Then toward herself.
She had saved him before.
Damian knelt.
“You have already saved me more times than I deserve.”
Lila touched his cheek.
Come back.
He signed the promise properly this time.
I will.
The operation began before dawn.
Gabriel’s agents surrounded the estate. Viktor entered from the cliffs. Damian and I approached through an underground wine cellar.
We found Elena in the main hall.
She stood beside Mikhail.
A gun rested in her hand.
Damian stopped.
“Mother.”
Elena’s eyes filled with pain.
“Put down your weapon.”
He stared at her.
“You chose him.”
“I chose the only path that brought all of us here.”
Mikhail smiled.
“You always were obedient when it mattered.”
Elena turned the gun toward him.
“No,” she said. “I was patient.”
She fired.
The bullet struck Mikhail’s cane.
It shattered on the marble floor.
Inside it was a glass vial connected to a hidden needle.
Gabriel rushed forward.
“What is that?”
Elena stepped back.
“The poison.”
Mikhail’s face twisted.
“You fool.”
She looked at Damian.
“Your father was never poisoned by his council. He poisoned himself.”
Damian frowned.
“Why?”
“To create symptoms that justified secret medical treatments, disappearances, and experiments. He tested transplant drugs on prisoners for decades.”
Gabriel’s voice shook.
“And the hereditary disease?”
“Another lie.”
Mikhail lunged toward the vial.
Viktor tackled him.
They crashed against the staircase.
Mikhail pulled a blade.
Damian intercepted him.
Father and son collided beneath the chandelier.
Mikhail fought with the desperation of a man who believed death was an insult. Damian fought like a man protecting everything behind him.
The blade cut Damian’s side.
I grabbed the broken cane and struck Mikhail’s wrist.
The knife fell.
Elena aimed her weapon.
Mikhail laughed.
“You will not shoot me.”
“Why?”
“Because Damian is not your son.”
The room froze.
Damian stared at him.
Mikhail smiled.
“Elena was pregnant before she married me.”
Damian looked at his mother.
She did not deny it.
“Who?” he whispered.
Elena’s eyes shifted toward Viktor.
The truth became visible before anyone spoke.
Viktor lowered his head.
“I am your father.”
Damian stepped backward.
Every memory rearranged itself.
