Glass showered into the room like deadly confetti.
Before Annelise could scream, a black canister rolled across the carpet, stopping right in the center of the room.
BANG.
A flash of blinding white light and a concussive boom rocked the small space.
Annelise fell back, her ears ringing, her vision washed out in white.
Mom!
Get down!
The door splintered inward as a battering ram hit it. Men in tactical gear swarmed into the room, their movements precise and terrifying.
Secure the targets! a voice shouted.
Annelise scrambled toward the bed, blindly reaching for the kids. "No! Leave them alone!"
She felt rough hands grab her arms, hauling her back. She kicked and screamed, fighting with the desperation of a cornered animal.
Clear!
Target One secured.
Target Two secured.
Blace launched himself at a guard, biting the man's arm. The guard grunted, swiftly but firmly pinning the boy's arms to his sides. "Stop fighting, kid, or you'll get hurt."
Blace! Annelise screamed, her throat tearing.
Don't hurt him! He's just a boy!
Casimiro stepped into the room, stepping over the broken glass. He looked calm, apologetic even.
He's unharmed, ma'am. Just restrained, Casimiro said.
You monsters! Annelise spat at him.
Take the children to the secure transport, Casimiro ordered. "Separate vehicle."
No! No, please! Annelise begged, thrashing against her captors. "Don't separate us! Please, I'll do anything! Just don't take them!"
She watched helplessly as a guard carried a thrashing and shouting Blace out. Another carried a crying Clemie. Algernon walked on his own, his hands zip-tied, looking back at Annelise with a terrifyingly blank expression.
Just before he was pushed out the door, Algernon kicked his tablet. It slid under the bed, deep into the shadows.
Ma'am, Casimiro said. "Mr. Sanders wants to see you."
Annelise's heart froze. Mr. Sanders? The phantom? The recluse she had been married to on paper? After all these years, he was finally showing his face? "I will kill him," Annelise sobbed. "I will kill him."
Bring her, Casimiro said.
They pulled a black hood over her head. The world went dark again. Just like the nightmare.
Annelise was dragged down the stairs, thrown into the back of an SUV. She sat in the dark, listening to the tires hum on the asphalt, praying to a God she hadn't believed in for years.
The ride took twenty minutes. Then the car stopped. She was hauled out, led through echoing concrete corridors, into an elevator that shot upward so fast her ears popped.
Finally, the hood was yanked off.
She blinked, blinded by the harsh lights of an interrogation room. Or maybe it was an office. It was sleek, modern, cold.
And he was there.
Archibald sat in a leather chair, watching her. He had shed his jacket. His white shirt was unbuttoned at the top, his sleeves rolled up.
Annelise recognized him immediately from the few cold, intimidating photographs she had seen during their brief, paper-only marriage. The broad shoulders, the stormy eyes, the sheer, suffocating aura of power. This was Archibald Sanders.
Hello, wife, Archibald said.
Annelise stood up, her legs shaking but holding her weight. "Where are my children?"
They are safe, Archibald said calmly. "They are being examined by my medical team."
Examined? Annelise's stomach lurched. "If you touch them..."
I need to know what they are, Archibald said, standing up. He walked around the desk, leaning against it. "That boy... the one who disabled my car. That's not normal, Annelise. Normal five-year-olds don't know how to build corrosive chemical devices."
"You're insane," Annelise spat, her confusion warring with her terror. "You drag me here like a criminal just because my son protected me?"
Archibald raised an eyebrow, a flicker of dark amusement in his eyes. And the eyes? Archibald asked softly. He took a step closer. "Why does he have my eyes?"
Annelise stared at him, bewildered and disgusted by his arrogance. "Your eyes? You're delusional," she spat, her voice trembling with anger. "They are blue. Millions of people have blue eyes. Don't try to project your twisted ego onto my children!"
Archibald took another step closer. His imposing figure cast a long shadow over her. The sheer predatory aura of the man overwhelmed her. It brought back the suffocating panic of that night years ago during the blackout-the feeling of being trapped in the dark with a stranger, utterly powerless. She didn't know he was the man from the dark room, but his aggression was a massive trigger.
She gasped, stumbling back, clutching her chest. "Get away from me."
Archibald paused, frowning. He saw the genuine panic in her face. The way her pupils blew wide, the way sweat beaded on her upper lip. It wasn't the fear of a caught liar. It was the terror of a cornered animal.
Why are you so afraid of me? he asked, genuinely confused. "You're the one who ran. You're the one who had children in secret while we were still married"
Because I know what you are! Annelise screamed, tears finally spilling over. "You're a tyrant! You don't care about me, and you certainly don't care who their real father is! You just want to control everything. You found out I have gifted children, and now you want to steal them, to turn them into soulless machines for your empire!"
The words hung in the air, heavy and desperate.
Archibald stared at her, his mind racing. She wasn't lying about her fear. But her logic baffled him.
