Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 131 - Chapitre 140

[Adam’s POV]The ballroom was a sensory assault. Crystal chandeliers dripped light onto a sea of tuxedos and evening gowns, the air thick with the scent of expensive perfume, champagne, and the faint, metallic tang of greed. It was the charity gala of the year, a playground for the wealthy to pat themselves on the back for writing checks that were merely rounding errors in their bank accounts.I stood at the edge of the room, leaning against the polished mahogany of the bar. In my hand, a tumbler of Scotch sat untouched, the amber liquid swirling lazily with ice cubes that were slowly melting.I wasn't here to drink. I wasn't here to celebrate. I was here because I had no choice.Across the room, Marie was in her element. She stood in the center of a vocal circle of socialites, a vision in shimmering, silver silk. Her laughter rang out above the din of the orchestra — bright, bell-like, and utterly devoid of substance. She glowed under the flash of cameras, her smile practiced and per

[Alice’s POV]Toby was lying on a narrow cot in the center of the room. He looked smaller than he had in the photos, frailer, his body curled inward as if trying to protect itself from an invisible attacker.His mother, a woman named Elena, sat beside him, her hands knotted together in her lap so tightly her knuckles were white. She didn't look up when Endall and I entered. She just stared at her son, her eyes rimmed with red, praying to a god she wasn't sure was listening.The air in the room was thick, suffocating. It felt like the moments before a storm, where the pressure drops and the world holds its breath.I set the metal case on the table and popped the latches. The sound echoed like a gunshot. Inside, nestled in the foam, sat the vial of R4310. It glowed faintly in the dim light, a silent promise."Is it... is it ready?" Elena whispered, finally looking at me. Her voice was scraped raw."It's ready," I said. My voice sounded strange to my own ears — calm, detached. Profession

[Alice’s POV]Success was a drug, potent and immediate.For the next forty-eight hours, the bunker became a blur of adrenaline, espresso, and sheer, desperate willpower. We fell into a rhythm, a dangerous dance of chemistry and survival. Endall and I stopped being two individuals; we became a single, synchronized organism.We didn't need to speak. He would hand me a beaker; I would pass him a reagent. We exchanged glances across the lab bench that spoke volumes — confirming stability, warning of pressure changes, celebrating the microscopic shifts in color that meant we were winning.We produced three more vials. Three lives. Three victories against death itself.By the second night, Endall’s eyes were bloodshot, the dark circles bruising his skin, but there was a feverish brightness in his gaze. He slammed a notebook onto the metal table; pages filled with frantic calculations."We can scale up! If we bypass the automated mixing stage and do it manually, we can double the yield. It r

[Adam’s POV]I was standing on a balcony in the most expensive hotel in Switzerland, wearing a tuxedo that cost more than most people’s cars, with access to unlimited wealth and power, and I was completely, utterly helpless.I was a prisoner in a cage wrought from wealth and privilege. And Marie? She was the padlock.I went in and looked at her again, really looked at her. She represented everything I hated. The superficiality, the apathy, the blind ignorance to the suffering of others. She lived in a bubble where the worst thing that could happen was a chipped nail or a bad review. She had no idea that across the city, across the mountains, a dying woman carrying a helpless fetus was in hiding from a relentless menace.Marie turned over in her sleep, saying something. I leaned closer, trying to hear, terrified she was waking up."Adam..." she murmured. "Dance with me..."I recoiled as if she’d slapped me. Dance? She wanted to dance?While Alice was out there, running from a monster,

[Alice’s POV]My heart skipped a beat, but not out of relief. It was out of a cold, cynical curiosity."You found out?" I repeated. "Or did you finally decide to believe me?""I looked into it myself," David said, pacing the room. "The security footage that was deleted... I had computer specialists recover a fragment. It wasn't you. It was her. She bought the dangerous medication, Alice. She dosed herself to frame you. She coerced our little girl."I let out a dry, humorless laugh. It hurt my chest to laugh, but I couldn't help it. "Wow. You actually did some detective work on my behalf. I’m impressed."He stopped pacing and glared at me. "Why are you laughing? I just told you the truth. It proves you were innocent of the charges.""I was always innocent, David," I said, my voice sharpening despite the fever making my head swim. "You just didn't want to see it. You chose her. Over and over again, you chose her. So, forgive me if I don't throw a parade now that you’ve finally opened yo