LOGINThe safe house smells like someone else's life. Old coffee. Dust. That particular staleness of a place nobody actually lives in.Victoria's already there when we arrive, hunched over a laptop at the kitchen table. Three monitors. Too many cables. The blue light makes her look sick.She glances up. Sees my face."Your father," she says. Not a question.I don't answer. There's nothing to say about a man who died handcuffed to a table because he finally told the truth.Damien checks the windows. Twice. Then the back door. Then the windows again. His hand keeps drifting toward his hip where his gun sits. He hasn't stopped moving since we left the burning police station."Sit," Victoria says. "Please."The couch is brown. Seventies, maybe. The cushions sag in the wrong places. I sit anyway because my legs hurt and I can't remember the last time I ate or slept or did anything normal people do to stay functional.Damien stays by the window.Victoria turns one of her monitors toward me. "Dr.
The police station smells like burnt coffee and disinfectant.I've been here for six hours. Giving statements. Answering questions. Watching detectives take notes while my world falls apart in real time.Damien sits beside me. Silent. His presence the only thing keeping me grounded."Ms. Lawson." Detective Morrison slides a folder across the table. Mid-forties. Gray at the temples. Tired eyes. "We need to talk about your father."My stomach drops. "What about him?""He's been cooperating. Fully. Gave us names. Dates. Financial records. Everything." Morrison opens the folder. "But there's a problem. The kind where his story doesn't match yours."My blood goes cold. "What are you talking about?""Your father claims Richard Chen wasn't the primary funder. That there was someone else. Someone bigger. Someone who's still out there." Morrison looks at me. Studies my face. "He says this person is the real threat. That Chen was a middleman. Nothing more."Damien leans forward. "Who?""He won'
The world tilts.My father. Alive. Standing beside Richard Chen like colleagues. Like the last three years of grief were performance art."You're dead." The words scrape out. Hollow. "I went to your funeral. I watched them lower your casket.""Empty." My father still won't look at me. His hands shake. He shoves them in his pockets. "Richard arranged everything. Made it look real. Gave me a choice. Disappear and help him perfect Project Angel, or watch him kill you and your sister. Both of you. I chose the option where you lived."My throat closes. I force words through anyway. "By betraying us?""By protecting you." His voice cracks. Still won't meet my eyes. "Emma, you don't understand. Richard has resources. Connections. He could've made you both disappear years ago. The only reason you're still alive is because I agreed to work with him."Bile rises in my throat. Three years. Three jobs. Fourteen-hour shifts. Eating ramen in hospital break rooms while he was alive somewhere. Safe.
"We need equipment. Fast." Victoria is already moving. "Rebecca, do you have a first aid kit? Anything with needles?""In the bathroom. But I'm not a nurse. I don't know how to draw blood properly.""I do." I head toward the bathroom. "I've done it a thousand times."The kit is basic. Band-aids. Antiseptic. But there's a clean needle. Alcohol wipes. Small vials.It'll have to work.I return to the living room. Roll up my sleeve. Tie off my arm with a rubber band from the kitchen."Emma." My mother's voice wavers. "Are you sure?""No. But I'm doing it anyway." I prep the needle. Find the vein. "Victoria, you'll need to get this to a lab. Someone you trust completely. Run a full toxicology panel. Genetic markers. Anything that shows Project Angel in my system.""I have a contact. Former FDA scientist. He was forced out when he tried to expose Richard years ago. He'll help.""Good." I insert the needle. Dark red blood fills the vial. "Because if Richard gets that USB drive and kills me,
I stare at Victoria. "My mother?""Yes. Get in the car. We don't have much time.""My mother doesn't know anything about Project Angel. She left years ago. Moved away. We barely speak.""That's what she wanted you to believe." Victoria glances down the street. Nervous. "But she's been involved this whole time. She knows where your father hid the formula. And Richard knows she knows. He's moving on her right now."Damien steps forward. "Victoria, if this is a trap—""It's not. I swear. I have no reason to help Richard. He destroyed my father's company ten years ago. Just like he destroyed Emma's." She looks at me. "We're on the same side. Whether you believe it or not."I should walk away. Trust no one. Especially not Damien's ex-fiancée who appeared out of nowhere.But if my mother really knows something..."Where is she?""An hour north. Small town. She's been hiding there for three years." Victoria opens the car door wider. "Please. I'm trying to save her life. And yours."Damien lo
We get off the bus three stops early.Walk two blocks. Then another three. No pattern. No destination.Just distance from cameras and cops and anyone looking for a billionaire CEO and his doctor girlfriend.Except I'm not his girlfriend. I'm just someone pretending.Or am I? The lines blur more every hour."We need somewhere to go," Damien says. "Somewhere Richard won't think to look.""I have a place. Maybe." I pull out the key my father gave me five years ago. The one that's been sitting in my drawer. "He said to use this if something happened. I always thought he meant the safety deposit box.""What else could he have meant?""I don't know. But the key has numbers on it. I assumed they were a box number." I examine it closer in the daylight. "But what if they're something else? An address?"Damien takes the key. Studies it. "2847. Could be an apartment number. Or a storage unit.""We already know about the storage unit. It's burning.""Then an apartment. Somewhere he kept a second







