The rain hit the glass walls of Adrian Voss’s penthouse like a warning—sharp, relentless, impossible to ignore. The city below blurred into streaks of light, but inside, everything was still. Controlled.
Too still.
Adrian stood by the window, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a thin file. He hadn’t opened it yet. He didn’t need to. Marcus Vale didn’t bring uncertainty—only facts.
Behind him, Cassandra’s voice cut through the silence. “You’re overreacting, Adrian.”
He didn’t turn. “Am I?”
Lila leaned against the marble counter, arms crossed, her expression unreadable—but her fingers twitched. Subtle. Nervous.
That was new.
Elias stood near the doorway, watching quietly. He already knew. Of course he did.
Adrian finally opened the file.
Paper. Clean. Precise. Final.
His eyes moved once across the page.
Then again.
Slower this time.
No match.
The air shifted.
Adrian closed the file gently—too gently.
“You forged it,” he said, voice low, almost calm.
Cassandra let out a soft laugh. “That’s a serious accusation.”
He turned now.
And the room froze.
His eyes weren’t angry. Not loud. Not explosive.
Worse.
Cold.
Calculated.
Certain.
“Do not lie to me again,” Adrian said.
Lila’s jaw tightened. She pushed off the counter. “Maybe the test is wrong.”
Adrian stepped closer. One step. That’s all it took for the space to shrink.
“I ran it three times,” he said. “Different labs. Different methods.”
Silence.
Cassandra’s smile faltered.
Lila didn’t speak.
And that was the answer.
Adrian looked at her—really looked at her this time. Not as an obligation. Not as a responsibility.
But as a stranger.
And something inside him shifted.
Not anger.
Not even betrayal.
Something quieter.
Something sharper.
“You’re not mine,” he said.
The words landed harder than shouting ever could.
Lila flinched.
Just slightly.
But Adrian saw it.
And for a brief second—just a second—he remembered every moment she pushed him, every time she tested him, every rare, silent second where she stood near him without pretending.
Something almost real.
Gone.
Cassandra stepped forward, her voice tightening. “Adrian, listen—we can fix this. The public doesn’t need to know. We can—”
“Stop.”
One word.
Absolute.
She froze.
Adrian turned away from them both, walking back toward the window. The city lights flickered in his reflection, but his expression didn’t change.
“You built a lie,” he said. “You thought you could control me with it.”
Cassandra swallowed. “It worked, didn’t it?”
A pause.
Then—
“No.”
His grip tightened slightly against the glass.
“It distracted me.”
Silence swallowed the room again.
Marcus stepped forward slightly, waiting.
Adrian didn’t look back.
“Remove them.”
Lila’s head snapped up. “Wait—”
But the guards were already moving.
Cassandra’s voice broke into panic. “Adrian, you can’t do this—after everything—”
He didn’t respond.
Didn’t look.
Didn’t hesitate.
As they were pulled away, Lila stopped fighting.
She looked at him one last time.
Not as a daughter.
Not even as a liar.
Just… something unfinished.
“You were different,” she said quietly.
Adrian didn’t turn.
The doors shut.
And just like that—they were gone.
The penthouse fell silent again.
But it wasn’t the same silence.
Adrian exhaled slowly, staring out into the storm.
Elias stepped closer. “What now?”
A long pause.
Then Adrian spoke, voice lower than before.
“Find them.”
Elias frowned slightly. “Cassandra and Lila—?”
“No.”
Adrian’s reflection stared back at him—sharp, focused, unshaken.
But something beneath it had changed.
“My real child.”
The rain hit harder against the glass.
Somewhere out there… unknown, unseen… was the one thing in his life that had never been controlled.
And now—
He was going to find them.