At that moment in time, without wasting another second, Marcus followed closely behind the young man who walked ahead of him with brisk, purposeful strides, the kind of walk that belonged to someone navigating a familiar house under the weight of an unfamiliar crisis, a young man who, by every visible marker of resemblance in the set of his jaw and the particular way his eyes carried both authority and worry, was unmistakably Penelope's son, moving now with Marcus trailing a half-step behind him through corridors lined with portraits and polished floors that gleamed faintly under the soft amber lighting fixed into the high ceilings above them.They did not speak as they Walked.There was nothing comfortable to say between two men who had only just finished a confrontation neither of them had fully resolved, and so the silence that stretched between them carried within it all the unspoken tension of an uneasy truce, a fragile agreement extended not out of trust but out of necessity, an

At that moment in time, as the security guards advanced closer toward him with a slow, deliberate menace that was clearly meant to intimidate before any physical contact was even made, their expressions carrying that particular blend of disgust and barely restrained violence reserved for men who have been given explicit permission to be rough with someone, Marcus found himself unmoved by their presence, his attention remaining fixed instead on the two people in the room who actually mattered in that moment: the young man whose fury had summoned this small army, and the girl lying motionless on the bed, her chest rising and falling in shallow, labored breaths that seemed to grow more strained with every passing second they wasted on this entirely unnecessary confrontation.He looked at her for a long moment, his expression unreadable, and then he turned his gaze back toward the young man, and when he spoke, his voice carried none of the fear or urgency one might expect from a man surro

At that moment, Marcus, still held firmly by the security guards, finally spoke, and when he did, his voice carried a quiet, simmering frustration that had been building steadily throughout the entire ordeal, the kind of frustration that belongs to someone who has endured more disrespect than they initially believed they would need to tolerate."So after all of this," Marcus said, his tone edged with incredulity, "after everything, this is actually who you people brought?"He paused, shaking his head slowly."If it were not for Penelope, if it were not for the respect I have for her, what would I even be doing here receiving this kind of humiliation, this embarrassment from you people? What reason would I possibly have to stand here and endure this if not for her?"The moment the words left his mouth, Vincent's face flushed with renewed anger, his entire body tensing as though Marcus had struck him physically."Will you keep your mouth shut?" Vincent snapped, his voice rising sharply.

Immediately, Doctor Kai's patience snapped entirely, and he turned his head sharply toward the security guards still gripping Marcus by the arms."Just get him out of here," he said, his voice clipped and final. "I don't want to see him again."In that same breath, Vincent's father, who had been holding onto a particular plan of his own, raised a hand slightly as though to slow the momentum of the moment."Wait," he said quickly. "Don't you think we should wait? I really wanted my mother to come see this. I wanted her to walk in here and identify this bastard with her own eyes, to confirm once and for all whether he is actually the person she claimed to be expecting. That is precisely why I instructed the security guards to hold him in the first place, so that there would be no confusion, no room for him to slip away before she arrives."But Doctor Kai, his irritation sharpening with every passing second, shook his head dismissively."That is not important right now," he said firmly.