Chapter 69 —
Kieller's POV
Hospitals had a strange way of making powerful men look ordinary.
The expensive private suite.
The security outside.
The machines worth millions.
None of it mattered.
Pain didn't care about wealth.
Neither did regret.
I stared at the ceiling.
For the first time in years...
I was afraid.
Not of death.
Of losing her.
The door opened quietly.
I didn't need to look.
"I know you're awake."
Aren.
He closed the door behind him.
Neither of us spoke.
He looked at the fresh bandages covering my chest before shaking his head.
"You nearly died."
"I've had worse."
"You've had luck."
I smirked faintly.
"Luck doesn't exist."
"No."
Aren walked toward the window.
"It doesn't."
Silence settled between us.
Then he asked the question I had been avoiding.
"Did you tell her?"
"...Some of it."
His shoulders slumped.
"That's not enough anymore."
"I know."
"She found Ally."
That made me sit upright.
"What?"
Aren looked directly at me.
"They met."
Everything inside me froze.
"...Impossible."
"I thought so too."
My breathing became uneven.
"How did she get into the Echo Facility?"
"I don't know."
Another lie.
Aren knew.
I knew he knew.
But neither of us had the energy to fight.
After several seconds he spoke again.
"She knows you hid things from her."
"I was protecting her."
"No."
His voice hardened.
"You were protecting yourself."
The words landed harder than the crash ever had.
Aren wasn't wrong.
I had spent years convincing myself silence was protection.
Maybe...
It had only been fear.
Fear that she'd hate me.
Fear she'd look at me the way she did yesterday.
Like I was just another liar.
Aren reached inside his coat.
He placed an old photograph on my bed.
The edges were faded.
Two little girls.
One laughing.
One holding her sister's hand.
Lyra.
Ally.
"You remember this day?"
I nodded slowly.
"I watched them."
His eyes widened.
"I know."
Silence.
"I wasn't supposed to interfere."
"You were sixteen."
"I was sixteen."
The memory returned with painful clarity.
Nine Years Earlier
Rain poured over the Echo compound.
I stood beneath the security tower in a black uniform.
Too young.
Too obedient.
Inside the courtyard...
Two sisters were chasing each other through puddles.
They laughed.
They smiled.
As though this place wasn't built to steal both.
A scientist stopped beside me.
"Commander."
I hated that title.
"Yes?"
He handed me a file.
Subject Seven.
Lyra Vale.
Age: Six.
"Memory conditioning begins tomorrow."
I looked toward the little girl again.
She waved at me.
A complete stranger.
She smiled anyway.
I couldn't wave back.
Orders weren't supposed to have names.
Or smiles.
That night...
I crossed a line.
I entered the children's wing.
Placed a small white teddy bear outside Lyra's room.
No note.
No explanation.
Just...
Proof that somewhere inside that building...
Someone still remembered kindness.
The next morning...
The bear was gone.
The experiment wasn't.
Present Day.
Aren stared at me.
"You should've walked away then."
"I couldn't."
"You could have."
"I was raised there."
The words escaped before I could stop them.
Silence.
Heavy.
Painful.
"I didn't know what normal looked like."
Aren looked away.
"I know."
For several seconds...
Neither of us spoke.
Then—
The television inside the room suddenly switched on by itself.
Static.
Both of us turned.
The screen flickered.
Then a distorted video appeared.
A familiar white rose rested on a table.
Beside it...
A chessboard.
A calm voice echoed through the room.
"Good morning, Kieller."
Every muscle in my body tensed.
Not him.
Anyone but him.
Aren's face lost all color.
The voice continued.
"I was disappointed by your performance."
Silence.
"You chose emotion over duty."
The camera slowly moved.
Showing another screen.
Detective Rael.
Bound to a chair.
Alive.
Barely conscious.
My hands clenched.
"What do you want?" I growled.
Soft laughter answered.
"You already know."
The chess piece moved.
Click.
"Bring Subject Seven to me."
"No."
The answer came instantly.
Another pause.
"I expected that."
The voice became colder.
"So instead..."
The screen changed.
Another live camera.
Lyra.
Walking alone toward her penthouse.
Completely unaware she was being watched.
"...I'll let her come willingly."
The transmission ended.
The room fell into silence.
Aren whispered,
"He knows everything."
I looked at the blank screen.
"No."
My voice was quieter than I intended.
"He planned everything."
For the first time since the crash...
I wasn't thinking like a businessman.
Or a survivor.
I was thinking like a man who had already lost too much.
I swung my legs over the side of the hospital bed.
The pain was immediate.
Aren stepped forward.
"You're in no condition to move."
"I don't care."
"You'll reopen every wound."
"I don't care."
"You could die."
I looked him straight in the eye.
"If she's walking into his trap..."
I ripped the IV from my arm.
"...then I'll crawl there if I have to."
Some promises weren't spoken.
They were bled for.
End of Chapter 69