Vivian stood in the middle of her bedroom, breathing like she had run a mile. Her hands shook. Her perfect makeup was smudged. Outside the window, cameras flashed like lightning.“If I walk out now they’ll tear me apart,” she whispered.She pressed her back to the wall and forced herself to think.Nothing was proven in court yet. Photos could be fake. Papers could be lies. The public was stupid; they loved a crying woman. She just needed one person to stand beside her and swear the story was different.Duncan.He hated Chloe and Leo more than she did. He had disappeared after the last scandal, but Vivian still had his secret number.She called. No answer. She called again. Third time, he picked up.“What?” Duncan’s voice was ice.“Duncan, listen,” she said fast, keeping her voice low. “I don’t have time. I can give you Leo and Chloe on a plate. They’re destroying me right now, but if you help me, we destroy them together.”He laughed, cold and mean. “Your plans always fall apa

The kitchen in the little house on the hill was warm. Sunlight came through the windows. Chloe sat at the small table. She had pulled her knees up to her chest. She was wearing Leo's big hoodie. It was huge on her, like a blanket with sleeves.Leo stood by the window. He wasn't really looking at anything. His arms were crossed."We're right in the middle of it now," Chloe said. Her voice was quiet. "All of it. Vivian. The board. The news. Darwin. And whatever weird thing Adrian is doing. We're the only ones who can stop this whole mess. But Leo... I don't even know where to start."Leo rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know either. Victoria was supposed to be our guide. Our map. Now the map is gone. I keep thinking someone else has to know the old stories. The rules. But I can't find them."He turned to her. He tried to smile, but it looked tired. "Let's take one problem at a time, okay? First, we eat. I'm starving. And you haven't eaten real food in two days."Chloe gave a little

Adrian’s lips moved but No sound came. Just more blood. The glowing fist hung there, ready to fall.STOP!A voice exploded inside Leo’s head. It was not his own. It was Iden’s voice, and it cracked through his thoughts like a whip."You are killing him, boy! This is not justice. This is murder. Look at what you are doing! Just look at him!"The golden haze in Leo’s mind shattered. He blinked, as if waking up from a deep sleep. He looked down.Adrian was lying broken in the dirt. He was barely breathing. One of his arms was bent at a terrible angle. A dark pool of blood was spreading under his head. The purple light in his veins was just a faint pulse now, weak and slow.Leo’s hand dropped to his side. The fierce glow around him faded, growing dim. He was breathing hard, his chest rising and falling fast.He stared at his own hands. They were covered in blood and little cuts from the black stone. Then he looked back at Adrian’s ruined body.A new thought entered his mind, clear and hor

The words didn’t feel like words. They felt like a punch right in the chest. Leo couldn’t breathe.And then he noticed movement. From the side.Chloe.She was running across the stone floor. She crashed into him so hard he stumbled back a step. Her arms locked around his neck, her face was buried against his shoulder. He could feel her whole body shaking.“You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay,” she kept saying. It was like a chant. A prayer.He held onto her. Tight. So tight he was afraid of hurting her. She just held on tighter. Her hair smelled like woodsmoke and salt. He just breathed her in. For that second, nothing else existed.When he finally looked up over her shoulder, he saw another woman. Standing off to the side, watching.it was Liana. Victoria's daughter. but the intensity with which he looked at him made him uncomfortable. it was the look of one waiting for her long lost lover. Leo gave Liana just the smallest nod. That’s all. Then he turned his attention back to the

Morning came slow, grey light sneaking down the stone stairs like it was afraid to wake anybody. Leo was already up, sitting on the edge of the cot, pulling his boots on. Chloe watched him from under the blanket, hair a mess, eyes still soft from sleep. Neither of them had said much yet. They didn’t need to. Last night still clung to their skin.A low rumble rolled through the chamber: footsteps on the hidden stairs. Victoria was on her feet in a blink, hand on the silver knife she slept with. The door in the earth lifted. Two men stepped down.The older one had white hair tied back, face carved deep with lines, eyes the colour of winter sky. The younger one, maybe twenty-five, the same height as Leo, lean muscle under a plain black shirt, walked half a step behind him. Same sharp cheekbones, same straight nose. No one needed to say anything for you to know they were father and son.The old man spoke first, voice low but clear. “Name’s Elias. This is my boy Rowan.” He look