Black Tower – Command Suite, 2:08 AM
The lights were low.
Security sealed. Music playing soft from a custom AI system built just for him.
Damon reviewed shipment movement in Tokyo and Dubai when the System stuttered.
Just once.
A flicker.
Then:
[Warning: Anomaly Detected]
Internal code disruption… Source: UNKNOWN
"System integrity compromised."
"A backdoor protocol has been manually installed."
Origin Ping: Someone close. Someone trusted.
Damon froze.
He didn't panic. He studied.
"Show me… who touched my code."
SYSTEM TRACE INITIATED.
SEARCHING—
LOCATED.
Name: Nova Cross
Meanwhile — Nova's Apartment
She paced. Voice raised. Hair wild.
Zeke stood across from her, stunned.
"I needed to know if he trusted me!" she shouted. "So I tried to access the system… just to look."
Zeke: "You planted a listening worm!"
Nova: "I was scared."
Zeke: "No. You were jealous."
10:00 AM – Campus Courtyard
Damon didn't confront her.
Not at first.
He let the silence choke her from across the garden café. She saw the look — the shift. The distance.
"Damon, I didn't mean—"
He turned his back.
Didn't speak.
Didn't touch her.
And the System pulsed:
Connection Severed – Nova Cross
→ Romance: Frozen
→ Loyalty: 0%
→ System Link: Erased
"You were a queen," the System echoed, "but queens who betray… get removed from the board."
St. Monarch Library – Basement Archive
Elina leaned against the old shelves, arms crossed, watching Damon scroll old Black Family documents.
"You hide your pain too well," she said.
"You dig too deep," he answered.
"Because I need to know…" she stepped close.
"Was your mother's death a tragedy?
Or was it part of this?"
She tapped his chest.
Damon didn't respond.
The System did:
Bloodline Trigger Unlocked
Revealing suppressed file: Eleanor Black – Project Seraphim
"Target was part of a shadow program. Classified. Gene-level enhancements connected to subject: Damon Black."
He stepped back.
Eyes wide.
"My mother was… engineered?"
Final Scene – Sasha's Room
The lights were off.
Damon stood in the doorway.
She had been crying. Voice raw. Eyes swollen.
"You know who I am, don't you?"
Damon: "Yes."
"Then why didn't you stop me?"
Damon stepped inside. Sat beside her.
Soft.
Still.
"Because I was waiting to see…
if you'd stop yourself."
She collapsed into his chest.
"I'm not just falling for you," she whispered.
"I'm falling apart."