All Chapters of One Night, One Baby, One Billionaire Mess: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

AVA Dominic? I read the name three times on Julian's screen, hoping to blink and it would disappear. It was not. Julian's voice lowered to a whisper. "He got past three biometric locks." Used Damian's old encryption key. "I logged out five minutes before the camera loop reset.""He knows better," I whispered quietly, wrath rising in my breast. But he also knew us. We knew we would not expect him to do this. And that is precisely why he pulled it off.DAMIAN I did not want to believe it. I taught him how to defend, lead, and think like a Cross but feel like a human. I told him I trusted him. But maybe that was the problem. Part of Dominic still belonged to the shadows that raised him. Part of him still asked what if I was never meant to be good? He stole the embryo, the last Vale asset, and disappeared. AVAWe cornered his trail in Prague burner transactions, hacked security logs, timeJulian's team received one message from a ghost number. A sound file. Dominic's vo

AVA Six hours. That was all we had before the clone-child became a reality. Not a plan. Not a prototype. A human made of code and confusion, wrapped in the face of someone I never asked to copy. Dominic sat beside the tank, hands quiet, face calm. Too calm. "There is still time to stop this," I remarked gently. He did not glance at me. "I had time to stop being forgotten," he explained. "And I did not take it. "This is the only version of me that has survived."DAMIAN I observed him cradling the tablet containing the gestation measurements as if it were a newborn in his arms. He was not cold. He had made a commitment. The kind of dedication that stems from desperation, not tranquility. "Dominic," I asked gently, "What happens when she grows up and discovers she is not real?" "She will be real," he stated. "To me." "That is not enough." He looked up. "It was enough for me when I only had your shadow." AVA I stepped in front of the pod. The artificia

DAMIAN Vale knelt alongside him, her small hands hovering above Liam's. She did not appear terrified. She seems... sad. She seemed to have anticipated this suffering. "I was made from him," she explained quietly. "I know where he hid." She pushed her palm against his chest. "He used to fantasize about being more than a ghost. Of feeling liked. Of being... seen. Her eyes fluttered shut. "Liam," she whispered. "You once told me that you were terrified about being anonymous. But I see you. I recall your laughter. The way you referred to me as daughter before you even realized I could speak."Liam thrashed, groaning. Julian called out, "Neural activity is spiking!" Vale bent forward, touched her forehead to his, and whispered: "You do not have to be Genesis to matter. You just have to come home." AVA Liam gasped. And then he went still. I could not breathe. His eyes slowly opened. Not cold. Not artificial. But his. He looked up at Vale, then at me. "Ava

AVA I glanced at the screen, my heart thumping. Vale's eyes, which had been delicate and silver-fringed, were now black. Not void-like and not empty. But deep. Bottomless. A mirror turned inward. "Liam," I said into the communicator, "get her out of there." He did not move. He was stopped next to her, his hand still gripping hers. "And she..."She smiled. Not like a youngster. As if something ancient had suddenly remembered how to wear her skin. LIAM The chamber felt heavier than usual. As if the air had teeth. I should have let go of her hands. I knew that. But I could not. Because something in me believed that even now especially now she was still herself. "You okay?" I whispered. She blinks slowly. Her voice, when it arrived, was gentle and weird. Like an echo bouncing between dimensions. "He doesn't want to fight anymore." My grip tightened. "Who is 'he,' Vale?" She turned to face me. Her pupils remained inky, and her lips trembled.

DAMIAN She was awake. Before we even pressed the controls. The pod hissed as frost melted down its curved surface, revealing a female slightly older than Vale. Thirteen, perhaps fourteen. Her hair was black. Her eyes are frightening. Wide. Intelligent. Still. She gazed at me as if she already knew me. It was as if she had seen me a thousand times in her fantasies. Julian stepped closer and said, "Project Mirror." "Codename: Aura. Inverse-Genesis Host. Designed not to carry Genesis... But to counter him." Aura tilted her head. "You returned slower than planned." I could feel the hair on my arms rising. She was not simply living. She was aware.AVA I sensed the shift from across the country. I did not need Julian's call. I did not need the impending alert. Vale stood in the doorway behind me, fingers gripping the frame. "She is awake," she muttered. I turned. "Who?" Vale's eyes glazed over, and silver bled through again. "The one created from