The message was simple and surgical: a single encrypted address, a time stamped for midnight, and the words FOR BOARD MEMBERS ONLY.Marian Cole’s security detail ignored it—until she insisted. She moved through the compound like winter: deliberate, cold, impossible to read. When her car slid into the guest court of an off-grid manor outside the city, the fog braided itself into the hedges as if the night itself wished to keep secrets.Inside, a man in slate-gray suit awaited—too casual, too prepared. He did not rise when she entered. He assessed her like a ledger. Finally, he smiled with the little cruelty of someone who’d already won.“Marian,” he said. Slate’s voice, via a liaison, was silk and gravel. “You look tired.”“I’m not here to gossip,” Marian replied. “You have what I asked for?”The man produced a slim data-slate. Marian took it, eyes scanning the contents faster than the human brain should permit: transactional trails, off-books accounts, contractors listed under dead na

The city hummed with late-night chaos—sirens in the distance, streetlights flickering, shadows stretching like claws across the pavement.But inside Slate’s underground bunker, everything was quiet.Unnaturally quiet.A quiet that belonged to war.THE ROOM OF NAMESSlate stood alone before a massive holographic screen. Rows of encrypted files flickered across it—military emblems, medical records, psychological profiles.At the very top of the display glowed a single heading:PROJECT GHOST — PRIMARY ASSET LOCKEDAuthorization Required: COLE BLOODLINEHe stared at it with an expression halfway between amusement and hatred.“Bloodline… of course.”With a flick of his hand, Slate pulled up a sub-file labeled:AUTHORIZATION DNA MATCHES —Ethan Cole (Full Match)Slate (Partial Match)He studied it silently.“So that’s why you were always favored… Ethan.”Slate turned and paced, the tension in the air sharp enough to cut.He wasn’t just building an army.He wasn’t just trying to kill Ethan.

Silence swallowed the vault.Not the silence of emptiness—but the silence before a detonation.Ethan stood perfectly still.Shadow and Hale froze behind him.Even the smoke drifting from the ruined security drones felt suspended.Marian’s words echoed in the air:“Experiment Zero… is you.”Ethan didn’t move.Not a muscle.Not a breath.Only his voice broke the stillness—quiet, razor-edged.“Explain.”Marian’s eyes glistened—not with softness, but with the weight of something she’d carried too long.“You weren’t born into this family, Ethan.”Hale stiffened.Shadow inhaled sharply.Ethan didn’t react.Marian took a step closer—slow, trembling.“You were created for it.”Ethan’s eyes narrowed—barely.“From whom?”Marian looked away.“For the heir program,” she murmured. “Your father couldn’t produce a viable successor. So the council authorized an alternative.”Hale’s face twisted.“Jesus, Marian—are you saying—?”“Yes.”Her voice broke.“Ethan wasn’t a child. Ethan was a project.”Sha

For a moment, no one in the underground chamber breathes.Vincent Cole stands at the threshold like a phantom, hands casually in his pockets, eyes bright with a sort of cruel amusement. He looks exactly the same as he did in the old photos—impossibly ageless, sharply dressed, even elegant.As if death never touched him.As if he had simply stepped out of a myth.Ethan doesn’t move.Not an inch.The air around him thickens—danger radiating through every tight line of his body.“Vincent,” Ethan says, voice low, cold. “You died twelve years ago.”Vincent smiles.“Did I?”Shadow and Malik appear instantly at Ethan’s sides, guns drawn, stance ready.Lila’s fingers grip Ethan’s jacket from behind, her pulse shaking through her entire body.Vincent lets his gaze slide to her.“Hello, my masterpiece.”Lila freezes as if someone poured ice straight through her veins.Ethan steps in front of her entirely.“You don’t speak to her.”Vincent chuckles softly.“Protective, are we? How sweet. And poi

The ride back to the safehouse is silent.Not peaceful—but sharp.Heavy.Filled with the kind of pressure that cracks stone.Lila lies unconscious in Ethan’s arms, her head resting against his chest. Her breathing is shallow but steady now, the violent tremors gone. The burning red lines around her neck—the places where the chip fused—have faded to faint markings.Shadow keeps glancing at her through the rearview mirror.Malik keeps checking sensors on a tablet.Ethan never looks away from her.Never blinks.Never loosens his hold.When they reach the fortified entrance, Hale rushes out.His eyes widen when he sees Lila.“What happened?” he demands.Shadow answers before Ethan can speak.“Override chip. Full burn.”Hale pales.“That thing is experimental—”“Yes,” Ethan says.“But why would you—”Ethan steps past him.Everything in his posture makes Hale shut his mouth instantly.Inside the SafehouseThe medical wing is already prepared. Ethan places Lila gently on the central bed. Th