MasukDamien’s POVI opened my eyes and nothing changed, my head ached with a deep pain that made every thought slow. I tried to move my arms but cold metal held them down, chains…thick ones around my wrists and ankles. The metal bit into my skin when I pulled. My body felt weak and sore all over. Every breath came with a small sharp hurt in my side.My mind reached for the last clear picture I had. Lila’s face, her hand stretching toward me through the dust and fire. The smile I gave her right before everything went blank. Then nothing, the explosion, the ground breaking, the heat. All of it was gone. I pushed hard against the empty space in my memory but nothing came back.Fear started crawling up from my stomach into my chest. Where was Lila right now? Where were Liam and Rose? Were they safe? Did they think I was gone? The questions turned over and over and made the ache in my head worse. I pulled on the chains again. The sound of metal against metal filled the quiet room, nothing gave.
Days after the rescue teams packed up and left the ruins, the news was everywhere. TV, social media, everywhere…people saying Damien was dead. They kept showing those old photos of him in suits, smiling, talking about his work like it was some kind of tribute. The explosion, the missing body… they talked about it like the story was over. Friends, strangers, everyone sending these sad messages. Around me it was the same, everyone speaking as if he was already gone.I sat in the quiet house with Liam and Rose, feeling the weight of all those words pressing down. But my heart just… wouldn’t take it. The last thing I saw was his smile, that promise in his eyes. That memory kept me from believing what everyone else had already decided.The media made it official pretty quick. Same report looping on every channel: Damien died in the collapse, body never recovered. Reporters camping outside our gates, shouting questions I refused to answer. They wanted statements, tears, something for the ca
Morning light came slowly over the broken place where the building used to stand. Dust floated everywhere and stuck to my skin. The rescue teams had already been digging for hours. I sat right at the edge of all that mess with my arms wrapped around my knees. My clothes were torn and filthy but I didn’t care. Damien had been standing right there smiling at me and then the whole world blew apart.Workers moved carefully through the piles of stone and metal. They lifted the big pieces and called out whenever they found something. Bodies kept coming out on stretchers one after another. Some faces I knew from the night before. Some I didn’t. Every time they brought someone up my stomach twisted hard until I saw it wasn’t him. Then that twist just sank deeper.Victoria wouldn’t sit. She walked up and down the search line and moved smaller rocks with her own hands. People told her to rest but she shook her head and kept at it. Her face looked worn out but her eyes stayed sharp. She kept say
The red lights flashed faster and the floor shook hard under our feet. Kids cried and held onto each other as the voice counted down the last minutes. I grabbed Liam and told everyone to run for the stairs but the halls filled with smoke and people split in every direction.Damien stood face to face with his father in the open space. Years of anger and hurt came out in every punch. His father hit hard but Damien kept fighting back with all the strength left in his body. They slammed into walls until his father fell to the floor and stayed there breathing hard with no more fight left in him.I turned and saw my mother coming toward me. Her eyes were full of tears then she reached out and said she was sorry for all the lies but the pain inside me was still too heavy. We pushed and pulled until I made her stop. I told her the past had to end here. She dropped her hands and looked away while both of us cried.Victoria ran straight at the mastermind. They fought through the smoke with raw
We followed Liam’s quiet directions through twisting back roads until we reached an old factory hidden behind tall fences. The building looked empty from the outside but Victoria’s team found a secret entrance below ground. We moved down steep stairs into a world we never expected. Long hallways stretched out under the earth with doors on both sides. Soft lights glowed above each one.Damien stayed close to me even though his shoulder was wrapped in fresh bandages. His hand held mine tight as we walked. When we opened the first door my heart nearly stopped. Inside was a large room filled with beds and small tables. Children of all ages sat or lay there. Some looked up with wide scared eyes. Others stayed curled up like they had given up hope long ago.Dozens of them. Maybe more than fifty. Many came from rich and powerful families. We recognized a few faces from news stories about missing heirs. The mastermind had taken them over the years to control their parents. He used the childre
The gunfight slowly died down as the last of the guards fell or ran. Smoke still a lot in the underground chamber while Victoria and her team checked every corner. My legs felt weak but I pushed myself up and ran to the small hidden door where the old man had disappeared with Liam. It was locked tight from the other side. I slammed my shoulder against it again and again until pain shot through my arm. Damien’s voice came through the speakers on the wall. He sounded weak from blood loss but he kept talking to me. “Lila, hold on. We are coming for him.”I turned back to the screen. Damien sat against the wall now with someone pressing cloth to his shoulder. His face looked pale and full of guilt. “This is my fault,” he said quietly. “I should have seen it coming. I should have protected our son.”Tears burned in my eyes but I shook my head. “We are not to blame right now. Liam needs us. Both of us. We will get him back together.”Victoria walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder. H







