تسجيل الدخولAriana’s POVMy breath caught in my throat.⸻“…Alina?”⸻She stood motionless beneath the flickering red emergency lights, dressed entirely in black. Her dark coat brushed against the metal floor as smoke curled faintly behind her from the damaged corridor.For a moment—She didn’t look like my sister.She looked like someone else entirely.Colder.Harder.Dangerous.⸻The facility fell silent.Even the scientists looked uneasy.⸻Alina’s gaze moved across the room slowly before finally settling on me.And for the first time since she disappeared—Emotion cracked across her face.⸻“Ariana.”⸻Hearing my name in her voice almost broke me.⸻I stepped forward instinctively.⸻“Where have you been?!”⸻My voice echoed sharply through the corridor.Months of fear.Confusion.Pain.Everything burst out at once.⸻“Do you have any idea what happened after you disappeared?!”⸻Alina didn’t answer immediately.Her eyes flickered briefly toward Damien.Then Elias.Then the older man.⸻“You
Ariana’s POVThe silence that followed felt unbearable.Heavy.Sharp.Dangerous.⸻I stared at Damien.And for the first time since all of this began—He couldn’t meet my eyes immediately.⸻Fear crept slowly into my chest.Not the fear of being chased.Not the fear of dying.Something worse.The fear of betrayal.⸻“What didn’t he tell me?” I asked quietly.⸻Nobody answered.⸻The older man smiled faintly beneath the flashing red emergency lights.⸻“Oh,” he murmured. “So she truly doesn’t know.”⸻“Enough,” Damien snapped sharply.⸻But the damage was already done.⸻My pulse hammered violently as I looked between them.⸻“Damien.”⸻He finally looked at me then.And something in his expression made my stomach twist.Conflict.⸻“Ariana…”⸻“What is he talking about?”⸻Before Damien could answer, Elias spoke first.⸻“The Blackwoods funded this facility years ago.”⸻The words hit like a physical blow.⸻I stared at Damien in disbelief.⸻“No.”⸻Damien’s jaw tightened instantly.
Ariana’s POVMy entire body went cold.The voice echoed through the tunnel again, smooth and distorted, neither fully male nor female.⸻“Welcome back, Ariana.”⸻Back?The word lodged itself painfully in my chest.⸻I stared into the white light ahead, my breathing uneven as confusion twisted violently inside me.⸻“What does that mean?” I whispered.⸻No one answered immediately.Because the reaction beside me was worse than the voice itself.⸻Elias looked terrified.Truly terrified.⸻Not nervous.Not cautious.Afraid.⸻“That’s impossible,” he muttered again.⸻Damien’s eyes sharpened instantly.⸻“You know what this is.”⸻Elias didn’t respond.⸻“Answer me.”⸻The tension in Damien’s voice sliced through the tunnel sharply.Dangerously.⸻But before Elias could speak—The voice returned.⸻“You took longer than expected.”⸻The white light intensified suddenly, illuminating more of the tunnel ahead.Metal walls.Steel doors.Wires.Machines.⸻My stomach dropped.⸻This wasn’t
Ariana’s POVThe growling grew louder.Closer.Deeper within the tunnels.My blood turned cold.⸻“They brought dogs,” I whispered.⸻The sound echoed again—low, vicious, hungry.The masked men were no longer just searching.They were hunting.⸻Damien’s expression hardened instantly.⸻“We keep moving.”⸻The tunnel stretched endlessly ahead of us, dark and narrow, lit only by weak lanterns fixed against damp stone walls. Water dripped steadily from the ceiling, each sound sharp against the suffocating silence between the growls behind us.My breathing hurt.Every inhale burned deeper now.But fear pushed my body forward.Barely.⸻Elias moved ahead quickly, guiding us through twisting paths beneath Ashford Cove.⸻“How far does this place go?” Damien asked sharply.⸻“Far enough,” Elias answered.⸻“That isn’t reassuring.”⸻“It isn’t supposed to be.”⸻Another bark echoed behind us.Closer this time.Much closer.⸻My pulse jumped violently.⸻“They’re gaining on us.”⸻“We know,”
Ariana’s POV“Ariana.”The moment the masked man called my name, the world around me seemed to stop.Not Alina.Not Mrs. Blackwood.Ariana.My real name.My stomach dropped so violently it felt painful.For one terrifying second, nobody moved.Then everything exploded into chaos.⸻“Take her alive!”⸻The command echoed through the inn like a death sentence.Gunshots rang out instantly after.Glass shattered across the room.The innkeeper screamed and dropped behind the counter as guests scrambled in panic.I froze.My body refused to react.Fear rooted me to the floor.⸻Damien moved first.Fast.Violent.Controlled.⸻He grabbed my arm and yanked me downward just as another bullet tore through the wall behind me.Wood splintered everywhere.⸻“Run!” he barked.⸻One of the masked men lunged toward us, but Damien struck him hard across the face before he could get close enough to grab me. The attacker stumbled backward into a table, crashing against it violently.Another man raised h
Ariana’s POVMy heart would not slow down.Even after stepping away from the railing.Even after Damien moved slightly in front of me like instinct alone had told him to create distance between me and the man downstairs.It kept pounding.Hard.Violent.Because one thought repeated endlessly inside my head—How does he know me?⸻The man below remained still.Watching.Waiting.⸻His dark coat brushed against the wooden floor as he shifted slightly, his sharp eyes never leaving the upper level.Never leaving me.⸻“I don’t know him,” I whispered quickly.⸻Damien didn’t answer immediately.⸻But I felt the tension radiating from him.Controlled.Cold.Dangerously restrained.⸻“Stay behind me,” he said quietly.⸻Before I could protest, he began descending the stairs.Slowly.Measured.Every step deliberate.⸻I followed despite his earlier warning.Because there was no world in which I would remain upstairs alone wondering who had come looking for me.⸻The lower hall of the inn felt







