LOGINThe walk back to her room felt longer than usual. Not because the distance had changed but because she had.
Althea slowed when she reached Nicholas’ door and opened it quietly.
Inside, the lights were soft, warm, untouched by the chaos that had consumed everything else.
Nicholas lay asleep, peaceful in a way that felt almost unreal after everything that had happened. One arm was thrown over the blanket, his breathing steady, unbothered. The other one clutching her d
Silence filled the war room after what Althea had just said.August stared at her in confusion before finally letting out a laugh in complete disbelief. However, he stopped when Althea just only looked at him."You're serious." He commented.Althea nodded."I've never been more serious." She answered. “And you know it.”For nearly twenty minutes she explained everything to him about the dinosaurs, the symbolic thinking as well as the directional markers.She then proceeded to the estate and the ancient statues.August remained silent throughout, occasionally asking questions and moving drawings, simply staring at them and absorbing what Althea is telling him.He leaned back on his chair when Althea was finally finished telling him."My Lord." He said in disbelief as his eyes scanned the drawings and maps. "The boy inherited both of you."Althea smiled."I think he inherited Alessandro too." She added.August nodded slowly."He absolutely did." He agreed. “That boy’s mind is definitely
Blackstone is starting to wake up, the eastern sky glowing with the first light of dawn while the remainder of the estate still rested under the blue-gray morning mist.Normally, Althea would have returned to their bedroom after her morning routine at the medical wing and would have woken Dominic gently, placing a kiss on his forehead.She will then tell him what Nicholas had unknowingly discovered.However, she stopped halfway back to their room, resting her hand on the banister."No." She whispered to herself.Althea could feel her heart was pounding too quickly and her mind refusing to wait. Every instinct she possessed screamed at her that if she stopped now or allow even just one interruption, the fragile pattern forming inside her mind might disappear.She looked towards the hallway leading to the master bedroom.Dominic deserved to hear it first.He deserved to be the first one beside her when they finally unraveled Alessandro's greatest secret.But another voice answered insid
Althea slowly realized after looking back and forth at the drawings and the dinosaurs, the dinos are no longer toys anymore.They’re markers! She thought frantically. Directional markers.She immediately rearranged the drawings, placing each dinosaur beside corresponding symbols.The room disappeared as her mind entered the place Dominic jokingly called"The Pattern World."Where nothing existed except relationships.Connections.Geometry.Logic.She whispered."Not rooms..." She whispered as her breathing quickened. "They're directions."She rearranged another paper."No." She muttered as she rearranged another sheet on the floor. "They're orientation points."She looked at the Tyrannosaurus.Then the Triceratops.Then the Stegosaurus.North.South.East.West.Her eyes widened."The species..." She started but froze and let out a soft, quiet and disbelieving laugh. She shook her head. “No. No way.”Althea reached toward Nicholas' bookshelf and removed the children's dinosaur encyclo
The first rays of sunlight slipped through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the master bedroom, washing the room in soft amber light. Outside, a gentle morning mist clung to the gardens, making the fountains and ancient trees appear almost ethereal as dawn came quietly.For the first time in several nights, the estate itself felt still despite the problems still being there.It was because exhaustion had finally forced everyone into sleep.Almost everyone.Althea's eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the light.Years of medical training had conditioned her body to wake before sunrise regardless of how late she slept.She remained lying still for several moments, breathing and listening.The steady rhythm beside her immediately caught her attention.Dominic.Still asleep.She slowly turned her head.He rarely slept this deeply.Not anymore.The past several days had stolen what little rest he usually managed to get. His brow, usually furrowed even in sleep, was finally relaxed. His breat
Blackstone Estate had finally quieted down but not asleep or more like it had never truly slept anymore ever since the Axis and Matteo.Not since Alessandro's secrets had begun resurfacing one by one.The hallways are now illuminated by warm lights and the security teams quietly rotated shifts.The gardens outside glowed beneath moonlight.Everything looked peaceful but also felt deceptive because beneath Blackstone's calm exterior, every person inside was carrying something.Questions.Fear.Suspicion.And tonight, Althea carried Matteo Valtieri.She was not carrying the man himself but his patterns.Althea entered her room with Dominic quietly and the familiar scent immediately greeted her as she stepped inside.Sandalwood.Fresh linen.Dominic.Home.The room itself had always been her sanctuary.A place where she could allow herself to stop being Dr. Althea Johnson or Miracle Hands.A place where she could simply become Althea.Althea Valtieri.A mother.A woman.Dominic’s wife an
Thirty minutes later, Althea finally finished telling them everything that happened between her and Matteo.She was silently glad that nobody interrupted, spoke nor moved when she was talking.The entire room listened to every detail she spoke.The locker room.The encounter.His words.His smile.His offer.His confidence.His knowledge about the vault.His attempt to recruit her.When she finished, nobody said anything for almost a minute.Then Antonio stood up immediately, with a look of anger on his face."I'm going to f8cking kill him." He growled angrily.Enzo grabbed his arm."No!” He countered evenly. “You’ll only make it worse!”Antonio pointed toward Althea, his anger starting to get the better of him. “That f8cking lunatic intentionally cornered her!” He shouted furiously. “How dare he talked to her and had the balls to recruit her.”"He—.""No, Antonio." Enzo repeated hardly. “Get that f8cking temper down, man.”Antonio looked genuinely angry."Why the hell not?""Because
The library was too quiet. The unnatural stillness of the room, the room that had learned to keep secrets.Althea felt it the moment she stepped inside.The heavy doors closed behind her with a soft, final click, as she entered the room, sealing her in among shelves of leather-bound volumes and the
Dominic woke before the house did.It was a habit carved into bone since the death of his father. Long before he’d learned how to love and long before he’d learned how to lose.The Valtieri estate never truly sleep. It just changed shifts, exchanged eyes, and recalibrated. However, Dominic was able
It wasn’t the cameras as they had been clean.Dominic remembered that he checked them twice himself, then had them checked again by a man who didn’t know whose orders he was following.There were no glitches nor loops. Corrupted feeds are absent as well. The system had been pristine as always, the
The library had become Althea’s refuge when she’s in the Valtieri estate. It’s not because it was safe, but because it was predictable. Books did not lie and charts did not manipulate. Medicine did not demand loyalty in exchange for survival.She sat at the long table with a medical text open in fr







