MasukThe voice disappeared with the stars.For several seconds, none of us moved.The ocean rolled quietly beyond the cliffs, completely unaware that my entire world had just changed.Lucien stood beside me, his hand still wrapped around mine.“Seraphina.”I looked at him.“I heard it too.”He nodded.The fear in his eyes wasn’t for himself.It was for me.For our children.For the family we had fought so hard to build.Then Zero-D reached toward the darkness.Her tiny fingers opened.The strange symbol on her forehead glowed once.And everything became silent.No voice.No system.No warning.Nothing.I expected another enemy.Another secret.Another door waiting to be opened.Instead, I heard footsteps behind us.Richard.Alina.Noah.Victor.Nadia.Caleb.Isabella.Elena.Everyone had come outside.Richard looked at me.“What happened?”I shook my head.“I don’t know.”For the first time in years, that answer didn’t terrify me.Because I had finally learned something.Not every mystery
The child’s voice wouldn’t leave my head.I think I’m your son.I had replayed those six words all night.Every time I closed my eyes, I heard them again.By midnight, I was standing outside beneath a sky filled with stars, staring at the ocean.Lucien found me there.“You haven’t slept.”“I couldn’t.”He came to stand beside me.“You’re thinking about the call.”I nodded.“What if he’s telling the truth?”“Then we find him.”“What if he’s lying?”“Then we find out why.”I looked at him.“You make everything sound simple.”“It isn’t simple.”He reached for my hand.“But we don’t have to face complicated things alone anymore.”That sentence broke something inside me.For years, I had believed strength meant standing alone.I had been wrong.Strength was knowing who to stand beside.“I was afraid,” I admitted.Lucien squeezed my hand.“Of losing him?”“Of finding him.”He studied my face.“I don’t understand.”“What if I failed him?”“You didn’t know he existed.”“What if I should have?
For the first time in my life, I woke up without wanting someone dead.The realization was so strange that I lay still for several seconds, staring at the ceiling.No target.No conspiracy.No hidden chamber waiting beneath the floor.No enemy I needed to destroy before they destroyed me.Just sunlight.The sound of waves outside the window.And the soft breathing of my daughter beside me.Zero-D was sleeping peacefully in her crib.I smiled.A year ago, I would have laughed at the idea that peace could ever feel frightening.Now I understood why.When revenge became your reason for surviving, what happened after you won?Who were you when there was nobody left to hate?I turned toward the empty side of the bed.Lucien wasn’t there.For one terrible second, panic rushed through me.Then I heard laughter downstairs.His laughter.I smiled again.I got out of bed and walked downstairs.The sight waiting for me nearly broke my heart.Lucien stood in the kitchen wearing a plain white shir
The crying beneath the house wouldn’t stop.It was faint at first.A small, broken sound coming through the floorboards.Then it became louder.Closer.I held Zero-D against my chest while Lucien stood beside me, every muscle in his body tense.Across the room, Isabella and Elena exchanged a look.They knew something.I could see it.“You said there were three children,” I said. “Where are the other two?”Isabella’s face tightened.“We don’t know.”“That isn’t good enough.”“I know.”“Then start talking.”Lucien looked at Isabella.“She is right.”Isabella sighed.“The first family created a second branch of the project after Sovereign was shut down. They called it the Legacy Program.”Richard stepped closer.“I thought I destroyed those records.”“You destroyed the records,” Elena said. “Not the children.”Richard’s expression collapsed.“What did they do?”Elena looked at Zero-D.“They tried to recreate what you and Alina accidentally proved was possible.”My arms tightened around m
The woman standing outside our house looked like a ghost.Not because she was pale.Not because the wind moved through her dark hair like something out of a nightmare.But because I had seen her face before.In photographs.In old files.In memories Lucien had once told me about.And according to everyone who had known the truth—Isabella Voss was dead.Yet she stood beneath the moonlight, alive.Beside her stood Elena.Another woman who was supposed to have disappeared years ago.Neither of them looked happy to see us.Lucien stepped in front of me.His body reacted before his mind could.Protective.Automatic.The old mark on his palm glowed faintly.Isabella noticed.Her eyes narrowed.“So,” she whispered. “It really survived.”Lucien’s voice was cold.“What survived?”She looked at his hand.“The promise.”I tightened my grip on Zero-D.Our daughter slept peacefully inside the house, completely unaware that two women from her father’s buried past had just returned.Lucien didn’t m
The wedding was supposed to be the happiest day of my life.Instead, it had been a battlefield.I remembered almost nothing about it.That was the cruelest part.Lucien remembered more.I could see it in his eyes whenever someone mentioned our marriage.A flash of a white dress.A crowded room.His hand holding mine.A vow spoken beneath a storm of secrets.Then nothing.My memories were gone.But the marriage had survived.Not because a contract said we were husband and wife.Not because Black Veil needed us together.Not because Sovereign had chosen us.Because somewhere beneath all those stolen memories, we had chosen each other.Still, there was something I wanted.A real wedding.Not the wedding other people had designed.Not one surrounded by armed men and hidden enemies.Not one built on revenge.Ours.Lucien discovered my plan before I told him.He was standing in the garden when I approached.“What are you thinking?”I smiled.“Why do you assume I’m thinking?”“Because every







