LOGIN~~Alex~~I went straight to the torture room for answers. The place stank of bleach and old sweat the kind of room that chews up civility and spits out whatever conscience was foolish enough to walk in. Elijah sat strapped to a steel chair like a bouquet of wounds: half his face purpled, one brow split, his knuckles raw where the ropes had bitten through. He was still, but not asleep. There was a dull, dangerous calm in him, the kind that comes from a man who has practiced bearing pain like armor.I should have felt pity. Instead my chest was carved out by righteous anger.“You know what I hate?” I asked, leaning in until my voice scraped his ear. The bulb above us buzzed like an insect, making everything too bright and unreal. “I hate liars who sleep easy while the people they lied to almost die because of them.”Elijah’s eyes tracked me. He didn’t flinch never had. Stoic, practiced, like someone who rehearsed pain the way other people practiced signatures.“So,” I said, softer this
~~Alex~~I’d spent the past twelve hours inside the Saito clan’s firewall or what passed for one. For an organization that prided itself on secrecy, their network was an absolute joke. Layers of old encryption, lazy firewalls, and recycled codes from the early 2000s. If these people ruled the underground, it was only because no one had bothered to challenge them with real tech.My fingers flew across the keyboard, the blue light of the monitors painting my face in cold shadows. Lines of code scrolled endlessly digital veins pulsing with secrets that were never meant to see daylight. Every click felt like peeling another layer of skin off a monster that had hidden too long behind money and fear.And God, did they have layers.Financial laundering through shell charities. Child trafficking routes disguised as “relocation programs.” Dirty money wired to politicians who smiled too easily on camera. Every sin cataloged, timestamped, archived neatly like they were proud of their crimes.“Id
~~Dahlia~~ James’s voice was the only thing that broke the silence as he checked Lena’s vitals. The machines hummed quietly beside her, their rhythmic beeping somehow too calm for the chaos that had just unfolded. I stood near the edge of the bed, arms crossed so tightly that my fingers dug into my sleeves. After a few minutes, James straightened, pulled the stethoscope from his ears, and exhaled. “Did either of you tell her anything about what happened in the past weeks?” The question was pointed, his tone sharper than usual. I didn’t even think before blurting, “Her mother did. She told her about Jay.” Lena health was all that matters to me. Madam Hale shifted uncomfortably in the chair beside the bed, eyes red but defiant. James turned toward her slowly, his expression unreadable behind the glare of his glasses. “You told her what?” he asked, his voice dangerously quiet. “She deserved to know!” Madam Hale snapped, though her voice shook. “She asked about her brother. What was
~~Lena~~Before I could even ask where Jay was, the door swung open, and in walked my mother my dearest mother, as dramatic and polished as always, but this time, she looked nothing like the woman I remembered. Her face was pale, her eyes swollen with tears, and for a second, I wondered if I was hallucinating. Because my mother didn’t cry. Not even at funerals. And the worst was that… she looked like she cared, like she gives a fuck. Does her amazing husband know she’s here like this…?She stopped a few feet from the bed, one trembling hand pressed to her lips, staring at me like she was afraid I’d vanish if she blinked too hard. Then, as if some invisible thread snapped inside her, she rushed forward and cupped my face, tears spilling freely down her cheeks.“Lena… sweetheart,” she whispered, her voice raw. “Oh, my baby.”The shock of seeing her like that almost made me laugh. My mother—“ the woman who once scolded me for crying during a breakup was now sobbing like she’d just seen a
~~Lena~~Waking up to my cutie pie here with me kind of makes me very happy. There she was, sitting by my bed, eyes all puffy like she’s been crying for days and still somehow managing to look adorable. But… something felt strange. Her face…it looked different. Familiar yet not.The lips were the same shape I remembered kissing in quiet stolen moments, the kind eyes were still there, but the details the subtle lines, the warmth of recognition felt scrambled, like someone had taken my memories and shaken them up like dice. I tried to remember clearly to rebuild her face before I hit my head but my mind was a blank screen, flickering with static.Still, my body reacted instantly. That flutter in my chest, the calm I felt with her presence yeah, my heart didn’t lie. She was definitely Lisa. My Lisa. My cutie pie.And knowing my family, the only person I was expecting to be hovering over me right now was Jay. My overprotective, too serious for his own good little brother. But he wasn’t he
~~Dahlia~~It had been four days since I’d practically moved into Lena’s ward in my crazy brother’s house…. Four long, endless days of stale hospital air and the steady hum of machines that mocked me with their consistency. Every beep felt like it was marking time I couldn’t get back. Every whisper from the nurses outside the door reminded me that she still wasn’t awake.I don’t even know what came over me that made me come here to her…. I just couldn’t imagine her leaving I guess.James had said she’d open her eyes today. But then again, he’d said the same thing two days ago, standing at the foot of her bed with that rehearsed doctor’s optimism that didn’t fool me anymore. I wanted to believe him, but faith had a cruel way of fading when the person you love refused to come back.And love… God, that word. How could I fall in love with a woman?She basically my first love… the first human I feel genuine love for and not the kind I feel for my ego.I dragged the chair closer to the bed







