Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 31 - Chapitre 40

“Run if you want, Maya. But your father isn't the only one who's going to die tonight.”The voice was right against her ear. She could feel his breath on her neck, warm and sour with coffee.Maya didn't think. Her elbow shot backward with her whole weight behind it and slammed into something solid. The man grunted, and his grip slipped just enough for her to tear free.A gunshot cracked through the archive, flat and deafening in the enclosed space.She hit the floor, her palms skidding across the gritty boards. Somewhere behind her, metal rang against metal.“Julian!”“Maya!”His voice came from the far side of the room.Too far.Another shot followed, then another. The archive broke apart into noise and flashes of light. Each muzzle flare briefly revealed a face, a raised weapon, or a body moving between the shelves before the darkness swallowed everything again.Marcus fired from behind a steel cabinet while Adrian shouted orders Maya couldn't make out over the ringing in her ears.

For a few seconds, Maya couldn't breathe.Dust filled the tunnel, scratching at the back of her throat. Concrete continued to crumble from the ruined wall, small pieces ticking against the floor. Somewhere behind her, someone was calling her name, but she barely heard it.She couldn't look away from the opening.A man stood on the other side.He was older than the man in the photographs, thinner too, with gray threaded through his dark hair and a scar stretching from his temple toward his jaw. Dust covered his clothes, but he stood unnaturally still, as if the explosion had somehow passed around him.Maya knew that face.She had stared at it in the photograph that had begun tearing her family's secrets apart.Her father.Her mother.Julian.And beside them, the man now standing in front of her.Julian's father.The man who was supposed to be dead.“No.”Maya stumbled backward.Julian caught her around the waist before her knees gave out.“Maya—”She pushed against his chest, barely aw

Maya couldn't take her eyes off Victor.The emergency light above the doorway flickered, casting his face in and out of shadow. A few minutes ago, she had thought she understood what kind of man he was—a stranger who had somehow known her father and carried pieces of a past everyone else had kept hidden.Now she wasn't sure of anything.“Victor.”His name left her lips again, quieter this time.Julian shifted closer beside her. He didn't step in front of her, but Maya noticed the change in his posture. His shoulders had tightened, and his attention remained fixed on Victor, as though he expected the man to make a move.Victor noticed too.A faint smile touched his mouth.“So,” he said, “you finally remember me.”Maya frowned. “I've never met you before.”“No. But your mother has told you enough to make you afraid of the name.”Evelyn stepped forward.“Stop.”Her voice was controlled, but Maya heard the strain beneath it.Victor turned toward her.“You should have left years ago, Evely

The first bullet struck the doorframe.Wood splintered across the room.Maya barely had time to gasp before Julian caught her around the waist and pulled her behind the overturned table. His body covered hers as another bullet tore through the wall above them.The smell of gunpowder burned her nose.“Stay down.”Julian's voice was controlled, but his grip on her arm was tight.Across the room, Marcus crouched behind a pillar, his gun trained on the hallway. Victor stood near the doorway, watching for movement.Daniel still had the black notebook in his hand.“We can't stay here,” he said.Julian looked at him.“Then start talking.”Daniel glanced toward the hallway.“They'll seal the exits within minutes.”“Who are they?”Daniel's eyes found Maya.“The people who've been looking for you.”Maya's stomach tightened.“Why?”Daniel hesitated.“Because you were taken from them eighteen years ago.”Maya stared at him.“Taken?”Before Daniel could explain, another burst of gunfire erupted fr

Maya stared at the woman beneath the flickering garage light.She couldn't make herself move. The woman was a stranger, yet something about her face felt painfully familiar. It wasn't her nose or the shape of her mouth. It was her eyes.Maya had seen those eyes every morning in the mirror.The same dark color. The same shape. Even the faint crease between the woman's brows when she was frightened looked familiar enough to make Maya's stomach tighten.“Who are you?”The woman didn't answer.Her gaze moved slowly across Maya's face, as though she were trying to memorize every detail. Her lips trembled, and tears gathered in her eyes.“You really don't remember me?”Maya shook her head.“No.”The woman took a cautious step forward.Julian immediately moved between them, his shoulders tense and one hand hovering near his weapon.“Stay where you are.”The woman's attention shifted to him.For a moment, recognition passed across her expression.“Julian Voss.”Julian frowned. “You know me?”