All Chapters of One Night, One Baby, One Billionaire Mess: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

AVA My name rang out from speakers who should not have been online. "Ava." One word. A whisper. But it chilled me more than any scream ever could. Julian froze alongside me at the monitor, staring at the Arctic locations that flashed on screen. The program's name pulsed. PROJECT ECHO. Status: Compromised. Host #3 is active. The voice repeated, "Ava." But that was not Aura. And it was not Vale. It was soft. Younger. Curious. As if I were the one who had become lost. And she was the one who discovered me.DAMIAN "What the hell is project echo?" I demanded. Julian appeared pallid, his hands frozen on the computer. "I do not know." "You created the entire network. "Do not lie to me now." "I did not lie," he retorted. "No one told me. This was not part of the Genesis archive. This was encrypted under biotech-level encryption—information Camille would never have kept locally." He opened up the log history. "The voice came from an offshore da

AVA Sometimes silence feels heavier than shouting. That night, following Vara's whisper and Dominic's unreadable glance, I sat alone in the war room. The lighting was decreased. The others had become quiet. But my thoughts was noisy. She claimed she was born in my image. But she chose him. Genesis did not win by destruction. He gained through inheritance. And now his legacy has strolled barefoot through my house, claiming a family that I never gave her.DAMIAN I observed Dominic through the hallway camera. He was not pacing. I was not plotting. He simply stood by Vara while she slept on the couch, one hand resting softly on her shoulder like a tether. It should have reassured me. But it did not. He had not blinked for seven minutes. When Julian checked his vitals, the results were unexpectedly bad. Dominic's pulse rate was stable but overly consistent. No natural rhythm. The Genesis code had replaced his biological feelings with something more effec

AVA I had not slept. Not because I couldn't. Because I would not. Vara had spoken with calm confidence, as if launching war and asking for a hug were the same thing. "If you do not select me by morning, I will choose who disappears." And now it was morning. DAMIAN I watched the clock creep closer to 7:00 a.m. Every second felt like a judgement. Ava stood beside the window, arms crossed and jaw squeezed tight. She had not spoken since Vara's threat in the battle room. I stepped over to her, taking care not to touch. "You do not need to prove anything to her." She looked up. "Yes, Damian." I do." AVA Vara was seated on a frost-covered bench in the courtyard when I arrived. She did not look at me, instead staring into the trees. "You always come when it is too late," she explained. I sat near her. "I arrived because I recalled something." She tilted her head. "What?" "You did not beg to be born, and I did not ask to love you. And y

AVA'S POVThe silence was deafening, a heavy blanket that suffocated the estate after the explosive confrontation with Vara. The kids were subdued, Rachel was MIA, and the staff moved with the stealth of phantoms. But Damian's silence was the most unsettling of all. He stood frozen in the library, his eyes locked on a mysterious painting that seemed to hold a thousand secrets. I watched him from the hallway, my heart heavy with foreboding. Whatever memories this painting stirred in him, I knew he'd let them consume him.DAMIAN'S POVThe face in the frame was seared into my mind. Landon Elias Crosse - my father. The man who embodied discipline and control, his tailored suit screaming military precision. His gaze pierced through me, a cold reminder of the past. But this painting was a recent addition, hung with a sinister intent. I'd grown up in this room, memorized every detail, every wine bottle in the cellar. Yet, this painting was new, a deliberate attempt to unravel the threads of

AVAI mentally prepared myself for the possibility of ghosts, for the echoes of the past that might haunt me. But nothing, it seemed, could have truly prepared me for the living, for the raw, unbridled power of human presence. Landon Elias Crosse emerged between the headstones with a quiet confidence, as though he'd never truly left the world behind. He looked remarkably untouched by the passage of time his hair had grayed slightly at the temples, but his spine remained straight, his jaw firm, and his eyes still carried that disarming chill I remembered from old photographs and whispered conversations.He wore a tailored black coat, gloves, and a faint, enigmatic smile, giving the impression that this cemetery was, in fact, his estate. Behind him, Rachel stood stiffly, her expression unreadable, while Luciana stood beside her, holding a folder in her hand like it was a symbol of power, a crown. Liam's hand instinctively tightened around mine, a subtle gesture that spoke volumes about