LOGIN"You humiliated her?"Leo's voice was sharp, slicing through the air the moment he stepped into the room and learned what had happened.
"She started it,"I shot back, refusing to shrink under his glare. "if she had not provoked me, I would not have reacted."
Leo's eyes were flat and unreadable. He had always been impossible to decipher, like a slab of marble that refused to crack. I prided myself on being able to read people, but never him.
His gaze shifted to the bedside table where the divorce papers lay untouched.
"I will sign them,"I said quietly. "But I need you to hear me out first. Just once. After I tell you what I need to say, if you still want me gone, I will leave and never show my face to you again."
"So what is it?"His voice carried a flicker of impatience that made my stomach twist. My courage begay to fray.
I knew his greatest vulnerability was the thought of having a child of his own. It was pathetic to rely on it, but I had no choice. If there was any hope of saving our marriage, it would be because of the life growing inside me.
"I..."My voice faltered, small and fragile. He noticed. His jaw tightened, his eye narrowing, his lips curling in quiet irritation. My hands clenched into fists, nails bitting into my palms as I forced myself to speak. "I went to see my doctor today..."
Before I could continue, his phone rang. The shrill sound shattered the moment. He turned away and answered without a second thought, shutting me out completely.
I followed him down the hallway, desperate to at least hear who was on the other end.
,"I just got home,,"Leo said softly, his voice low and gentle, so unlike the tone he ever used with me. "You are what...? What happened? Are you alright? Can you stand? Alright, I am on my way. Do not move. Just wait for me."
I barely had time to step back and pretend I had not been listening before he ended the call and turned around.
"Where are you going?"I asked, planting myself in his path. "Leo, we are in the middle of a conversation. Please, we need to talk."
"Clara is sick, Rose. She needs me."He brushed past me as if I did not exist, striding straight to the garage. "We will talk when I return."
I needed him too. Why could he not see that?
"It is her again!"My voice broke as I followed him.
"She is going to ruin you all over again. She is selfish, Leo. She cannot stand seeing you happy without her, that is why she-"
"Sign the divorce papers,"He snapped l, spinning around to glare at me. "By tomorrow morning, I do not want you here anymore."
And just like that, he was gone. The sound of his car tearing out of the driveway was the only thing left in the silence. My knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the cold floor, staring blankly as tears streamed down my face
I had always believed I was strong. But when it came to Leo, I crumbled every single time.
****
"Leo.."I grasped as his mouth trailed down my chest, his rhythm inside me relentless. I could barely catch my breath. My body trembled with every thrust.
"Ah... Leo..."My back arched when his lips closed around me, his tongue teasing until I could no longer contain my cries.
His face was flushed, sweat dripping down his temple as he devoured every inch of me with kisses. He did not stop. He did not give me a chance to think. Every thrust came with a groan, every touch a low whisper of my name.
"You are beautiful, Rose..."His voice was rough, filled with desire as his hands cupped my breasts and his pace quickened.
I shut my eyes tight, biting my lip to stifle a scream. There was no one to hear, yet the shame burned through me.
He hooked my legs over his shoulders, forcing me open as his gaze locked on mine.
"You like this?"His lips parted, his voice hoarse and unsteady. "You are so tight... I should have done this to you on our wedding night."
I barely processed his words. The only thing I could focus on was the overwhelming sensation pulling me apart. My fingers twisted into the sheets, my moans louder than ever as the pleasure built higher and higher.
"Ahhh!"He spread my legs wide and pressed his body down against mine.
"Leo!"I cried, gasping for air.
He crushed his lips to mine, his tongue sliding past my parted mouth. I kissed him back feverishly, clinging to him as if he were the only thing keeping me alive. He was my husband. It was natural, expected even, yet I still could not believe it was happening.
"Say my name,"He whispered against my lips
"Leo... I want more. Please..."
His eyes darkened, his thrust deeper, rougher.
"I want more too,"He growled before kissing me hard. "Oh, God;"
"Mrs Robinson! Mrs Robinson!"
My eyes flew open at the sound of a voice calling me. One of the housemaids stood in front of me, concern written on her face
"Mrs Robinson, why are you sleeping on the floor?"
