The day after their rooftop confession began with a storm.
Thunder cracked across the Paris skyline, dark clouds rolling over the city like a curse waiting to be spoken. The estate's glass walls shivered under the weight of the wind. Rain lashed against the windows, a wild rhythm that echoed the storm inside Elena's chest.
Lucien stood at the edge of the balcony, shirtless, body wet from the storm, his muscles tense as he watched the world outside like a war general surveying the battlefield.
Elena stepped out, barefoot, wearing one of his black shirts, the fabric swallowing her figure. Her hair whipped in the wind, wild like the truth she now carried.
"You're thinking too loud," she said softly.
Lucien didn't turn. "I can feel them closing in."
"Julian?"
"And others. Your father's people. The ones who buried Project Solis."
She joined him at the edge, the cold biting into her skin. "Tell me everything."
---
Inside the security room, Lucien pulled up the encrypted files. His fingers moved like lightning across the keys. Elena stared at the holographic projections of files, maps, and scanned documents that revealed her mother's name over and over:
Dr. Seraphina Vale.
She blinked. "Vale? Your last name?"
Lucien nodded. "My aunt. My father's sister. She married a scientist named Marcus Dorne. Your father."
Elena stepped back. "No. That can't be…"
"You and I," Lucien said slowly, "aren't strangers, Elena. We're legacy."
She felt her chest clench, the air thicken around her. "We're related?"
"No," Lucien said quickly, stepping toward her. "Not by blood. I took my mother's name. You took your father's. But our families… they were once allies. Until your mother betrayed the Syndicate and escaped. She ran with you. Hid you away. My father never forgave her."
Elena collapsed into the chair, her hands trembling.
"My whole life… I thought she was weak. Fragile. But she was running from him."
Lucien pulled up a photo. It was old, taken in a lab. Seraphina and Marcus stood side by side, a toddler in Seraphina's arms. Elena.
"She encoded something into you," Lucien whispered. "A sequence. It's in your blood. A genetic signature that unlocks a database of weaponized tech."
"And now they want to use me like a key?"
Lucien nodded. "Julian has the tech. Your blood would activate it."
Elena felt her heartbeat rise, faster, louder. "Then we destroy it. All of it."
Lucien's eyes darkened. "That's exactly what I was hoping you'd say."
---
That night, the plan began.
Lucien called in two trusted operatives from his old life—Nova, a weapons engineer with a violet braid and a mouth like a sailor, and Theo, a quiet demolitions expert who once took down a military bunker with a toothpick and a can of spray foam.
They met in the underground war room. Maps were spread. Targets circled. Entry points marked. A lab beneath the catacombs of Paris. The location of Julian's hidden base.
"Three layers of biometric security," Nova explained. "Retinal, voice, and genetic. We'll need Elena for the final lock."
"No," Lucien said. "We won't risk her."
"We have no choice," Elena said. "This is my war, too."
Lucien's jaw clenched, but he didn't argue. He looked at her differently now. Not as someone to protect—but as someone who could burn kingdoms.
---
Hours later, Elena stood before a mirror, strapping a weapon to her thigh. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail. A matte black bodysuit hugged her form like second skin. Lucien stepped in behind her, his eyes blazing.
"You shouldn't look that good while we're planning a heist," he murmured.
She turned, smiled. "You love it."
"I love you," he whispered, then kissed her like he might die in the next second.
They didn't stop this time.
He carried her to the bed, stripped her slow, and worshipped her skin with his mouth. The storm outside had nothing on the way he moved inside her. Her cries filled the room, his name broken on her lips like a prayer and a curse.
---
Afterward, tangled in sheets and sweat, Elena stared at the ceiling. "What if we don't make it out?"
Lucien turned to her, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek. "Then we take as many of them down with us as we can."
She smiled. "Deal."