Daria POV
I jerked awake to the acrid scent of smoke.
Panic clawed at my throat.
I bolted upright, gasping, my lungs straining for air that wasn't tainted with the chemical sting of the clinic.
But I wasn't in the clinic anymore.
I was in a cabin.
Rough-hewn wood beams stretched overhead, a fireplace crackled warmly in the corner, and heavy velvet curtains were drawn tight against the world.
My hands flew to my belly.
It was still there. Still round.
I pressed my palm against the curve, and a small, distinct kick answered me.
Relief washed over me, so powerful and sudden that the room spun.
The heavy oak door creaked open.
Alois walked in, balancing a wooden tray.
He looked... different. The transformation was jarring.
Gone was the pristine, tailored suit. In its place, he wore a worn flannel shirt and jeans, the handle of an axe hooked casually through his belt loop.
He looked... startlingly human.
"Eat," he commanded softly, setting the tray on the bedside table. Steam rose from a bowl of soup beside a thick slice of bread and a glass of water.
"Where are we?" I croaked, my voice rough.
"Nowhere," he replied, his tone flat. "North. Far from Chicago. Deep in the blind spot of the world."
He pulled a wooden chair opposite the bed and sat.
"Turn on the TV," he said.
I frowned, confusion warring with fear, but I picked up the remote.
The screen flickered to life, tuned to a local news channel.
BREAKING NEWS: TRAGEDY STRIKES THE BURRIS DYNASTY.
My heart hammered a frantic rhythm against my ribs.
The screen showed a building consumed by an inferno, orange flames licking the night sky.
It was Dr. Gates' clinic.
The chyron ran across the bottom in stark red letters: CAPO'S WIFE PERISHES IN CLINIC FIRE.
"What did you do?" I whispered, the blood draining from my face.
"I cleaned up the mess," Alois said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "I went back to Gates' clinic after I dropped you at the safe house. I located a Jane Doe in the city morgue-unclaimed, roughly your height-and brought her there. I slipped your wedding ring onto her finger."
He paused, his eyes dark pools of resolve.
"Then I burned it to the ground. With Gates inside."
I stared at the screen, unable to look away.
Kaeden was there.
He was standing in front of the roaring inferno, physically restrained by two of his largest guards. He looked devastated.
He was screaming my name.
Even through the grainy footage, he looked like a man whose soul had been ripped violently from his chest.
"He thinks I'm dead," I said, my voice trembling.
"He has to," Alois stated. "It is the only way you stay safe. If he knows you are alive, Clemmie will never stop hunting you. And Kaeden... he is too weak to protect you from her."
"He killed me," I said, the realization settling into my marrow like lead. "He signed the paper, Alois. He agreed to let them cut me open."
"Yes," Alois said, not sparing me the truth. "He did."
I watched Kaeden on the screen.
He fell to his knees in the soot and ash, burying his face in his hands, his body shaking with sobs.
It was a performance.
Or maybe it was regret.
It didn't matter.
The Daria who loved him died in that chair the moment he ordered the voltage up.
I placed a protective hand over my stomach.
"He doesn't get to mourn me," I said, my voice hardening into something brittle and sharp. "And he never gets to know about her."
Alois nodded slowly.
"What now?" I asked.
Alois leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
"Now, we wait," he said. "We let him rot in his guilt. We let Clemmie believe she has won. And when you are strong... when the baby is born..."
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't have to.
I looked at the destruction on the screen, then at the contained fire crackling in the hearth.
"I'm not Daria Burris anymore," I said.
Alois stood up, towering in the small room.
"No," he agreed. "You are something else entirely."
He walked to the door, pausing with his hand on the latch.
"Rest. The storm is coming, Daria. And when it hits, we will be the ones holding the lightning."
He closed the door, leaving me in the dim light.
I turned back to the TV.
I watched my husband cry for the wife he had murdered.
And for the first time in days, I didn't cry.
Slowly, a smile curved my lips.
Because ghosts can haunt you.
And I was going to be the most terrifying ghost Kaeden Burris had ever seen.