I blinked, finally realizing where I was. The floor was damp with the tears I had she'd earlier. I had cried myself to sleep and dreamt about that night Leo, the one that had happened a month ago.
"W-what... Time is it!"I asked, running a hand through my tangled hair.
"Almost two in the morning."
"Has Leo come back home yet?"I already knew the answer, but I still asked, hoping against hope that he would return, ask what I had wanted to tell him earlier, and finally listen.
The maid shook her head. I forced a small, empty smile and pushed myself up.
"Go rest. I will head upstairs,"I said softly.
She nodded and returned to her room. I went straight to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Vodka, twisting the cap off with trembling hands. I had never imagined my life would turn out like this.
As I drank, memories of my time with Leo resurfaced, each one piercing vi I'd. There were so feet of them, yet each was etched deeply into me.
When he once told me he wanted children, a family of his own, I had imagined I would be the woman by his side. I had poured everything into being a good wife, supporting his choice, loving him with all I had.
I had dreamed too big. I never knew the fall would hurt this much.
I picked up my phone and typed the words I had been holding in all day.
"I am pregnant,"I sent.
Moments later, his reply came
"Abort it."
That was it. That was the final blow.
I staggered up the stairs to our bedroom. The divorce papers were waiting on the bedside table.
My chest tightened as I picked them up and read the words once more.
I wanted so desperately to save our marriage, to protect him from further heartbreak. But there was nothing left to fight for.
I took a long, shaking breath, grabbed a pen, and signed my name. That was it. I was no longer his wife. No longer Mrs. Robinson.
I reached for my suitcase and began to pack my things. All I could hope for was that one day Leo would not regret this decision.
While the children settled into the stone-carved villas of the Sanctuary, a new threat was coalescing ten thousand miles away.In a high-rise in Zurich, a man sat in a room bathed in candlelight. He didn't use computers; he didn't trust them. He used shadows. His name was Silas Vane—the man Hecate had called "The Vulture." He was the Council’s Chief Inquisitor, a man whose lineage predated the Robinson experiments by centuries. He didn't need DNA to be a monster; he was born one."The girl has the King’s resonance," a voice whispered from the corner. It was one of the Archivists who had survived the Arctic vault, his face a map of thermal burns. "She’s gathered the failures on the hidden island."Vane stood up. He was thin, almost skeletal, his movements jerky and unnatural. He leaned over a physical map of the Pacific, his finger hovering over the empty space where the Sanctuary lay."Failure is a matter of perspective," Vane said. His voice was a wet rasp. "The King was a dreamer.
Astra didn't attack. She fell forward, her body stiff from years of cryo-stasis. I caught her, the cold from her skin seeping into mine like a physical weight."The song..." she rasped. Her voice sounded like breaking glass. "The song stopped.""The broadcast is over, Astra," I said, wrapping her in my own coat. "You’re safe.""No," she said, her blue eyes darting toward the shadows of the hallway. "Not over. The man in the black suit... he said when the song stops, the 'Cleaners' come."As if on cue, the facility’s red emergency lights began to pulse. A voice boomed over the intercom—not a human voice, but an AI.CONTAIMENT BREACH DETECTED. INITIATING THERMAL PURGE IN FIVE MINUTES."They’re going to burn the whole vault," Leo shouted, grabbing a nearby terminal. "Rose, there are over fifty pods here. We can't move them all in five minutes!""I can," Astra said. She stood up, her legs shaky but her gaze fixed. She held out her hands, and the air in the room began to crystallize. "I
The flight to the Robinson Tower was a blur of G-forces and red warnings on the HUD. The city below us looked peaceful, millions of people sleeping, unaware that their brains were about to be rewritten."Ten minutes to broadcast," Leo announced. "The tower’s automated defenses are active. I’m jamming what I can, but we’re going to take hits."The Vulture rocked as a surface-to-air missile exploded nearby."I’ll jump," I said."What? Rose, we're at five thousand feet!" Leo yelled."The King will catch me," I said, looking at my father. He nodded, his golden eyes glowing.He grabbed my waist, and before Leo could protest, he kicked the emergency hatch open. We plummeted into the cold night air.The wind roared, but I wasn't afraid. I felt my father’s energy wrapping around me like a cocoon. As we approached the roof of the tower, he shifted—not into a wolf, but into something more ethereal, a cloud of silvery mist and shadow. We slowed, landing softly on the helipad like a falling lea
