as far too old for his eight years. He pointed his chin towards General S

rthed, and he looked at me with Mark' s eyes, full of judgment. He saw me not as his mother, bu

voice flatter than I intended.

s just being honest, Elara. The General's presence is a bit... inte

vation. He was defending Leo's disrespect, validating the idea that my pa

se," I said, my voice dangerously low. "

uilt this life together. Don't act like you're some kind of martyr. You ma

poke, I felt something else. A cold, hard clarity. I looked at him, at the man I had once believed w

eap when I saw the coded number. It was a phantom line, one that officiall

ded. "Think about the offer, Elara," he said, his voice carrying a weig

ut, Mark turned to me, his e

to accept the call. I turned my back on him and w

adrenaline through me. "Phoenix, we have a situation. A retrieval mission

thought was dead and buried. A wave of something wild and fierce rose up inside

following me into the study. "W

expression a carefully constructed mask of boredom. "It's just an alumni thing for th

y housewife he expected to see. He grunted, his suspicion momentarily appeased. "A

d, my voice

d no