt different now—like something sacred had been disturbed beneath its manicured stillness. The team gathered in the briefing room of the underground complex, still shaken from what they’d uncovered the night before: Damien’s prototype—Subject A-01-D—and the fractured remnants of Monroe’s last vault of secrets.No one spoke for a long while.Elias was the first to break the silence. “So what now? We’ve seen the start of it. That clone—your prototype—it changes everything. Doesn’t it?”Null nodded slowly, pacing. “It suggests Monroe’s e
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