The storm didn't wait for the sky.
It started inside the mansion first , in the footsteps, in the whispers, in the way every guard held their gun just a little tighter.
Zara felt it too. A pressure. A crack in the air.
She followed Lorenzo down a narrow hallway, their silence thick with everything they didn't say.
He opened a door.
A private room.
Not his bedroom. Not his office.
Something else.
Zara stepped inside slowly.
It was… empty.
Except for a single glass box on a pedestal in the center of the room.
Inside the box was a necklace.
A simple chain.
A broken locket.
She felt a chill race down her spine.
"What is this?" she whispered.
Lorenzo didn't answer immediately. He walked past her, stopping in front of the glass case like a man approaching his own grave.
"It belonged to someone I failed," he finally said.
Zara's throat tightened. "The woman Elara destroyed?"
He closed his eyes.
"No. Before her."
Zara blinked. "There was someone before Elara?"
Lorenzo nodded, jaw clenched.
"She wasn't a lover. Not a fiancée. Not a deal. She was something worse."
"What could be worse than that?" Zara whispered.
He finally looked at her.
"Family."
Zara's breath caught.
"She was my sister," he said quietly. "And Elara made sure she stopped existing."
Zara staggered back.
His sister. Gone. Because of Elara.
But Lorenzo wasn't finished.
"She didn't just kill her," he said, voice breaking at the edges. "She erased her. Made everyone believe she never existed. Every document. Every photo. Every record."
Zara felt nausea rise. "Why?"
Lorenzo's gaze hardened with a grief sharp enough to cut marble.
"Because my sister discovered something she wasn't meant to see."
Zara swallowed. "What?"
Lorenzo hesitated.
Too long.
"Lorenzo," Zara whispered. "Tell me."
His voice came low, gravel-edged, dangerous:
"A file."
Zara frowned.
"What file?"
Before he could answer...
The door burst open.
Mia.
Face pale. Eyes wide. Breathing like she'd run through fire.
"Lorenzo, you need to see this."
She held out a tablet.
Lorenzo snatched it.
Zara stepped closer.
On the screen was a grainy security feed.
Basement level.
Camera shaking.
A woman in black gloves walked down a corridor.
Elara.
But that wasn't what made Zara's blood freeze.
It was what she carried.
A file.
A very specific file.
Lorenzo's face drained of color.
"No," he breathed. "Not that one."
Zara whispered, "What is it?"
Mia's voice cracked. "The Renegade Project."
Zara's chest tightened. "What… is the Renegade Project?"
Lorenzo didn't look at her. Couldn't.
"Something my father created," he said slowly. "A program." His voice dropped to a whisper. "To build the perfect weapon."
Zara stepped back, heart pounding. "Weapon? You mean guns? Tech?"
"No," Lorenzo said.
He finally turned to her.
And Zara had never seen him look so afraid.
"It wasn't a weapon you hold," he whispered. "It was a weapon you become."
Zara froze.
"What are you saying?"
Mia looked at Zara. Then at Lorenzo. Then back at Zara.
"You should tell her," Mia said softly.
Lorenzo shook his head once sharply like he was fighting something inside.
"Elara has the file," he muttered. "She knows."
Zara's voice trembled. "Knows what?"
The room felt like it was shrinking. Breathing became difficult. The walls pressed in.
Lorenzo stepped toward her slowly.
"Zara…" he whispered. "There's something about you. Something I didn't want to believe. Something I hoped wasn't true."
Zara's heart hammered.
"Lorenzo… you're scaring me."
He swallowed hard.
"Because the Renegade Project"
His voice cracked.
". was about creating children with altered identities and erased origins."
Zara felt dizzy.
Children. Altered. Erased origins.
No. No. No.
She shook her head violently. "That's impossible."
Mia whispered, "Zara… think about it. Your records. Your name. Your past. The things that don't add up."
Zara backed away until her spine hit the wall.
"No. I'm not, I can't be"
Lorenzo reached for her, gently, painfully.
"Zara…"
His voice broke completely.
"Your name wasn't the only thing that wasn't real."
A sob tore from her chest.
"Lorenzo, stop—"
He cupped her face with trembling hands.
"You weren't missing," he whispered.
"You weren't forgotten."
"You were taken."
Zara's entire world shattered.
"No— no— LORENZO—"
He pulled her into his chest, holding her as she shook violently.
"I'm sorry," he said against her hair.
"I'm so damn sorry."
Zara's voice came out broken, strangled:
"Then who am I?"
He closed his eyes.
"That's what Elara wants you to find out."
Zara froze.
"What?"
Mia whispered, "Elara stole the file to show you the truth."
Lorenzo's grip tightened around Zara.
"Because you weren't supposed to exist," he breathed.
Silence crashed around them.
Zara's heart stopped.
And in the basement—
far below—
a message appeared on a wall screen in dripping red text:
HELLO, SUBJECT 01
READY TO REMEMBER ME?
Elara smiled at the camera.
"You're welcome, Zara."
Darkness swallowed the feed.