Ava stared into the dying flames of the hearth, their light flickering weakly across her face, reflecting in her eyes like forgotten tears. Behind her, silence stretched thick and volatile. Two men stood in the same room—one sworn protector, the other a phantom from her shattered past.

Her voice broke the silence like glass beneath a boot."You don't get to just come back, Luca... not after everything."

Luca's gaze didn't waver. "I never stopped watching. I stayed in the shadows so they wouldn't follow me to you."

Noah scoffed, arms crossed, posture rigid with contained fury. "And we're supposed to believe that? You think stalking her from a distance makes you noble?"

Luca ignored him. He stepped closer to Ava, slow, cautious—as though one wrong move would shatter her completely."I know what they're after. I know what they'll do to get it."

Ava turned, and her eyes were colder than Luca remembered. "Then start talking. Because I'm tired of being a puppet in someone else's story."

Luca nodded once. "It wasn't just you they marked, Ava. It was us. Years ago. Before the fire. Before the betrayal. We were all part of something... something we were never supposed to survive."

A flicker of a memory stabbed through her—bare feet running through forest dirt, whispers in the dark, a symbol carved into a tree. Panic twisted in her chest.

"I don't remember," she whispered.

Luca's eyes dimmed. "They made sure of that."

Noah stepped between them again. "Enough riddles. Give us facts or leave."

Luca's lips tightened, but he relented. "They called it Project Winterglass. It wasn't just a name—it was an experiment. You were the centerpiece, Ava. And they've been waiting for the right time to trigger what they buried inside you."

The words hit her like a blade to the chest.

Inside me?

Her knees almost gave out, but Noah's hand caught her elbow, grounding her. She looked at him, but for the first time, even he didn't have answers. Just alarm.

"What do they want from me?" she asked, her voice cracking like splintered wood.

Luca exhaled. "Not what, Ava. Who. You are the key. To everything."

The storm outside had slowed, but inside her chest, it had only just begun. Her past wasn't just a mystery. It was a weapon.

And someone was preparing to use it.

To be continued...