Semua Bab The Alpha Heir Who Put a Baby in His Enemy: Bab 41 - Bab 50

Marcus closed the door behind him.For years, I had known the rhythm of his footsteps, the exact tone he used when delivering bad news, the way he stood slightly to my left during meetings because he knew I hated people hovering behind me.He had been there for contracts, funerals, scandals, board fights, investor dinners, sleepless nights, and every crisis I thought mattered.Now he stood across the room looking like a stranger wearing a familiar face.“We need to talk about the night you were born.”Ronan moved in front of me.Marcus looked at him.“You can stop doing that.”Ronan’s expression hardened.“Doing what?”“Standing between Adrian and every answer.”My pulse changed.Marcus had never spoken to Ronan that way.Not once.Not as an equal.Not as someone who knew more.I stepped around Ronan.“Who are you?”Marcus looked at me.The question seemed to hurt him.That only made me angrier.“You heard me.”“My name is Marcus.”“That is not what I asked.”He exhaled slowly.“My fu

The countdown on my phone began immediately.71:59:59Then:71:59:58Ronan stared at the screen.I did too.Seventy-two hours.Three days until whatever Cradle had placed inside me forced the second heat.The room around us seemed to recede.Gabriel was still visible on the monitor beside Helena’s hospital bed. Damian stood rigid near the table. Lucian looked as though he wanted to break something. Cassian had stopped pretending to be unaffected.I could hear only one thing.The countdown.Ronan took the phone from my hand and shut the screen off.I looked at him.“That does not stop it.”“No.”“Then give it back.”He did.Immediately.That should not have mattered.It did.Helena spoke weakly through the monitor.“You need to leave the city.”Ronan looked at her.“Why?”“Because the activator is not the only trigger.”My stomach tightened.“There is more?”Gabriel answered.“Cradle built several environmental markers into the protocol.”“Such as?”“Scent exposure. Stress response. Al

Pain folded through me so violently that for one humiliating second, I could not stand.Ronan caught me before I hit the concrete.His arm locked around my waist.The effect was immediate.Not enough to stop the pain.Enough to change it.The burning inside me loosened slightly, and that terrified me more than the pain itself.Marcus saw it.So did Ronan.Neither of them said anything.They did not have to.Cradle had done exactly what Helena warned us about.It had tied relief to him.“Adrian.”Ronan’s voice was low.Controlled.I hated how much easier it was to breathe when he spoke.“I am fine.”Marcus stared at me.“You nearly collapsed.”“I said I am fine.”“You are sweating.”“Marcus.”“You are also lying.”I looked at him.He stopped talking.Mostly because Ronan gave him a look.Damian and Ronan had managed to drag Cassian farther into the drainage tunnel. Blood still stained Cassian’s shoulder, but Damian had wrapped the wound tightly enough to slow it.Lucian crouched beside

Elias Ashcroft stepped into the corridor as though he owned the building.Perhaps he did.He looked older than the photographs, but not weaker.Silver hair.Straight posture.A dark suit that fit too perfectly for a man supposedly dead.Ronan went still beside me.Not afraid.Something colder.“Grandfather.”Elias smiled.“There you are.”I hated him immediately.Not because of Cradle.Not yet.Because of the way he looked at Ronan.Like property returned.Ronan moved half a step in front of me.Elias noticed.His smile deepened.“So the conditioning took.”Ronan’s expression changed.“Say that again.”Elias ignored the warning.His eyes shifted to me.“O-17.”“My name is Adrian.”“Names are useful socially.”I stared at him.“And coffins are useful for people who should stay dead.”Ronan glanced at me.Elias laughed.Actually laughed.“Good. You inherited Gabriel’s mouth.”My stomach tightened.He knew.Of course he knew.“You know who my father is.”“I approved the donor.”The words

The synthesis system went dark.For several seconds, no one spoke.The name remained on the vault display.JONAH ASHCROFTRonan stared at it as though the letters had insulted him personally.Damian’s voice came through Marcus’s phone.“That is impossible.”Elias smiled.“You keep using that word about things your family simply hid from you.”Ronan turned slowly.“Who is Jonah?”“My first grandson.”“You already said that.”“And apparently you require repetition.”Ronan moved toward him.I caught his sleeve.Not because Elias deserved mercy.Because Ronan’s control was fraying.The stage-three contact had changed something in him. I could smell it now.His cedar-and-smoke scent had become heavier, sharper around the edges.Protective.Territorial.Exactly what Helena warned would happen.Ronan looked at my hand on his sleeve.Then at me.I let go.“Do not give him the reaction he wants.”His jaw tightened.“He just told me I have another brother.”“Yes.”“An older brother.”“Yes.”“Wh