The next morning, the sky was bruised with rain.
Thunder lingered on the horizon like a threat that wouldn't fade.
Adrian stood on the balcony, staring at the city below — a kingdom he'd inherited through blood and silence. He didn't hear Lena approach until her reflection appeared beside his in the glass.
"I couldn't sleep," she said quietly.
He turned slightly, his voice hoarse. "Neither could I."
For a moment, they just stood there — the unspoken tension between them heavier than the storm.
Finally, Lena asked, "What did that voice mean last night? 'She was ours long before she was yours.'"
Adrian hesitated. Then, for the first time since she'd known him, he looked afraid.
Not of her.
But of what he was about to say.
---
"Do you remember the name Victor Hale?" he asked.
Lena frowned. "No."
"You should. He was the government's liaison to the Blackwood Corporation twenty years ago. My father made a deal with him — one that changed everything."
She studied his face. "What kind of deal?"
Adrian drew a slow breath. "Marcus was funding illegal research. Memory reconstruction, cognitive mapping, neural suppression — things that could erase or rebuild the mind. The government wanted the technology. My father wanted immunity."
Lena's stomach twisted. "Immunity for what?"
"For murder."
The word fell like a blade between them.
"Marcus had killed a whistleblower," Adrian said, his voice steady but hollow. "The deal protected him from prosecution. In exchange, the government got access to his research — and test subjects."
Lena took a step back. "Test subjects?"
"Yes," he said quietly. "Including one your father tried to protect."
---
The room felt like it was shrinking.
Lena could barely breathe. "You mean… me?"
Adrian nodded. "You were listed as a potential candidate for cognitive isolation. You were young, and your father worked for him — which made you accessible."
Tears filled her eyes. "My father would never—"
"He didn't know," Adrian said quickly. "He found out too late. He confronted Marcus the night of the fire."
"The night he died," she whispered.
Adrian nodded again, jaw tightening. "Marcus ordered his men to stop him from leaking the files. Your father tried to destroy the facility. That's when the explosion happened."
Her voice trembled. "You were there too."
"Yes. I was supposed to bring the drive to my father. I didn't know what it contained until after everything burned."
---
Lena turned away, tears streaming down her face. "You've known this all along. You let me believe my father was just an innocent victim."
"He was innocent," Adrian said, stepping toward her. "He died trying to stop Marcus. Everything I've done since then — every choice I've made — was to fix what my father broke."
She spun around. "Then why hide it from me?"
"Because guilt doesn't undo the past," he said softly. "And because I couldn't stand to see you look at me the way you're looking now."
Her voice cracked. "Like what?"
"Like I'm the reason your life fell apart."
---
A long silence hung between them.
The storm outside had begun to fade, but the one inside the room was just beginning.
Lena took a trembling breath. "You said your father made a deal. What happened to the people who helped him?"
Adrian's eyes hardened. "Most of them vanished after the fire. Except one."
"Who?"
"Victor Hale."
He opened a drawer and pulled out a file. Inside were newspaper clippings, photographs, and a grainy image of a man in a military uniform.
"He's the one running Rafe's operation now," Adrian said. "He's been waiting years for Marcus's research to resurface. And now that you've started remembering, he'll do anything to finish what my father started."
---
Lena's hands shook as she flipped through the photos. "All this time… this was never about you or me."
Adrian shook his head slowly. "No. It was always about power — and the secret your father died to protect."
"What secret?"
He hesitated, then said, "Something called The Phoenix Algorithm."
Her brow furrowed. "I've seen that name before — in Marcus's files."
Adrian nodded grimly. "It's the key to rewriting memory. My father wanted to use it to erase his sins. Victor wants to use it to control others."
"And what about you?" she asked quietly. "What do you want?"
He looked at her — the woman who'd saved his life once, and who now stood on the edge of his destruction.
"I want to stop it," he said. "Even if it means destroying everything I have left."
---
The room fell silent again.
Then Lena said, "You said you didn't bring the drive to Marcus that night. So where is it?"
Adrian's expression didn't change — but something in his eyes did.
"It's gone," he said.
"Gone?"
He hesitated. "It burned."
She stared at him for a long moment, then shook her head. "You're lying."
"I'm not."
"Yes, you are." Her voice rose, shaking. "You wouldn't have gone through all this just to destroy it. You still have it, don't you?"
Adrian didn't answer.
That silence told her everything.
---
Lena backed away from him. "You think you can protect me by hiding the truth, but you're only keeping me in the dark."
"I'm trying to keep you alive."
She laughed bitterly. "That's not life, Adrian. That's prison."
His jaw clenched. "If keeping you safe means you hate me, then so be it."
Her eyes glistened with tears. "Then congratulations. You've finally succeeded."
She turned and walked out, slamming the door behind her.
Adrian stood there, staring after her, his chest heaving.
He opened the hidden compartment behind his desk — and there it was.
The flash drive, sealed in glass.
On its label, written in his father's handwriting, were four words that made his blood run cold:
> "FOR HER EYES ONLY."