I Quit Being the CEO’s Shadow 의 모든 챕터: 챕터 91 - 챕터 100

The hand came out of Evelyn's chest.Lucian moved first."Evelyn!"He lunged toward her.The moment his fingers touched her shoulder, an invisible force threw him across the chamber.He slammed into the stone wall."Lucian!"Evelyn tried to run toward him.She couldn't.Her feet were rooted to the floor.Her body no longer obeyed her.The hand continued emerging.It was pale.Delicate.Almost human.A second hand appeared.Then an arm.Evelyn's breath caught.Something was climbing out of her.Not through her skin.Through the space behind her heart.A place that should not have existed.David stared in horror."No..."The original Mother fell to her knees."She shouldn't be awake."Evelyn looked at her."Who?"The Mother didn't answer.She was staring at Evelyn's chest.At the woman emerging from it."Not yet."The man smiled."Too late."The chamber shook.Every sleeping child began crying.Thousands of voices filled the darkness."Mommy..."Evelyn's heart broke.She looked at them.

Evelyn couldn't breathe.The man standing before her had Eli's eyes.But Lucian's face.Same jaw.Same mouth.Same scar beneath the left eye.Even the slight tilt of his head was identical.For one impossible second, Evelyn forgot everything.She forgot the children.The darkness.David.The Mother.The first daughter.She only saw Lucian.Her Lucian.The man smiled.Evelyn stepped backward."No."His smile faded."You know me.""No.""You know this face.""You're not him.""I never said I was."That frightened her more.Lucian was lying on the ground several feet away.He had not moved.His eyes were fixed on the transformed Eli.He looked as though someone had ripped open an old wound and forced him to watch it bleed."Evelyn."She turned toward him.Lucian's voice was barely audible."Don't go near him."The other man laughed."Still protecting her."Lucian stood slowly.His sword was gone.His hands were empty."I know what you are."The transformed Eli looked at him."No."He smi

The door stood open.Thousands of Evelyns stared back at her.Some were young.Some were old.Some wore crowns.Some wore armor.Some were covered in blood.Some were crying.Some were smiling.Some held children.Some held swords.Some carried Lucian in their arms.Others stood over his body.Evelyn couldn't look away.They were all her.Every face carried something she recognized.A grief she had felt.A love she had forgotten.A rage she had buried.A choice she wished she had never made.The little girl beside her smiled."Which one are you afraid of?"Evelyn swallowed."All of them."The girl laughed softly."You should be."One of the women stepped forward.She looked exactly like Evelyn at twenty.She had blood on her hands."She chose the first world."Another stepped forward.Older.Scarred."She chose Lucian."Another.Pregnant."We chose our children."Another.With silver eyes."We chose power."Another."We chose death."Their voices overlapped.Evelyn backed away."Stop.

The heartbeat came again.Thump.The silver door beneath Evelyn trembled.Thump.The sound traveled through the floor, through the walls, through the thousands of sleeping chambers surrounding them.Thump.Evelyn stopped breathing.It wasn't Eli's heartbeat.It wasn't hers.And it wasn't Lucian's.She knew that with a certainty that frightened her more than anything else.Because she had heard that heartbeat before.Not in this world.Not in a memory.Somewhere deeper.Somewhere she had spent lifetimes trying to bury."Kael."The name escaped her lips.Lucian immediately grabbed her wrist."Don't."Evelyn looked at him.His face was pale.Lucian had faced monsters that could tear worlds apart. He had stood against the father. He had walked through dead worlds and watched reality collapse around him.She had never seen fear like this in his eyes."What did you hear?" she whispered.Lucian's fingers tightened around hers."Your brother."Another heartbeat shook the chamber.Thump.The s

The laughter continued.It wasn't loud.It didn't need to be.The sound moved through Evelyn's body like a second heartbeat.Every bone seemed to recognize it.Every buried memory reacted to it.And somewhere inside her, something whispered one word.Home.Evelyn's stomach twisted."No."The enormous hand remained through the open doorway.Silver veins pulsed beneath its skin.The ancient woman remained on her knees.Kael couldn't look up.Even Lucian, who had faced impossible creatures without hesitation, stood completely still.Only Eli smiled.Evelyn looked at him."Eli."The boy turned."Yes, Mommy?""Why are you smiling?"His smile faded."Because I'm scared.""Then why are you smiling?""Because Grandfather doesn't like crying."Evelyn's blood ran cold.She pulled Eli behind her.The enormous hand stopped moving.Then the voice came again."My daughter."Evelyn's body froze.The voice wasn't speaking to the ancient woman.It was speaking to her.She swallowed."I'm not your daug