LOGINCameron POvThe photograph stayed on my screen.I couldn’t stop staring at it.My mother’s face was impossible to mistake.She looked exactly how I remembered her, except the memory of her had always felt strangely incomplete, like someone had taken pieces of my childhood and carefully hidden them somewhere I could never reach.But there she was.Alive.Smiling.Standing beside Brandon’s mother.And suddenly, every painful memory I had carried for years felt like a lie.“Cameron,” Brandon whispered.I didn’t answer.My fingers were trembling around the phone.“My mother,” he said again.I finally looked at him.“She isn’t dead.”His eyes were already filling with tears.“I know.”For a few seconds, neither of us moved.We had spent years believing the people we loved were gone.We had blamed ourselves.We had mourned them.We had built our entire lives around that grief.And now someone had sent us a photograph that destroyed everything we thought we knew.My father stepped forward.“
The Cameron POv photograph stayed on my screen.I couldn’t stop staring at it.My mother’s face was impossible to mistake.She looked exactly as I remembered her, except I had spent years believing those memories were incomplete.She was smiling.Actually smiling.And beside her stood Brandon’s mother.Alive.Together.Standing inside a room that looked strangely familiar.“Cameron,” Brandon whispered.“I see it.”His hand slowly tightened around mine.“My mother.”I nodded.“She isn’t dead.”Neither of us spoke after that.For years, Brandon and I had carried the same kind of pain.We had both believed someone we loved had disappeared forever.We had both blamed ourselves in different ways.And now someone was telling us that the truth had been hidden.My father walked closer.“Give me the phone.”I immediately stepped backward.“No.”“Cameron.”“You don’t get to tell me anything anymore.”His expression tightened.“You don’t understand what that photograph means.”“Then explain it.
The gun being cocked made everyone freeze.I could barely breathe in the darkness.Brandon’s fingers immediately tightened around mine.“Stay with me,” he whispered.“I am.”My voice shook despite my attempt to sound calm.Another click came from somewhere ahead.“Drop the weapon,” Daniel ordered.Nobody answered.Then a gunshot exploded through the darkness.Someone screamed.I felt Brandon pull me down.Another shot followed.“Everybody stay down!”Daniel’s voice echoed through the corridor.I pressed myself against the floor, my heart pounding painfully.“Brandon?”“I’m here.”“Are you hurt?”“No.”I reached for him anyway.My fingers found his shoulder.He was shaking.So was I.Then the emergency lights flickered back on.I looked around immediately.My father was standing near the wall.Victor was beside him.Daniel had his gun raised.Adrian was crouched behind a desk.But someone was missing.“Where is Amelia?”Nobody answered.My stomach dropped.“Where is Amelia?”Daniel loo
gunsh.Cameron POVIt o never cameI remembered that first.My finger had been on the trigger.My father had been standing in front of me.I had looked directly into his eyes.And then—Nothing.No gunshot.No blood.No scream.Just silence.I gasped.My hand flew to my mouth as the memory broke apart inside my head.“Cameron?”Brandon’s voice sounded distant.I couldn’t answer him.I was back there.Back in that room.Back on that night.My father was standing across from me, wearing the same dark suit he always wore when he wanted to look untouchable.There had been blood on his collar.Not his blood.Someone else’s.My hands were shaking around the gun.“You don’t have to do this,” my father had said.I remembered laughing.Not because I was amused.Because I was terrified.“You’ve been telling me what I have to do my entire life.”His expression hardened.“You don’t understand what you’re involved in.”“I understand enough.”“You think you can destroy everything I’ve built?”“No.”
Cameron POVThe sound of the door being forced open made my entire body freeze.For one second, I forgot how to breathe.Brandon was still in my arms, his head resting against my chest, his fingers weakly gripping the front of my shirt as if letting go would make him disappear again.“Brandon?”His eyes were closed.“Brandon, please.”I shook his shoulder gently.Nothing.My heart slammed against my ribs.“No. No, no, no.”I could hear footsteps coming closer.Fast.Heavy.I looked toward the doorway, but the darkness made it impossible to see who was there.“Who is that?” I shouted.No answer.The footsteps stopped.Then someone spoke.“Cameron.”My blood turned cold.I knew that voice.I knew it too well.“Dad?”Brandon suddenly moved in my arms.His eyes opened.“Cameron…”His voice was barely audible.I looked down at him.“What?”He stared past me toward the doorway, and all the color drained from his face.“Don’t let him take me.”My stomach dropped.“What?”“Don’t…”His fingers
Cameron POVThe footsteps became louder.They were coming from both sides of the corridor.I looked around the archive room.There were too many of them.“We need another way out,” Daniel said.Evan was already moving toward the shelves.“There is one.”My father stared at him.“You won’t find it.”Evan looked back.“You’re forgetting who taught me how to escape this place.”My father’s expression hardened.“Cameron did.”“Yes.”Evan pulled a file from a shelf and threw it onto the floor.Behind it was a narrow opening in the wall.Amelia stared.“That was there the whole time?”Evan nodded.“This facility was built with emergency passages.”Adrian hurried toward it.“Where does it lead?”“Outside.”Everyone started moving.Everyone except me.I was still staring at the screen.The final sentence remained there.THE HUNT STARTS NOW.My younger self had known this would happen.He had planned for it.But there was something else.A small blinking icon had appeared in the corner of the
Cameron’s POVThe wind hit harder up on the rooftop, but I barely noticed it because all my focus locked onto the figure standing in front of us.They were not moving.Not rushing toward us.Not even trying to close the distance.They were just… waiting.Like this was exactly where we were supposed
Brandon The room felt like it had suddenly become ten degrees colder.Maybe it was the tension.Maybe it was the fact that Cameron was standing face-to-face with his father while a small metal bin full of burning documents crackled on the floor between them like some kind of dramatic movie prop th
Brandon’s POVThe external inquiry request went live at 8:03 a.m.Cameron did not hesitate when he pressed send. He had drafted the formal petition the night before with the kind of precision that turns emotion into structure. It was addressed to the university’s accreditation body, the academic e
Cameron’s POVI did not expect Peter to look scared.I expected smug, defensive, maybe even aggressive, but when Brandon and I walked into the campus security office the next afternoon and saw him sitting there with his hands clasped tightly together, eyes slightly red like he had not slept, I real







