LOGINChaper 147CELESTE"And if the child is yours?"The question sat between us. I hadn't planned to ask it so directly but once it was out I didn't take it back, because I needed to know. Not just for myself but because there were already three boys in the media room down the hall who would be affected by the answer.Xenois turned to look at me fully. His eyes were tired and in pain and completely clear."If a child is mine," he said, "I will be responsible for that child. That's not something I'm willing to walk away from." A pause. "But that doesn't change anything about us. About what we are. About what I want.""You might not feel that way when your memories are fully back.""I might not," he agreed, and I appreciated that he didn't offer easy reassurance. "I've been thinking about that a lot, actually. About what it would mean to fully remember, whether the person who remembers everything would still be the person sitting here now." He looked down at his hands. "I don't know the ans
Chapter 146CELESTEThere was a quality to the silence that followed that I didn't have a name for."You trained," Xenois said, and it wasn't quite a question."Alina insisted.""I'm going to say something very inadequate, given everything," he said, his voice low and slightly rough. "And I know it doesn't cover what you went through today. But Celeste—""Don't thank me," I said. "They're my children."He was quiet for a moment. Then: "They're ours."Something about the way he said it, the particular steadiness of it, broke through whatever emotional containment I'd been maintaining for the past three hours. I felt my eyes sting and blinked hard, refusing to cry in the driveway while Dmitri watched from twenty feet away."The boys want to see you," I said instead, pulling back slightly. "Troy has been holding himself together by pure force of will for two hours and he's going to need to see for himself that you're intact.""Then let's go in," he said.---**Chapter 147**The reunion w
Chapter 145CELESTE"Yes," I said immediately. "Sloane told me they found him and he's on his way home.""He was kidnapped," Troy said. Not a question."He was in a dangerous situation and he got out of it," I said carefully. "He's injured but he's going to be fine.""Because Dad is really hard to kill," Lake offered from across the room, with the particular deadpan delivery of a child who'd processed something genuinely terrifying and converted it into a manageable narrative.Sloane made a sound that might have been suppressed laughter."Your father is very capable," I agreed, which felt like the most honest version of the truth available.Soren lifted his head from where he'd been burrowed against my side. His eyes were red and his hair was sticking up in four different directions and he looked very small and very young, and I tightened my arm around him until he squeaked slightly."Sorry," I said. "Sorry, baby.""You can squeeze me," he said, with great magnanimity. "I don't mind."
Chapter 144CELESTEThe paramedics wanted to check me over, which I resisted until one of them pointed out that I had blood on my left hand that wasn't mine and a laceration on my forearm I hadn't even noticed taking. Adrenaline was a remarkable thing. It turned out a piece of shattered picture frame had caught me somewhere during the chaos, leaving a shallow but angry cut that needed cleaning and closure strips.I let them treat it while keeping one arm wrapped around Soren, who had decided he wasn't letting go of me under any circumstances and whom I had no intention of arguing with.Troy sat beside me on the couch with his knees pulled to his chest, watching everything with those too-old eyes of his. Lake had attached himself to Jason, who to his credit was handling it with the steady patience of someone used to managing frightened people in aftermath situations.The house was still full of people—tactical officers, paramedics, someone taking photographs of every bullet hole and bl
Chapter 143CELESTEAnd three minutes until help arrived.I heard footsteps behind me—they were closing in, coordinating a sweep that would eventually corner me.I needed a better position. Somewhere I could make a stand, somewhere I could hold out for three more minutes.The wine cellar.It was accessed through the kitchen, down a narrow staircase. Only one way in or out, which was usually a tactical disadvantage. But the door was solid oak, reinforced with iron bands—original to the house, built to last. And inside were racks of wine bottles that could serve as improvised weapons or obstacles.I sprinted for the kitchen, hearing shouts behind me as they spotted my movement. Bullets chased me across the tile floor.I reached the wine cellar door, yanked it open, and descended the stairs in three jumps. At the bottom, I grabbed the heaviest wine bottle I could reach and hurled it up the stairs.It shattered on the top step, creating a slippery obstacle of broken glass and spilled wine
Chapter 142CELESTEThe door exploded inward as someone kicked it. The dresser slowed them down, scraping across the floor but not fully blocking entry.A man pushed through the gap—mid-forties, professional military bearing, gun raised.I shot him.The recoil jarred my arms but my aim was true. The bullet caught him in the shoulder, spinning him around and sending his weapon clattering to the floor. He went down cursing, clutching the wound.Eight bullets left."She's armed!" someone shouted from the hallway. "Fuck, she actually shot Miller!"More gunfire erupted, this time directed at me. I dove behind the bed as bullets tore through the mattress, filling the air with feathers and fabric particles.I couldn't stay here. They had superior numbers and firepower. If I let them pin me down in this room, they'd eventually overrun my position and find the boys.I needed to draw them away. Make them chase me through the house, use my knowledge of every nook and cranny against their numbers
Chapter 54XENOISRamon's smile faltered slightly. "But my friend, you have not always been so... moral. There was a time when you were more practical about such things.""Was there?" I asked, looking at Dmitri for confirmation."No," Dmitri said flatly. "You've always refused to get involved in th
Chapter 49XENOISThe silence in the study room was broken from the sound of the pencil on paper and the frustrated sighs of the boys as they worked through their assignments. I sat at the large mahogany desk, helping Troy with his mathematics problems while Lake and Soren worked independently on t
Chapter 47CELESTEThe warehouse smelled of salt air and rot, it was a combination that I had been used to, over the years. I stood in the shadows near the loading dock, watching as Sandro's men pushed off their latest "merchandise" off the truck like cattle. My stomach churned with nausea at the
Chapter 42: Unexpected HouseguestDMITRI"Dmitri, stand down!" Sloane's voice came from behind me, sharp with authority. "Don't shoot!"I felt Sloane's hand on my arm, gently but firmly pushing my weapon toward the floor. "It's okay. He's not a threat.""What the hell is going on?" I demanded, thou







