Chapter 5 ALESSIA MORETTI'S POV

The last time I saw Lucien's face that pale, there was blood on his hands.

This time, it wasn't his.

"What is it?" I asked.

He didn't answer. He just stared at his phone like it had teeth.

"Lucien."

He turned the screen to me.

The video was shaky, grainy. A girl. Young. Gagged. Hands bound behind her back.

She was crying. Not loudly. Not theatrically. Quiet tears. Real fear.

"Who is she?" I asked.

"My sister," he said.

My heart sank. "Lucien..."

He didn't move. Didn't speak. Just replayed the video again.

I touched his arm. "Talk to me."

"She was supposed to be in Paris. I moved her there three years ago. After my father..." He stopped. Jaw clenched. "I swore no one would ever touch her again."

"Who sent it?"

"No number. No trace."

The voice at the end was what turned my stomach. Calm. Smirking. Familiar in a way I couldn't place.

"I hear you've been digging, Lucien. Time to bury what you love."

I looked at him. "This is about us. About what we found."

He nodded once.

I folded my arms. "Do you think it's my father?"

Lucien didn't blink. "He's the only one with enough reach to get to her. And enough venom to enjoy it."

I took a step back and leaned against the wall. "I can't do this if he's going to keep hurting people around me. Around you."

Lucien's voice was low. "That's exactly why we have to do it."

The silence stretched between us. Not heavy. Not cold. Just... weighted.

"You need to tell Rafael," I said.

"No," he snapped. "Not yet. If this goes wide, my sister's dead."

"Then we go quiet."

Lucien met my eyes. "You still want to go to the facility?"

I didn't hesitate. "Yes."

"You're sure?"

I nodded. "He already took Enzo. He's not taking anything else."

Lucien exhaled and looked away. "We leave at midnight."

I packed in silence. Black clothes. Boots. Gun. Flashlight. A photo of Enzo I kept in my wallet.

Just before midnight, I slipped out of the room and headed to the garage. Rafael was already there, leaning against a black SUV, hoodie up, tension radiating off him like heat.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked.

"No," I said. "But that's never stopped me before."

He smirked. "You remind me of him, you know."

I glanced at him. "Enzo?"

"Yeah. Same fire. Same refusal to back down."

"I didn't get that from our father."

"No," he said. "You got that in spite of him."

Lucien pulled up in a separate car. All black. Engine purring like a threat.

We climbed in without a word. Rafael in the back. I sat shotgun.

Lucien didn't speak for the first ten minutes. Then,

"We have ten minutes of dead zone once we get close. Cameras won't pick us up, but the guards will rotate at twelve twenty-three. We move fast, no hesitation."

"What exactly are we looking for?" I asked.

Rafael leaned forward. "Hard drives. Files. Evidence Enzo believed was inside. He said everything ties back to that lab. It's where Project Veil started."

Lucien spoke without turning. "And what exactly is Project Veil?"

"Medical testing. Not legal. Not humane."

My stomach flipped. "Human trials?"

Rafael nodded. "On people who didn't volunteer. Who didn't survive."

I looked out the window. "And my father signed off on this?"

Rafael didn't answer.

"Say it," I demanded.

"Yes," he said. "He funded it. Protected it. Weaponized it."

Lucien gripped the wheel tighter. "We shut it down tonight."

We arrived at the perimeter at twelve ten. Lucien killed the lights and parked beneath a canopy of trees.

The facility loomed in the distance. A sleek, modern building wrapped in fences and shadows.

We moved fast. Rafael disabled the first gate. Lucien scanned the cameras. I kept watch.

Once inside the fence, we crouched low and sprinted to a side entrance. Rafael picked the lock with military precision.

Inside, the air was sterile. Fluorescent. Cold.

"This way," Rafael whispered.

He led us down a corridor, then into a stairwell. Down two levels. The walls changed from clean steel to raw concrete.

Lucien frowned. "This wasn't in the schematics."

"Because they don't want it to be," Rafael said.

The hallway stretched ahead, lit only by dim red lights. We moved in silence.

Rafael stopped at a door. "Storage. According to Enzo, this is where they kept the records."

He keyed in a code. The door clicked open.

Inside were rows of filing cabinets, server racks, and cold metal drawers.

Lucien stepped in first, flashlight scanning the room. "Fan out. Look for anything marked with the Veil symbol."

I opened drawers, scanned folders, flipped through medical logs.

Then I saw it. A white file marked with a stamp. A black circle with a slit through the center.

"Here," I said.

Rafael and Lucien came over. I opened the file.

Inside were lists. Names. Ages. Conditions. Status: Terminated.

My breath caught. "These are people."

Lucien picked up a second folder. "Test subjects."

Rafael opened a drawer. "Here too. Hundreds."

Lucien stepped back. "We need to download the digital files."

He moved to the server, pulled out a small device from his pocket, and plugged it in.

"Thirty seconds," he said.

I stared at the names. Some crossed out. Some highlighted.

And then I saw it.

My name.

Right beneath Enzo's.

Lucien turned at my gasp. "What is it?"

I handed him the file.

He read it. His eyes darkened. "This can't be right."

"Status: Pending," I whispered.

"Your father marked you," Rafael said.

"Marked me for what?"

"Termination."

Lucien stepped back. "He was going to kill you."

I shook my head. "No. Not then. Not yet."

Rafael pointed. "The date. Two weeks from now."

Lucien stared at it. "The wedding was his deadline. If you stayed loyal, he'd keep you alive. If not..."

"He'd clean up the mess."

Lucien pulled the device from the server. "We have enough. Let's go."

We moved fast back through the corridor. But as we reached the stairs, Rafael stopped.

He held up a hand. "Wait."

We froze.

Footsteps above.

Voices.

Lucien cursed under his breath. "They're early."

I looked back. "Other exit?"

Rafael nodded. "Basement. Lab doors. This way."

We sprinted down the next hall. Lights flicked on one by one as we ran.

Alarms hadn't sounded. Yet.

We reached the final corridor. Rafael opened a back panel in the wall.

"This leads to the escape tunnel," he said.

Lucien pushed me through first. He followed. Rafael behind.

But halfway through, we heard it.

The explosion.

The tunnel shook. Dust filled the air.

Lucien grabbed my arm. "Go. Now."

We emerged into the woods behind the facility, coughing, eyes burning.

We made it to the car.

Rafael looked back. "That was no accident."

Lucien turned to him. "They knew we were coming."

He didn't respond.

I stared at him. "How did they know?"

Then I noticed.

Lucien noticed too.

Rafael was bleeding.

And in his side pocket...

A phone.

Buzzing.

Lucien snatched it, turned the screen to me.

A message. From a saved number. One word.

"Confirmed."

I backed away.

"Rafael," I whispered. "What did you do?"