2026-01-27 23:59:01
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Alexander stared at the note. His expression changed. “The garden.” He walked toward the back of the house. Ethan followed him, carrying the music box and the note. The garden was overgrown, but a stone pathway still led to a small wooden gazebo at the far end. Alexander stopped in front of it. “This is where I asked her to marry me.” Ethan looked around. “Where did you stand?” Alexander pointed toward the gazebo. “Right there.” Ethan stepped inside. Beneath the wooden floorboards, he noticed a small metal plate. He knelt and brushed away the dirt. The key from the music box fit perfectly into the lock. A section of the floor lifted. Inside was a narrow compartment containing a sealed envelope and a small black storage drive. Ethan picked up the envelope. His name was written across the front. FOR ETHAN. His fingers tightened around it. He opened it carefully. The letter inside was several pages long, but the first line made his heart ache
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That didn’t make the betrayal disappear. It simply made the truth more complicated. Ethan turned toward Gabriel. “We’re going to the house.” Gabriel nodded. “I expected you to say that.” Daniel lowered his weapon slightly. “Then let’s stop standing around. We have no idea how long it’ll take Voss to find this place.” They moved toward the road. A black vehicle was parked beneath a broken streetlight. Gabriel unlocked it, and everyone climbed inside. Daniel took the driver’s seat. Claire sat beside him, while Adrian occupied the back row with Ethan and Alexander. Gabriel sat in the passenger seat. As the vehicle pulled away, Ethan watched the abandoned factories disappear behind them. He had come to the facility hoping to find his mother. Instead, he had discovered that the people he trusted had built their lives around secrets. His father had betrayed him. His mother had helped create the research that made him a target. And a man named Malcolm Voss
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The service tunnel was barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Water dripped from the ceiling, and the air smelled of damp concrete and rust. Their footsteps echoed through the darkness as they hurried away from the facility. Daniel led the way, using a small flashlight to illuminate the uneven floor. Claire followed closely behind him, while Adrian kept checking the device in his hand. Ethan walked beside Alexander without saying a word. He could still hear his mother’s voice in his head. He doesn’t want to kill you. That’s what makes him dangerous. Ethan clenched his fists. “Who is Malcolm Voss?” Alexander glanced at him. “An Order director who believes everything can be justified if the results are valuable enough.” “That doesn’t tell me anything.” “Voss doesn’t believe in limits. He doesn’t care how many people suffer as long as he gets what he wants.” Ethan looked ahead. “And what does he want from me?” Alexander hesitated. “Control.” “Control over
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Beneath it was a date from nearly two decades earlier.Adrian opened the report.The first few pages contained technical observations, medical results, and details about the experiments performed on Ethan.Then he stopped.“There’s a section here about the transfer.”“What transfer?” Ethan asked.Adrian read silently for a moment.His expression changed.“Alexander, you need to see this.”Alexander approached the terminal.As he read the document, the color drained from his face.Ethan immediately noticed.“What is it?”Alexander didn’t respond.Ethan stepped beside him and read the final paragraph.Following the unauthorized transfer of Subject Thirteen, Dr. Alexander Storm was removed from active project operations. All subsequent records concerning the subject were classified.Ethan frowned.“Unauthorized transfer?”Gabriel nodded.“Your father didn’t simply hand you over to the Order.”Ethan looked at him.“Explain.”“The agreement Alexander made was supposed to give the Order tem
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Ethan stared at the screen, unable to move.His mother’s words kept repeating in his mind.You were never supposed to be a child.You were supposed to be the first vessel.He slowly shook his head.“No.”Gabriel watched him without speaking.Ethan turned toward his father.“Tell me he’s lying.”Alexander’s face was pale.“Ethan—”“Tell me he’s lying!”His voice echoed through the facility.Alexander took a step toward him, but Ethan immediately moved back.“Don’t.”Alexander stopped.For several seconds, neither of them spoke.Then Ethan pointed at the document floating above Gabriel’s device.“What does primary subject mean?”Gabriel answered before Alexander could.“It means your parents believed they could prepare a human body to withstand the energy contained in the Keys. The Order had attempted it before, but every subject died or suffered irreversible damage.”He paused.“Your parents believed they had found a solution.”Ethan looked at the screen again.“And that solution was m
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Before Alexander could explain, the lights came back on. Every monitor in the facility activated simultaneously. One screen. Then another. Then dozens. A single image appeared across all of them. A woman. Ethan’s mother. But this time, she wasn’t younger. She looked older. Tired. And she was sitting in what appeared to be a cell. Ethan stepped closer. “Mom…” The image wasn’t a recording. Her eyes moved. She was alive. She looked directly into the camera. “Ethan.” Ethan’s heart nearly stopped. “Mom?” Alexander stared at the screen. “No…” His mother’s expression changed when she saw him. For a moment, something like relief crossed her face. Then fear. “Ethan, listen to me carefully.” Ethan moved toward the screen. “Where are you?” “Don’t come looking for me.” “Mom—” “Don’t.” Her voice became urgent. “The moment you activated the Key, they knew.” Daniel looked at Adrian. “Who?” The woman glanced toward something outside the frame. “They’re already her
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