บททั้งหมดของ The Wife He Burned, The Queen Who Return : บทที่ 161 - บทที่ 170

Silas’s breathing didn’t settle.It fractured.Each inhale came sharp, uneven, like his body couldn’t decide how to hold itself together. His fingers tightened once more against Damian’s shirt, then loosened again, the strength fading just as quickly as it came. Evelyn watched it happen.And something in her shifted.Not panic.Not fear.Something colder. Clearer.Done waiting. “Give him to me.” Damian didn’t move. “No.”She stepped closer anyway.Her hand came up, steady, not shaking this time. “Damian.” He shook his head once, tightening his hold. “I’m not handing him over to them.” “You’re not handing him over to anyone,” she said. “You’re handing him to me.” “That’s not the same thing.” “It is right now.” Silence stretched between them. Heavy. Tight. Victor didn’t interrupt. Didn’t move. He watched. Because this wasn’t a negotiation anymore. This was a decision. Silas gasped again, his body tightening sharply before dropping back into that unstable rhythm. Evelyn’s eyes

The monitors didn’t slow.They climbed.Not in chaos. Not in error. In recognition. Numbers aligned, split, then reformed into a pattern none of them had seen before. Two signals separate, distinct locking into the same system response. Silas’s body remained tense on the table, his breathing still uneven, but no longer drifting. Something in him had found a point to hold on to. And that point was Damian. “Step away,” the woman said again, sharper this time. Damian didn’t move.His hand stayed wrapped around Silas’s, steady, grounding. His focus didn’t leave him not the monitors, not the room, not the shift in the air. Just him. “What’s happening,” Evelyn demanded.No one answered immediately.Because they were watching it unfold in real time. The man at the console leaned in closer, eyes narrowing as the data stabilized into something clearer. “…this isn’t just a response,” he said.Victor stepped forward. “Then say what it is.”The man didn’t look at him. “It’s synchronization.”S

The room didn’t feel like a crisis anymore.That was the danger. Silas lay still on the table, but not the way he had before. His breathing, while still fragile, had found a pattern that held. Not stable. Not safe. But no longer collapsing.Damian hadn’t moved. His hand remained wrapped around Silas’s, the contact unbroken. The system had adjusted fully around that connection now, recalibrating every few seconds, reinforcing what it recognized as essential. Evelyn stood close, her eyes moving between Silas and the monitors, learning to read what mattered and what didn’t. She didn’t relax. Not fully. Because this felt temporary. And temporary didn’t last. Victor stood slightly apart, watching everything with a different kind of focus. Not the system. Not just the data. The space. The timing. The silence. That was what he didn’t trust. “They’re too quiet,” he said. Evelyn looked at him. “Who.” “Helix.” Damian didn’t look up. “They just lost a facility.” “They don’t lose,” V

The doors didn’t hold. They folded inward with a sharp, metallic crack that cut through the controlled silence of the facility. Not an explosion. Not chaos. Precision. Helix didn’t rush. They entered. Dark silhouettes first measured steps, weapons raised, movements too coordinated to be anything but planned. They didn’t sweep wildly. They didn’t hesitate. They advanced. Inside the room, nothing scattered. Victor didn’t shout orders. He didn’t need to. “Sector breach confirmed,” the system voice said calmly. Evelyn’s fingers tightened at her side. “They’re in.” Damian didn’t answer. His hand was still locked with Silas’s. That hadn’t changed. It couldn’t. The monitors pulsed steadily—fragile stability holding by a thread that looked thinner the longer you stared at it. Silas’s breathing had found a rhythm, but it wasn’t strong enough to survive disruption. And Damian knew it. Victor’s voice cut through, sharper now. “They’ll push for the core.” “They’ll find us,” Eve

The shift was subtle.Too subtle for panic.But not for anyone paying attention. The next wave didn’t come in the same way. Helix didn’t rush the doorway again. They didn’t flood the room with bodies or overwhelm the space with fire. The corridor feeds told a different story now units pulling back, repositioning, splitting into tighter formations. Cleaner.More deliberate.Victor saw it first. “They’re changing approach.” Evelyn didn’t look away from the doorway. “They’ve been changing all night.” “No,” he said quietly. “This is different.” Damian didn’t ask how. He felt it. The pressure in the room hadn’t lifted but it had shifted. The randomness was gone. The scattered aggression had sharpened into something more focused. More intentional. Silas’s fingers curled faintly around his again. A weak grip. But present. Damian tightened his hold in response. “I’m here.” The system steadied slightly. Still fragile. Still dependent. But holding. Evelyn exhaled slowly, her eye