Chapter 11

The final trial didn't end when the truth came out. One last door opened onto the Moretti family cemetery.A fine rain was falling. The sky was as gray as it had been the day after the fire. From the stone steps, Damian immediately saw the grave at the far edge.Evelyn Vale. No family crest. No title.Only her name and the date she died. In five years, he'd never visited once, because in his memory, she was a traitor.An arsonist who had gotten people killed. A woman who had betrayed him and then died rather than face what she'd done. When someone once suggested moving her grave out of the family cemetery, he hadn't objected.Maria had fought so hard against it that the idea was dropped. Now Damian stood there and had no idea how to walk toward the grave.The last old record appeared in front of the headstone. It was Maria's statement, not a long, tearful account.Only a few lines. [Evelyn got Damian out of the main building.] [She could have left.][When she learned that two children

Chapter 12

I only learned later that Damian woke again on that day. At the time, I knew nothing about the other timeline. I only thought he'd lost his mind.That afternoon, I sat in the kitchen of the old safe house, sewing a glove. The needle had just pricked my right hand when a loud crash came from the doorway. I looked up.Damian stood there, white as a sheet and covered in cold sweat."What's wrong with you?"He didn't speak. He only stared at me as if he hadn't seen me in years.The look made my skin crawl."Damian?"He suddenly came toward me, moving fast. I thought he was going to hug me and opened my arms without thinking.But he stopped half a step away. He raised one hand, then froze with it suspended between us.In the end, he only took the needle from my fingers."Stop sewing."I stared at him."It's just a pinprick.""You're bleeding.""You call that bleeding?"I held out my hand. The mark was so small I could barely find it."What's gotten into you today?"He looked down at my fing

Chapter 13

The Moretti family found Damian two full months earlier than they had in the other timeline. It happened without warning. That morning, he was fixing the back door of the old safe house with me. That afternoon, a black car took him away.When he returned that night, two unfamiliar guards followed him. I stood in the yard and stared."Are you in debt to a loan shark?"Damian gave me a look I couldn't read."No.""Then why are they following you?""Because I'm a Moretti."I stared at him for two seconds."What kind of Moretti?""The kind you're thinking of."This time, I was the one who couldn't speak. He was the child the Moretti family had spent more than ten years searching for. Their true heir by blood.The heir was this man who had fought me for the last piece of bread at the old safe house, then insisted he wasn't hungry when he was broke. I stared at him for a long time before I started laughing."Damian.""Yes?""You really are going to be somebody."His eyes darkened, but I paid

Chapter 14

Cecilia stayed quiet for several days. Too quiet. I had expected her to start at least one fight with me.She didn't. Then a transport route was compromised. That morning, a family convoy was intercepted in a probing attack north of the city.No one died. But the attackers knew exactly which road the vehicles would use. The family launched an internal leak investigation at once.At noon, Cecilia submitted an access log. It showed that someone had opened the route the night before using my credentials. When word reached the old safe house, Maria nearly threw her cup across the room."You again?"Why do they blame you for everything?"I wasn't surprised. I only pulled on my coat."I'll go over there."Damian was already waiting by the door."I'm coming with you.""You really have a lot of free time lately.""Sort of.""Heirs don't have to work?""This is my work today."He said it as if the answer were obvious. I ignored him. More than a dozen people sat inside the family meeting room.C

Chapter 15

The weather was beautiful on the day everything happened. Maria was moving several children to the newly repaired safe house. I was only supposed to escort them there.Damian insisted on joining the convoy."Do you have too much free time lately?"I sat in the passenger seat and asked him for the third time."You've already asked me that.""Because you never answer.""I'm worried.""About what?"He looked out the window."Everything."I was about to laugh at his paranoia when the first car ahead of us exploded with a roar.Flames swept across the road. Our driver wrenched the wheel, and the car skidded sideways along the guardrail.Gunfire erupted from the woods on both sides almost at once. The glass cracked. Damian shoved me down."Stay down!"People in the cars behind us were already firing back. Shouts flooded the radio."The road ahead is blocked!""There are men behind us, too!""The children are in the second car!"I shoved Damian's hand away."Where's Maria?""Third car.""I'm

Chapter 16

Three days after the ambush, Damian and I spoke alone. No one else was there. There was no trial.No one forced either of us to give an answer. He told me everything about the other timeline, including how I became part of his final family trial after I died.He told me how the trial showed him my mission pay, the candidate evaluations, the old safe house, and the fire. He told me he went to my grave after recovering his memory. Then he told me he'd used the Blood Oath Wish to bring us back here.When he finished, I didn't speak for a long time. So much made sense. The Moretti family had found him early.He had suddenly improved the safe house's fire protection and escape routes. He knew Cecilia would use my eligibility, the medicine, and the supplies against me. And he had somehow learned to stop before making decisions for me.I leaned against the window."Damian.""Yes?""In the other timeline, you married her."He turned pale."Yes.""You believed her for five years.""Yes.""And b