Chapter 57

Chapter 57

The voice froze the blood in his veins instantly.

Luca turned sharply.

Gun already in his hand.

Instinct.

Always instinct.

But the man standing beneath the flickering warehouse light didn’t flinch.

Didn’t move.

Didn’t even blink.

Elias Mercer.

Older now.

More scars.

Greyer hair.

But unmistakable.

One of Hale’s first handlers.

One of the men who trained children into weapons.

One of the ghosts Luca thought was dead.

Luca’s breathing slowed dangerously.

Cold rage settling beneath his skin.

“You should’ve stayed buried.”

Elias smiled faintly.

Not warmly.

Never warmly.

“But then I would’ve missed this.”

His eyes moved over Luca carefully.

Assessing.

Judging.

“The great Luca Raines finally remembering what he is.”

Luca’s finger tightened on the trigger.

“I know exactly what I am.”

“No,” Elias replied softly.

A pause.

“You know what Damon made you pretend to be.”

The words hit harder than they should have.

Because part of Luca already feared they were true.

The warehouse smelled exactly the same.

Dust.

Metal.

Rain leaking through the broken ceiling.

And underneath it all

Memory.

His chest tightened violently.

Training rooms.

Blood on concrete floors.

Children screaming.

Hale watching silently from observation windows.

Luca swallowed hard.

“You left,” Elias continued calmly.

“You chose love over purpose.”

Luca laughed once under his breath.

A dead sound.

“And look how well that turned out.”

Silence.

Because that

That was the wound.

Damon’s face after the truth came out.

That tiny step backward.

The pain in his eyes.

Luca would rather be shot again than see that look twice.

Elias stepped closer slowly.

“Hale warned us this would happen eventually.”

Luca’s eyes sharpened immediately.

“What did?”

“Attachment.”

A pause.

“Sentiment.”

Another step.

“Weakness.”

Luca raised the gun higher.

“Stop talking.”

But Elias kept going.

Because men like him always believed they owned the last word.

“You think Damon can survive loving someone like you?”

Luca’s jaw tightened painfully.

“He already has.”

Elias smiled again.

Smaller this time.

Crueler.

“No.”

A beat.

“He survived until he learned the truth.”

That one landed.

Deep.

Precise.

Because Luca had seen it too.

The crack in Damon after the reveal.

The devastation.

The confusion.

The grief.

Luca looked away for half a second.

And Elias noticed immediately.

“There it is.”

The warehouse lights flickered once overhead.

“You know what the funniest part is?” Elias asked softly.

Luca said nothing.

“You were always drawn to him.”

That made Luca look up sharply.

“What?”

Elias tilted his head slightly.

“After the mission.”

A pause.

“You kept asking questions.”

Luca’s pulse slowed.

Cold.

No.

“You returned to the scene three times.”

Fragments crashed violently through Luca’s mind.

Rain.

Police lights.

A little boy crying beside an ambulance.

Luca staggered slightly.

“No…”

Elias watched him carefully.

“You didn’t understand why you couldn’t stop thinking about him.”

Another memory surfaced.

Young Luca standing across the street in silence while paramedics pulled Damon into a vehicle.

Watching.

Waiting.

Unable to leave.

“Oh my God.”

The words barely escaped him.

Because some part of him

Even then

Had been unable to walk away from Damon.

Elias’s voice lowered.

“Hale should’ve killed you after that.”

Luca’s expression hardened instantly.

“But he didn’t.”

“No.”

A pause.

“Because Hale realized something useful.”

Lightning flashed outside.

The warehouse briefly turning white.

“You weren’t broken beyond repair.”

Silence.

“You were broken toward him.”

Luca stopped breathing for a second.

Because suddenly

Everything made horrifying sense.

The obsession.

The protectiveness.

The instinctive need to save Damon even before understanding why.

Not fate.

Not coincidence.

Conditioning.

Trauma.

Guilt buried so deep his mind reshaped itself around it.

Luca looked physically ill now.

Elias stepped closer again.

“You loved him because your mind needed forgiveness.”

The words sliced clean through him.

And worst of all

Part of Luca believed them.

The warehouse doors suddenly slammed open behind them.

Both men turned instantly.

Damon stood there breathing hard from the rain.

Gun in hand.

Eyes locked entirely on Luca.

Relief hit Luca first.

Fast.

Violent.

Dangerous.

Then guilt followed immediately after.

“Damon”

Damon ignored Elias completely.

Only looking at Luca.

Checking him.

Alive.

Still alive.

Then his eyes shifted slowly toward Elias.

Ice cold.

“…you talk too much.”

Elias smiled faintly.

“There he is.”

Damon stepped fully into the warehouse.

Rainwater dripping from his coat.

“You manipulated children,” Damon said quietly.

Elias shrugged slightly.

“We created survivors.”

“No.”

Damon’s voice sharpened instantly.

“You created weapons because it was easier than creating people.”

Silence.

Luca stared at Damon.

Because even now

Even after everything

Damon still looked at him like he was human.

And that almost hurt worse.

Elias noticed too.

Of course he did.

“You still love him,” he said softly to Damon.

Damon’s grip on the gun tightened.

“Yes.”

Luca closed his eyes briefly.

Shattered by the honesty.

Elias laughed quietly.

“Then Hale was right about you too.”

Damon frowned.

“What does that mean?”

Elias smiled.

Slowly.

Terribly.

“It means this was never the real plan.”