Lahat ng Kabanata ng Forbidden Obsession: Falling for My Stepson: Kabanata 161 - Kabanata 170

 The voice that came over the open island channel belonged to Silas Vance and the first words out of his mouth stopped me cold in the western cave.Ava and I had just settled into the new position after the fight. My side still hurt but I could move. The portable unit sat between us with the last of the bunker feeds flickering on the small screen. Then the speaker crackled and Silas spoke as if he were standing in the same room."Langford. I know you can hear me. The systems still leak enough for that."Ava's hand tightened on the unit. "He found an open mic. I can cut it. Shut him down."I shook my head. "Leave it. Let him talk. We need whatever he is willing to give us. He came here for a reason."Silas continued. His tone was almost amused, like he was enjoying himself. "You and your wife have made this harder than it needed to be. The grid. The blackouts. The false trails. Impressive for two people with no support."Ava answ

The turrets turned toward us before we even saw the house.I heard the mechanical whir first. Then the barrels. Six of them mounted on low concrete pillars, tracking our movement through the trees with slow, patient precision. We froze behind a thick trunk.Ava grabbed my arm. "Automated defense. Still active."I looked past the trees and saw it. A glass villa sat in the center of a wide clearing. Two stories. Walls of floor to ceiling glass. A curved roof. Solar panels on the east side. No fences. No guards. Just the turrets and the house.And a figure standing at the window.Ava saw her too. "She is there. She is watching us."The woman at the glass was thin. Gray hair pulled back. Her hand pressed flat against the window like she was trying to reach through it. She did not wave. She just stood there.I kept my voice low. "We need to get closer. But those turrets are not going to let us cross the clearing."Ava pulled out the

The black shape on the horizon was not a cloud and it was not a trick of the light. It was a warship.I stood on the ridge with the portable unit in my hand and watched it grow larger. Ava was beside me. Madeline was behind us under the cover of the trees. The morning sun caught the steel hull and made it look like a knife sliding across the water.Ava spoke first. "That is not a patrol boat. That is a destroyer. Full naval class."I kept the unit up and zoomed the camera. "Iron Clad did not send a team. They sent a fleet."The destroyer was flanked by two smaller vessels. They moved in formation. Slow. Deliberate. They were not in a hurry because they did not need to be.Ava lowered the unit. "We cannot fight that. We do not have the firepower. We do not have the numbers. We do not even have a working radio to call for help."Madeline came up beside us. "Victor always said the island could defend itself. He said he built something underneat

Ava's hand closed around the lever and the world held its breath.I watched her fingers tighten on the metal. The fleet was in the harbor now. I could see them through the small window in the sealed room. Three ships. The destroyer and its escorts. They had restored enough power to move. They were coming for us."Do it," I said.She pulled the lever down.Nothing happened at first. The room stayed dark. The air stayed still. I thought maybe it had failed. Then the ground shook.It started as a low rumble beneath our feet. Then it grew. The walls vibrated. The cylinder in the center of the room glowed white for a single second and then went dark again.Ava stepped back from the lever. "Did it work?"I ran to the window.The sky outside was changing. It started at the horizon where the fleet was sitting. A soft shimmer like heat rising off asphalt. Then it spread. It rolled across the water like a wave made of air. I could not he

The destroyer groaned like a dying animal and I watched it slide toward the reef with nothing left to stop it.We were still on the fishing boat when I heard the sound. A deep grinding noise that carried across the water. I turned and saw the massive ship moving. Not under power. Just drifting. The currents had caught it and were pulling it straight toward the jagged coral teeth that ringed the island.Ava came up beside me. "It is going to hit."Madeline joined us at the rail. "The reef is sharp. Victor chose this location because the coral would tear apart any ship that got too close."I kept my eyes on the destroyer. "They cannot steer. No engines. No rudder control. They are just floating."The ship picked up speed as the current dragged it closer. I could see figures moving on the deck. Small dark shapes running back and forth. They knew what was coming. They could not stop it.The first contact was almost gentle. A soft scrape against