MasukElena Cross was standing at the end of the street.Watching.Waiting.As if she'd known exactly when Dani would arrive.A cold wave swept through Dani's body.For a moment, nobody moved.The suburban neighborhood seemed frozen in time.The neatly trimmed lawns.The quiet houses.The children riding bicycles two blocks away.Everything looked normal.Yet nothing felt normal anymore.Because Elena Cross had somehow found her.Again.No matter where Dani went.No matter how many miles she traveled.Elena always seemed to be there.Watching from the shadows.Pulling invisible strings.The woman stood beside a black sedan parked beneath a large oak tree.Dressed in a dark coat despite the warm afternoon.One hand resting lightly against the vehicle.The other tucked into her pocket.
Sarah Mitchell was dead.Dani stared at the name.Once.Twice.Three times.Hoping it would change.Hoping she'd misread it.Hoping exhaustion was finally catching up with her.It wasn't.The news article remained exactly the same.BODY IDENTIFIED AS SARAH MITCHELLThe letters seemed to blur together.Her pulse pounded violently in her ears.Because the name wasn't just familiar anymore.It wasn't just the mysterious name from the anonymous message.It was her name.Mitchell.The same last name she'd carried her entire life.The same last name as her parents.The same last name printed on every legal document she owned.A coincidence.It had to be.Except nothing about this situation felt like coincidence anymore.Julian watched her carefully.The concern in hi
Room 214.Dani stared at the words on the photograph.The air seemed to leave her lungs.Slowly.Painfully.As though her body suddenly forgot how to breathe.The faded sign remained frozen on her phone screen.St. Mary's Children's Home.Room 214 Memorial Garden.A place she had never heard of.A place she had never visited.A place she absolutely should not recognize.Yet something deep inside her stirred.Not a memory.Not exactly.More like a feeling.A strange tug beneath the surface.The sensation vanished almost immediately.Leaving only confusion behind."No."The word escaped before she could stop it.Julian stood beside her.Watching carefully.His expression hard.Focused.Dangerously focused."What is it?""I've never been ther
“The baby isn’t the surprise. You are.”The words echoed through Dani’s head.Again.And again.And again.The recovered DNA report trembled slightly in Julian’s hand.Nobody moved.Nobody spoke.The rain battered the penthouse windows like a thousand tiny fists, turning the city beyond into a blur of gray lights and shadows.Dani stared at Julian.Her heart hammering so hard it hurt."What does that mean?"Her voice came out thinner than she intended.Fragile.Afraid.For the first time in weeks, she wasn't thinking about Stella.Or Elena Cross.Or Thomas Reed.Or the murders.She was thinking about herself.And somehow that terrified her more.Julian didn't answer immediately.His eyes remained locked on the report.His jaw clenched.The muscle there twitching.A sign she had learned to recognize.Julian Carter Vance was rattled.Deeply rattled.And that almost never happened."Julian."This time Stella spoke.Sharp.Impatient."What does the report say?"Slowly, Julian lowered the
"The nurse was murdered twenty minutes ago."The words hit the room like an explosion.Everything stopped.Julian stood frozen near the penthouse door.His phone still pressed against his ear.His knuckles white.His expression hollow.For a moment, nobody spoke.Nobody moved.The rain hammered against the floor-to-ceiling windows.A relentless rhythm that somehow made the silence feel even heavier.Dani stared at him.Hoping she'd heard wrong.Praying she'd misunderstood.But one look at Julian's face told her the truth.The nurse was dead.Really dead this time.The final witness.The woman who had been there.The woman who knew what happened.The woman who could have explained everything.Gone.Again, they had been too late.Again, someone had gotten there first.
The results were stolen.For a moment, Dani thought she had misheard him.The city noise faded.The wind disappeared.Even the distant sounds of traffic seemed to vanish.There was only Julian.And those four devastating words.The results were stolen.Her hand instinctively moved to her stomach.Fear twisted inside her chest.Because suddenly the anonymous message from earlier felt much more dangerous.Not Julian's baby.Whoever had sent it had known something.Or wanted them to believe they did.Either possibility was terrifying."What do you mean stolen?"Her voice sounded thin.Barely recognizable.Julian's expression remained grim."The lab was breached."The answer did nothing to calm her."In person?""I don't know yet."The fact that he didn't know was almost wo
"They used your employee account to access the building." The words slammed into Dani like a freight train. For a moment, she forgot how to breathe. The hallway around her seemed to tilt. Employees walked past.
What if Stella was involved? The thought hit Dani like a bucket of ice water. She stared at Julian from across his office, her pulse thundering so loudly she could barely hear herself think. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the c
"Want to tell me why I received this at my office this morning?" Dani stared at the photograph in Julian's hand. Her blood turned to ice. For a moment, the city noise disappeared. The passing cars. The conversations. The distant sirens. Everything faded into the background. All she could se
"I know what you did." The words echoed inside Dani's head long after the call ended. She remained frozen beside her car. The photograph trembled in her hand. The underground parking garage suddenly felt enormous. Empty. Hostile. Every shadow seemed darker. Every parked vehicle looked suspi