I turned around, my heart hammering against my ribs. In the corner of the lab, hidden behind a heavy lead-lined curtain, sat a containment unit. It wasn't like the others. It was ornate, inscribed with symbols that looked like ancient runes.Inside, a man sat cross-legged. He looked like an older, male version of me. His hair was long and white, his skin etched with scars that glowed with a faint, silvery light."He’s been in a stasis-coma for twenty years," Silas whispered. "The true Alpha. The source of the royal line. I didn't create you from a test tube, Rose. I took you from him when you were an infant. I raised you as a weapon because I knew your blood was the only thing that could stabilize the Variant strain."I approached the glass. The man’s eyes suddenly snapped open. They were the same molten gold as mine.He didn't speak, but a voice echoed in my head—not the mechanical rasp of the Council, but a warm, resonant hum. My daughter. You have returned to the cage."Break it,
The sunlight streaming through the penthouse windows felt too peaceful, a golden lie that masked the bruises on my soul. Three days of darkness—three days where my mind had been a battlefield of static and fur—had left me feeling hollowed out, like a house that had been gutted by fire but left standing.Leo was being "Dad." He was making pancakes, checking Jaden’s backpack, and playing the role of the billionaire tech mogul who didn't have a secret war room in his basement. But I saw the way his hand trembled when he poured the orange juice. He was looking at the clock. We both were.The countdown on Marcus’s remote had been a bluff—or rather, a distraction. The estate hadn't blown up. Instead, the signal had simply... vanished. But a vanished signal is often louder than a scream. It means the enemy is repositioning."You're thinking about the bunkers," Leo said, leaning against the doorframe after Jaden had skipped out to the armored SUV waiting to take him to his private schoo
The penthouse smelled of ozone and ancient pine. The air seemed to crackle around the white wolf, whose presence had turned the ultra-modern suite into something primeval. Leo watched as Rose—or the being Rose had become—paced the length of the reinforced glass windows. Every time her claws clicked against the marble, the sound echoed like a gunshot."Rose," Leo whispered, stepping toward her. "Can you hear me? Is the woman I love still in there, or am I talking to the 'Variant' my father created?"The wolf stopped. She turned her massive, regal head, her golden eyes burning with an intensity that made Leo’s lungs tighten. Slowly, the shimmering white fur began to recede, pulling back into her skin like a retreating tide. The cracking of bones returned—a sickening, rhythmic sound—until Rose collapsed onto the floor, human once more, wrapped in the tattered remains of her silk robe.Leo rushed to her, wrapping her in a thick wool blanket. She was shivering, her skin deathly pal
The next morning, the Robinson estate felt like a different world. Jaden was delighted by the "giant breakfast" served by a nervous-looking Sarah, while Leo sat at the head of the table, dressed in a bespoke charcoal suit that screamed power."I’ve arranged for a private tutor to come here for Jade
The iron gates of the Robinson estate groaned as they swung open. To anyone else, this was a palace of marble and gold. To me, it was a graveyard of my youngest, most naive hopes.Jaden sat in the back of the sleek black car, his nose pressed against the window. "Is this a hotel, Mommy? Are we stay
Walking into the office at 8:30 AM felt like stepping onto a stage. My heart was thudding against my ribs, but I kept my expression neutral, my laptop bag gripped tightly in my hand."Rose! There she is!" Karl’s voice boomed across the bull pen. He looked exactly the same—cheerful, slightly rumpl
The morning sun at the high-end hotel was different from the sun at the Robinson estate. At the estate, the light always felt cold, filtering through heavy velvet curtains like a spotlight in a prison. Here, in the penthouse of the Azure Sands, the light was warm and smelled of salt air and expensi







