ike wet wool. Still, tight coils wound deep within refused to loosen. Held fast now in what seemed like breathing stone - closed off where comfort ought to live but didn't. Time here kn

ore. Clearer now, though. Not simply waiting for me to be born. Already set on removing me should I fall short. In his eyes, I wasn't a person. Just numbers adding up. An experiment shaped like fate. A shape in his hands might help or just get thrown away. Cold anger rushed into my thoughts. Not long after, a new thing happened instead. From Elena came a different pulse. Her heartbeat picked up speed, free now from the sluggish drag of medicine. The air near me shifted, just a little. Through the cord linking us, energy moved like a quiet ripple. Waking now, she stirred into awareness. Her mind cleared from the chemicals holding it down. Then came sound - her voice broke the silence. Soft. Gentle. A slight tremor ran through it as it moved between the folds of tissue dividing us. "My baby..." came her whisper. Her words hummed deep within me, turning the dark into something warm. Against her belly, her palm pressed - right where my small head drifted. "I felt you stir," she murmured then. "Such strength already." That softness in her tone cracked open something raw inside me. Before that second, rage ruled every thought. Victor haunted my mind. Betrayal burned bright. The loss of what once belonged to me never faded. Now, though, Elena's soft words stirred a different feeling deep inside. Not just memory - something tighter, sharper. Back then, she stayed kind when others did not. Never tangled in the Vale family's endless fights for control. Gentle, yes. Believing the best even when it hurt her. Too pure for that sharp-edged world. Today, silence surrounds her where support should be. Little did she suspect the faces close to her held hidden plans. Not once crossed her thoughts that something strange sat at the bottom of her cup. The gentle hands examining her belly carried silent agendas beneath their calm. To her, it felt like ordinary motherhood unfolding. All along, sharp eyes watched behind soft words. A warning needed to reach her. That idea hit hard, sudden, impossible to ignore. She deserved the real story. Yet where would it come from? Just layers of growing tissue, delicate wiring barely holding together. Speech wasn't an option. Not even close to sh

ictor's steady face finally broke - his plan undone by something silent