The bankruptcy filing came two weeks after the custody hearing. Ethan was at work when the news alert popped up on his screen: TechVance Solutions Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection. He clicked through to the article. The company he'd spent months systematically destroying was officially dead. Assets being liquidated. Creditors lined up. Employees laid off. The dream Vanessa had built and that he'd helped her build, once upon a time was gone. He should have felt triumphant. Instead, he just felt tired. His phone rang. Robert Chen. "Did you see?" Robert asked. "Yeah. TechVance is done." "That's not the only thing. The bankruptcy trustee is going after personal assets too. Anyone who benefited from the company in the past two years—including Vanessa. They're calling it fraudulent transfer. Basically saying she paid herself too much while the company was failing." "How much are they going after?" "Everything. The house, the cars, investments, jewelry. They're freezing all he

Six months later, Ethan's life had settled into something resembling normal. The custody agreement was finalized. Full primary custody to Ethan, with Vanessa getting supervised visits every other Sunday. The judge had been clear: until she completed court-mandated therapy and proved stability, unsupervised time with Noah wasn't happening. Vanessa had taken a plea deal—six months in county jail for conspiracy to commit assault, reduced from the original attempted murder charge. Her lawyer had argued she'd been under extreme emotional duress, that the "security consultant" had been misunderstood, that she'd never actually intended violence. The prosecutor, looking at a shaky case built largely on circumstantial evidence and one contractor's testimony, had accepted the plea. She'd served three months, gotten out on good behavior, and was now working at a Target in the suburbs, living in a studio apartment her parents helped pay for. Ethan tried not to think about her much. It was eas

Three months into working at Wei Capital, Ethan's life felt surreal. His investment portfolio had grown to $4.2 million. Four point two million. He kept checking the number, certain there had to be a mistake, but it was real. Every prediction he made seemed to hit. Every market move he anticipated played out exactly as he'd foreseen. It was too perfect. "Dad, can we get the bigger LEGO set?" Noah asked one Saturday at the toy store. Ethan looked at the price tag—$350 for a massive Star Wars build. Six months ago, he would have suggested something smaller. Now he just said, "Sure, buddy." Noah's eyes went wide. "Really?" "Really. You've been doing great in school. You deserve it." As they walked to the register, Ethan felt a strange disconnect. This casual spending—not even thinking about a $350 toy—this wasn't him. Or it hadn't been. But it was now. Catherine noticed too. "You bought a new car," she said when he picked her up for dinner in a Tesla Model S. "Lease

Wei called an emergency meeting the morning after the conference. "My office. Now. Don't tell anyone where you're going." Ethan arrived to find Wei's door locked, blinds drawn. The older man sat behind his desk, looking more serious than Ethan had ever seen him. "Sit." Ethan sat. "What's going on?" "You met Victor last night. What did he tell you?" "That he's been resetting for fifteen years. That there are about two dozen people with our ability. That he's offering me a truce if I stay out of pharmaceuticals." Ethan paused. "And that he's willing to destroy me if I don't." "He's being modest. There aren't two dozen. There are hundreds." Wei pulled out a tablet, showed Ethan a map covered in red dots. "These are confirmed reborns we've identified in the past ten years. 347 individuals across forty-three countries. And those are just the ones we know about." Ethan stared at the map. Red dots clustered in major cities—New York, London, Tokyo, Singapore. "How is this possible?"

Wei summoned Ethan to his office at dawn, before anyone else arrived at the building. "We need to talk about what's happening to you." Ethan sat down, exhausted. He hadn't slept properly in weeks. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Catherine's mother in the hospital, Helix Innovations collapsing, Noah asking if everything was okay. "What's happening to me is Victor's trying to destroy my life." "No. I mean physically happening to you." Wei pulled out a tablet, showed him medical data. "When did you last get a full physical?" "I don't know. A year ago? Before all this started." "You need to get one. Now. Today." Wei's expression was grave. "Because if I'm reading the signs correctly, you're aging faster than you should be." Ethan blinked. "What?" "Look at yourself. Really look." Wei turned the tablet into a mirror app. "Compare this to photos from six months ago." Ethan studied his reflection. He looked tired, sure. Stressed. But aging? Then Wei pulled up a photo