Zurich glistened like a jewel beneath the fog of morning.The air was crisp as the team’s private jet touched down at a discreet, high-security terminal far from commercial routes. Jade had orchestrated the arrival under a forged identity: Lady Katarina Volkov, a Russian arms dealer with deep pockets and deeper secrets.Grace, disguised as her "niece," walked with quiet confidence behind her mother. Her heels clicked against the marble floor, and her heartbeat kept pace with each step. Cassian carried Hope, now hidden under layers of fabric and voice-altering tech. Damien trailed them, fingers itching over the gun concealed inside his blazer.Noah, cuffed and collared like an exotic criminal trophy, was flanked by two of Jade’s mercenaries.Every move had to be flawless.If one person at the Board’s summit suspected who they truly were, they wouldn’t make it out alive.Welcome to the Beast's DenThe summit was being held in a glass fortress known as Eterna Tower, located on the outski
The knife trembled in Noah’s hand.Or maybe it was Grace’s grip around his wrist, her breath coming fast, heart pounding louder than the footsteps echoing down the hall. The moonlight filtered through the broken curtains of the guest room, casting ghostly slivers across the floor. Hope, safe in the adjoining suite, hadn't stirred. Yet.“Noah?” she hissed, still straddling his chest, the cold steel of her blade pressing to his throat. “What the hell are you doing here?”He gave a twisted smile, blood trickling from his lip. “Finishing what you started.”A footstep in the hall. Damien burst in with his gun drawn, eyes sharp, posture lethal. Behind him, Cassian appeared seconds later, gaze flicking from Noah to Grace’s position on top of him.“I thought he was dead,” Damien muttered, lifting his gun to Noah’s temple.“He should’ve been,” Cassian added.Noah laughed, low and bitter. “You all underestimate the Board. You think Jade’s the enemy? She’s a puppet. A wild one, but still just a
The stars above the Moroccan desert were sharp and cold. They watched in silence as Grace stood before the woman she once believed to be dead, the woman whose blood ran through her veins, whose legacy she had tried to erase.Jade.Her mother. Her maker. Her enemy.Jade stood calmly amidst the shadowy glow of lanterns, her presence commanding, eyes ancient and unreadable. She looked nothing like the woman Grace remembered from faded photographs and encrypted videos. The woman before her now looked ageless, elegant in a white silk tunic, adorned with rings that shimmered like secrets."You have questions," Jade said smoothly.“I have bullets too,” Damien growled, hand hovering near his sidearm.Cassian scanned the perimeter, calculating escape routes.But Grace? She couldn’t move. Her legs were trembling, her throat dry."You burned in the lab," she managed. "I saw the DNA report. The remains"“Were faked,” Jade replied without hesitation. “A diversion. One I orchestrated myself.”Grace
The Italian sun dipped behind the cliffs of Amalfi, painting the sky in streaks of amber and lavender. Grace sat barefoot on the terrace, her skin still tender from the burns, her ribs taped beneath a silk robe, and her heart, uncertain.Damien emerged from inside the villa, carrying two glasses of red wine.“You’re not supposed to be drinking,” he said with a teasing smile.She raised an eyebrow. “You brought two glasses.”He handed her one and shrugged. “I said you weren’t supposed to. Not me.”They clinked glasses quietly.For a moment, there was only the sound of waves crashing below them, and the rustling of olive trees in the wind.Grace exhaled slowly. “You ever wonder how we got here?”Damien chuckled. “You mean from private jets and boardroom battles to blood-soaked vaults, clones, and kidnapped kids?”She nodded.He tilted his head, eyes serious now. “We survived.”“That doesn’t mean it’s over.”What Peace Feels Like…Inside the villa, Hope, Grace’s clone, technically, but m
The cold air clung to Grace’s skin like a warning. The abandoned Prague station echoed with distant creaks and rustling metal, but her focus was locked on the woman standing just twenty feet ahead, her replica, her nightmare, her mirror.Echo.She looked like Grace, spoke like her, but everything else… everything essential, was wrong. Not just corrupted. Twisted.Adrian groaned from the shadows, bound and bruised. He’d been tortured, not for information, Grace suspected, but to send a message.This was never just about power.It was about legacy.Echo had inherited Jade’s madness, and amplified it with Grace’s strength.“You don’t have to do this,” Grace said, heart hammering against her ribcage. “You’re more than what she programmed you to be.”Echo laughed softly. “Don’t try to redeem me. I’m not your little project.”“You were never a project. You were a person. You still are.”The wind blew through the broken glass windows above them. Dust and moonlight swirled.Grace took a step
Paris never slept, but tonight it was silent.Grace sat on the windowsill of the penthouse she shared with Damien, watching the river where she’d thrown away the GR-Alpha vial just hours ago. The world hadn’t ended. No alarms had sounded. But something inside her had broken and settled all at once.That vial represented everything Jade had built, power disguised as promise, salvation wrapped in chains. By letting it go, Grace hadn’t just denied Jade. She’d denied the future her past had tried to design for her.But the ache remained.Because in that moment of freedom, she’d also chosen chaos.Damien’s SilenceDamien hadn’t said a word since she threw the vial into the river. He stood near the glass kitchen counter now, drinking his second glass of aged bourbon, eyes dark with something unreadable.“You’re mad,” she finally said, unable to bear the silence.“No,” he replied quietly, still not looking at her. “I’m terrified.”Grace frowned. “Of what?”“That you’ll disappear again. That