MasukCedric woke up slowly, the way he did now, in the quiet dark before the sun rose. Gianni's arm lay heavy and warm around his waist, the kind of hold that said the world could wait a little longer this morning. Light slanted through the windows in thin, pale bars, painting the room gold and soft, catching dust in the air like something worth noticing. For once there was no screaming in the night behind him, no cold sweat clinging to the sheets, just the steady rhythm of Gianni's breathing against his shoulder.He smiled, small and private, and eased out from under the blankets without waking him. The floorboards were cool under his bare feet as he padded down the hall. The foundation was already stirring by the time he reached the kitchen, someone's radio playing low in another room, footsteps overhead. Pancakes first, light and fluffy, the batter sizzling the second it hit the pan. Then eggs cracked one after another against the rim of the bowl, then coffee brewing for everyone who'd
Years went by like a slow current, pulling everyone forward into something that finally felt like peace.Cedric was older now. Deeper lines around his eyes, a little silver working its way through his dark hair. But he still carried himself with that same quiet purpose that had gotten him through hell in the first place. Every evening he sat with Gianni on the porch steps, their hands finding each other without either of them really trying anymore, the habit worn smooth from years of doing it. A pot of coffee usually sat cooling between them, forgotten while they watched fireflies blink across the yard.The foundation had grown into something worldwide by now. Doors open across Europe, North America, pockets of Africa and Asia. Every year it pulled thousands of kids out of danger, kids who'd been trafficked, abused, turned into tools by people like Marcus and whatever was left of the old Society. The clones had grown into their own kind of leadership, each one settling into the part o
The study was small and quiet, the kind of room that made the rest of the world fall away. Sunlight cut through the blinds in long stripes across the wooden table, dust drifting through the light like it had nowhere better to be. A stack of legal pads sat between them, half covered in crossed out lines and notes scrawled in the margins, a mug of tea going cold near Lily's elbow. Every afternoon, Cedric and Lily sat down to work on the book, voices low, memories spilling out like something that had been waiting years to finally be said. They'd picked the title together. Broken and Whole, written across the front of a fresh notebook in Lily's looping handwriting. Now the pages were filling up with truth neither of them had said out loud before.Lily asked the hard questions first, pen hovering like she needed a second to brace for whatever answer was coming. "Tell me about the darkest moments. The alleyways. The drugs. The men who used you."Cedric kept his voice steady, even as his gri
Months slid by like water, quiet and steady, dragging everything forward whether anyone was ready or not. The foundation had rebuilt itself into something sturdier than before. Fresh plaster still smelled faintly of paint on warm afternoons. The garden kept blooming no matter how rough the winter had been. Kids who used to flinch at loud noises now tore through the hallways yelling, chasing each other around corners without anyone telling them to quiet down. The clones weren't just surviving anymore. They were building lives. Some worked in hospitals now, stitching wounds with hands that used to shake too badly to hold a needle. Others opened little shops, taught art classes, helped the youngest kids sound out words, their names painted on storefront windows in careful letters. The world had finally seen them. And for once, it actually listened.Lily went back to school, studying psychology, her desk buried under textbooks and color coded sticky notes. There was a steadiness in her no
The bulb overhead flickered on a bad wire, throwing short bursts of shadow across the table between them. It never quite went out, just stuttered, like it hadn't made up its mind. The room smelled faintly of bleach and older, stubborn stains no amount of cleaning had lifted. Marcus sat across from him, thinner than Cedric remembered from the reactor, his collarbones sharp under the prison jumpsuit, his voice dropped down low and almost tender. It didn't match a single word of what he said next."Enzo Senior didn't just create you," he began, choosing his pace carefully, like a man rationing something precious. "He built a bloodline. A whole dynasty of modified humans, engineered generation after generation to outperform the rest of us. Your father, the man you grew up calling your father, was one of his failures. The modifications didn't take the way they were supposed to. It made him unstable. Violent."Cedric's jaw tightened, teeth grinding once before he answered. "I know what he w
The International Criminal Court in The Hague was cold marble and distant rain, the kind of building built to make everyone inside it feel small. Gray light came through the tall windows, rain falling steady and indifferent against the glass outside, blurring the city into smears of color. Marcus Chen sat in the dock, wrists cuffed, face gaunt and pale under the lights, a shadow of the man who used to fill a room just by walking into it. The world was watching. Every camera, every headline, every judgment would decide whether he lived or died, and that weight sat over the courtroom like something you could almost touch.Cedric stood in the witness box, voice steady even though his hands shook behind his back where no camera could catch it. He'd rehearsed this a hundred times, in the mirror, in his head at three in the morning, and none of it prepared him for how it actually felt to stand there under the lights with Marcus watching him from across the room. The prosecutor leaned in, p
The guy Cedric was just about to fuck ran off, leaving Cedric’s alone to scramble for an exit strategy, What the hell was he supposed to do? Talk his way out? Run? Fight? Beg?There was absolutely nowhere for him to hide, the alley had only one single exit, currently blocked by three guys who looke
“Shut the hell up, don’t take your mouth off my cock unless I say so.”Cedric huffed with annoyance, dragging his teeth along the underside of the guy’s cock so it would hurt, as payback for talking to him like he was some cheap fuck. Well, he was one, but still…“Cut that out. What kind of pornsta
"You start Monday.”Cedric blinked, dragging his attention away from the cop’s mouth, the kind of mouth that looked like it knew how to do very interesting things in bed, not focusing at all on the words being said.Brett had dropped him off at the police station twenty minutes ago with a “good luc
“Jesus Christ, what the fuck happened to your face?”Cedric kept his hood up and his head down, ignoring the pitying looks and questions from late-night commuters on the subway who caught sight of his busted face. He could see the full extent of the damage reflected in the scratched train window,







