LOGINClara had been moved from the operating room to a private bed on the same floor. The machines came with her beeping steadily, breathing for her, watching every small sign of life. The small team that had stood through all seven hours of surgery now stood quietly around the edges of the room, tired and silent.The doctor stood at the foot of the bed, his shoulders heavy. Jeffery stood near the door, hands inside his pockets, watching everything with that same calm face he had worn since they arrived."The injection, sir," the doctor said. His voice was low and careful. "We are in a position where both options carry serious consequences, and I need you to understand that before we decide anything."He looked directly at Jeffery."If we give it to her now, it will wipe her memory the way you want. But her body has just been through seven hours of surgery. Her brain is under more stress than it has ever been in her life. Giving her the agent right now means the chances of her surviving i
Logan hit the accelerator the moment the car doors closed. The city blurred past the windows. Traffic tried to slow them down but Logan went around it anyway, cutting through small gaps, pushing the engine harder than it was meant to go. The tires screeched at every turn.Jeffery sat in the back with Clara across his lap. His hand pressed hard against her wounds, trying to hold the blood in. The peach dress was soaked through. She was barely breathing. He checked his watch. Looked at the road ahead. Checked his watch again."Faster," he said."Sir I am already..""If you cannot drive faster then stop the car and let me drive."Logan drove faster.The hospital entrance was ready when they arrived. Two nurses stood outside with a stretcher. The doors were propped open. The path had already been cleared.The car stopped hard. Jeffery kicked the door open before Logan could turn off the engine. He lifted Clara himself, both arms under her, and placed her on the stretcher in one smooth mo
The peach dress lay waiting on the bed. Full length, long sleeves, high neck. The kind of dress that hid everything. She stared at it for a long moment, her stomach already knotted tight. She didn't touch it. Today was the day. The whole city would be watching her stand beside Jeffery like the perfect wife while Eclipse Breed hunted her head for half a billion dollars.She walked to the window instead.The door opened behind her.Jeffery stood there, already dressed in a sharp suit. His eyes went to the dress, then to her."Put it on," he said."It covers everything. I can't wear it," Clara replied, still facing the window."Put it on, Clara."She turned slowly. For a second she thought about fighting him again, but the memory of his hands on her last night still burned."They want your head. If they cannot get that, they might start with your legs. Even if you lose one today, it should stay hidden under expensive fabric."Clara held his stare, then picked up the dress. The fabric fe
The car sat two blocks from a quiet restaurant, engine off, windows fogged from the cool evening air. A man had been waiting in the driver's seat for twenty minutes when Adrian finally climbed in. No greetings, no small talk. Just the comfortable silence of two men who had buried enough secrets together to skip the unnecessary words.The man spoke first, keeping his voice low."Since you're back in the city, sir, Malcolm's been asking about Daniel. Keeps wanting to know when his reliable shadow is coming back to work."Adrian stared straight ahead through the windshield, watching the empty street. Daniel. That name had wrapped around him for years like a second skin he couldn't quite peel off. The quiet, dependable employee who showed up on time, filed his reports without complaint, and blended into the furniture at Rothwell Enterprises. Working under Malcolm as Daniel had given him keys to rooms no outsider could have entered-late-night conversations, hidden files, movements that pow
The knock hit the door like a fist that had already decided it was coming through regardless.Clara sat up in the dark.She had not been sleeping. She had been lying with her eyes open listening to a quiet house and a loud head, and the knock pulled her upright before she had finished deciding to move. She crossed to the door and opened it.Jeffery stood in the corridor.Smoke on his clothes. Eyes that had not softened from whatever the night had asked of them. A smirk sitting on his mouth that had nothing warm behind it.He walked past her into the room.She turned to face him."I just got back from your organization," he said. He closed the door. "Safe houses...All gone." He looked at her the way he looked at things he had already finished thinking about. "The best part is they did not need me to point the finger. They looked at everything and landed on you. Their own girl chose her husband over the mission. Sold them out."Clara's mouth opened."What?" The word came out before sh
The jet’s roar had long faded into the night sky by the time the first survivors began creeping out from their hiding spots. The Eclipse Breed building smelled like death, gunpowder, piss, and copper thick enough to choke on. Walls that once echoed with orders now dripped red. Broken glass crunched under hesitant footsteps as the remaining women emerged, faces pale, eyes wild with the kind of shock that doesn’t wear off easy.In the upper room, the leader sat slumped against the table, breathing like a wounded animal. Her mangled hand throbbed with every heartbeat, three fingers gone, the stumps raw and pulsing. She grabbed a dirty scarf from the floor with her good hand, teeth clenched so hard her jaw ached, and wrapped it tight around the mess. Blood soaked through instantly, warm and sticky, but she didn’t flinch. Pain was nothing compared to the fire ripping through her chest.Rage consumed her. It wasn’t just anger. It was a white-hot fury that made her vision tunnel and her m
He picked up the empty bowl and walked out.Theodore waited barely two seconds before rushing out of the room almost frantically, moving through the hallway with the terrified speed of somebody escaping a predator that might return at any moment. He did not stop until he reached his assigned room
Theodore stared at her for a long moment. Then something unexpected happened. He laughed. Not a polite laugh but a nervous one. Clara laughed too, which surprised Theodore. Anyone walking into the room at that moment would have assumed they were old friends sharing a joke over afternoon drinks rat
The air inside the office changed completely.Jeffery keep starring at the screen without speaking for several seconds. Something cold moved through his chest.Edward had been dead for months.And now this woman was sitting across from him holding a picture on her phone like it was nothing. She h
The pain remained there, but it no longer frightened her.At some point, suffering stopped feeling temporary and simply became another condition of living.A few minutes later, H1 returned carrying folded clothes carefully arranged over its metallic arms.“Instructions from Mr Rothwell,” it said me







