Semua Bab Twice His Wife: Bab 41 - Bab 50

The silence in the safehouse wasn’t quiet anymore. It pressed on Anais’s ears like static—unsettling, electric, and loud in all the wrong ways. The phrase scorched into the cell wall played on repeat in her mind: Ask her what happened on Day Zero.Cassian had barely spoken since they found it. He was watching her like she was glass—like he didn’t know whether to protect her or interrogate her.She hadn’t eaten. Couldn’t. Her mouth was dry, and her chest tightened every time she tried to breathe too deeply.“Day Zero,” she whispered again, this time not to him, not to anyone—just to herself.Cassian stood a few feet away, his back to her, shoulders rigid as he stared at Julien’s empty cell. She didn’t know if he was trying to put the pieces together or trying not to break.She wished he’d say something.“I don’t know what it means,” she said quietly, finally breaking the silence.Cassian turned slowly to face her, his expression unreadable.“That’s the problem,” he said, his voice low.

The air in the black vault was still, heavy with the weight of things left unsaid.Julien’s face had vanished from the terminal screen, but his words lingered like ash.Cassian hadn’t moved since the recording ended. His jaw was tight, his fingers white-knuckled where they gripped the edge of the desk. Across from him, Anais stood with her arms crossed tightly over her chest, as if trying to contain something threatening to spill out.They didn’t speak. Not yet.The hum of the vault’s systems buzzed low in the background, the only sound between them until—click.Anais heard it first.She turned sharply.“What was that?”Cassian moved before he even responded. His hand was on his weapon, eyes scanning the dark corners of the vault. The sound had come from the far wall, just behind the server tower.Another soft click. Then a low mechanical whine.Cassian stepped toward it, slow and steady.Anais followed — breath caught in her throat.As they rounded the server tower, a section of the

The vault door slammed shut like the world had stopped breathing.Anais spun around, her pulse skidding. “What the hell was that?”No one answered.Cassian had already turned back toward Julien, who was still strapped into the neural rig, his body eerily still except for the subtle rise and fall of his chest. The screen beside him flickered with the countdown: 00:09:47.They had nine minutes left before Fallpoint completed its final sync and wiped everything.But outside the door—no sounds. No footsteps. No help coming.Maris tried the console. “It’s not a mechanical lock,” she said quickly, voice tense. “It’s coded. Sealed from the inside.”Anais stared at her. “Then how do we get out?”Maris shook her head, typing faster. “We don’t. Not unless I crack this override.”Cassian didn’t look back. His eyes were still on Julien—or what was left of him.That wasn’t Julien speaking to them earlier. That was something else entirely. A protocol ghost. Something he’d left behind in the system.

Smoke flooded the room like floodwater through a busted dam. Anais’s ears rang from the explosion, the ground still trembling under her feet. For a split second, everything slowed — Dahlia standing with her hand outstretched, Cerberus operatives pouring through the breach, guns raised, armor gleaming under the emergency lights.Cassian didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Anais by the arm and yanked her down behind the console just as bullets chewed through the air overhead. Sparks rained from the wall panels.“We need to move!” he barked.Maris was slumped against the base of the server tower, half-conscious and mumbling something under her breath. Anais dropped beside her and shook her gently. “Maris. Come on. Stay with me.”Cassian leaned around the console, returning fire with clean, sharp bursts. “They’re flanking. We won’t hold this position.”Across the room, Dahlia hadn’t moved. Her mask was back on. She was calm — too calm. She walked through the chaos like it didn’t touch her. Cerber

Everything was still ringing.Anais couldn’t hear her breath. Couldn’t hear the others. All she could hear was the sharp, high-pitched whistle cutting through her skull like broken glass.She blinked, trying to focus. Dust was still falling from the ceiling. The lights were flickering again, most of them out. The floor underneath her felt cracked, uneven. The pod the capsule had been plugged into was completely shattered.Cassian lay face down a few feet away, motionless.Dahlia was slumped against the wall, blood on her lip, breathing shallow. Her hand still clutched a knife.And Maris—Maris was kneeling in the center of the room.Motionless.Her eyes were wide, blank. Her chest rose and fell, but the wires that had pulsed across her skin were gone. Faded. Like they were never there. Her hands twitched once, then went still again.Anais pushed herself up. Her whole body screamed against it.The Founder’s voice still echoed in her head.“You’re almost ready.”Almost ready for what?S