The mountain roads were slick with meltwater by the time they descended from the estate. The storm had passed, but the air still carried its memory—bruised skies and distant thunderclouds chasing them like guilt.
Nathan drove with a purpose Adelina hadn't seen in him before. Focused. Cold. The man beside her now wasn't the one who whispered comfort to her in the dark, or who kissed her like she was the only real thing left in his world. This Nathan had hardened.
And she understood why.
The car screen flickered with live updates.
BLACKSTONE INDUSTRIES IN CRISIS: Allegations Surface Regarding Human Experiments
IS THE HEIRESS A WEAPON?
ELENA DREYER EXPOSES DARK LEGACY
Adelina stared at the headlines as they streamed in. Her name was everywhere. So was her face—some real, others distorted from old security footage, experimental archives, even artful reconstructions based on Elena's interview.
She had gone from secret to scandal.
And the world was watching.
When they arrived back at the city headquarters, the atmosphere was suffocating.
Cameras lined the block. Protesters stood behind metal barricades. Guards escorted Nathan and Adelina through a private side entrance, but even inside, tension cut through the air like wire.
Everyone stared. Some with fear. Some with curiosity. None with comfort.
Sebastian met them just past the executive elevators.
"You took your time," he snapped.
Nathan didn't flinch. "We were busy surviving."
"While you were off surviving," Sebastian hissed, "we were bleeding. Stocks have dropped twenty percent in two days. Our European partners are pulling out. We just lost two board seats to emergency interim votes."
"And Viktor?" Nathan asked.
Sebastian's mouth flattened. "Stress-induced stroke. Collapsed this morning. He's in critical care."
Adelina felt a strange detachment hearing it. The man who had tried to inject her was now incapacitated. It didn't feel like justice. It felt like chess.
"What about Elena?" Nathan asked.
Sebastian led them into the conference room where a half-dozen screens glowed with live feeds.
One showed Elena. Pale, poised, devastatingly calm.
"I tried everything," she said to a global audience, seated beneath soft lights and with tears that didn't quite reach her eyes. "But when you grow up inside a machine that's designed to erase people like you, eventually you have to fight back."
Adelina's breath caught.
"I watched them wipe her again and again," Elena continued. "Rebuild her to be palatable. Marketable. Containable. But she remembers. Somewhere deep down, she remembers who she was."
"She's turning you into a martyr," Nathan muttered.
"She's turning me into a threat," Adelina whispered.
Another anchor's voice cut in: "...though these claims remain unverified, the implications are staggering. Is the Blackstone heiress truly the product of unauthorized cognitive engineering?"
"She didn't release the hard files," Sebastian said. "Just enough to ignite panic. She's saving the worst for the board meeting next week."
"And the public?"
"Divided," he said. "Some sympathize. Some want your head."
Adelina turned to Nathan. "What now?"
He studied her. Then turned to Elise Gavrila, who had just entered, heels sharp against marble.
"You're lucky the family hasn't disowned you," she snapped at Nathan. "You let your emotional attachment cloud your judgment. You should've silenced Elena the moment she surfaced."
Nathan's expression didn't change. "That would've made her a martyr. This is more complicated."
Elise narrowed her eyes at Adelina. "She's the complication."
Adelina stood taller. "I'm also the reason people are listening."
Elise stepped forward. "Don't mistake attention for power."
"She's right," Nathan said, cutting in smoothly. "We don't control the story anymore. But we can guide the ending."
He turned to Adelina.
"I need you to do something," he said quietly.
She nodded, wary. "What?"
"Stand with me. Publicly."
Adelina blinked. "You want me to defend the people who created me?"
"I want you to claim your voice," he said. "Not theirs. Not Elena's. Yours. We can hold a press conference, frame this as legacy versus truth. Let them see you—not the weapon, not the project—the woman."
Elise scoffed. "You think a speech will stop this avalanche?"
Nathan's jaw tensed. "No. But it might stop it from burying us all."
Adelina felt like the room was spinning.
She looked at the screens again—Elena, confident in her crusade.
Then at Elise, furious but scared.
Then finally at Nathan, eyes steady, hand outstretched.
"You want me to choose," she said.
"I want you to take control," he said.
She reached for his hand.
The door burst open.
A young assistant stumbled in, breathless.
"There's been a breach," she said. "Someone accessed the vault. The old lab records. They're being uploaded now—live. Unfiltered."
Nathan's face went pale.
"Where?"
The girl swallowed. "Every major outlet. Social. Broadcast. International."
Sebastian swore under his breath. Elise turned to storm out.
Adelina stood frozen.
The door to the truth had just been ripped open.
And the world was about to see everything.