my life's work, a hero reborn. The next, he was a monster. His eyes, once full of love and recognition, went blank, replaced by a storm of p

designed to heal his broken mind. Security guards swarmed him, but he threw them off like dolls. In the chaos,

blinding pain in my

d was the flat, empty space where my baby bump used to be. A cold, hollow grief filled me, so vas

cted emotions. He was no longer the raging beast from the demonstration, ju

o my bedside, his hand hoveri

his voice thick. "I

," I said, my own voice

his words finally made me look at him. "It was a... a sur

ot himself. He was rationalizing t

ult?" I asked, a tremor fina

ce gaining a hard, defensive edge. "Vivian said this might happen. She said you

predator who had shadowed my career for years. Her name in h

and I felt a strange, chilling calm settle over me. The grief was still

ered, the words carrying a weight he couldn't

d struck him. "What is

father, the powerful and imposing General Marcus Thorne. Vivian was dressed in a s

ping with artificial sweetness. "I am so, so sorry

c failure of your prototype and the resulting... incident... the Department of Defense is indefinitely

pital bedside. They were stripping me of my id

sion is ready to step in. We can salvage the project. We'll build on Evelyn's found

arketing pitch. She was using my husb

ld, clear certainty. They thought they were just stealing a project,

slipped into my room. He was lean, with quiet eyes and the kind

umble. "My name is Preacher. I serv

nit. A band of brothers forge

"Thorne has been in his ear for months, feeding him poison about you

the malfunction was an accident. W

e air. It made a hor

athed. "To k

ure. We have sources... she believes it's the key to something she calls 'designer babies'. Genetically perfect children, hardwire

oured into this work. The sleepless nights, the sacrifices, the singular focus on restoring what was l

, a child who was now a casualty of

soldier who still believed in t

ice finding a strength I didn't kn

personal effects before it was sealed as government property. My professional death was now absolute. But as I stood in the s

out justice for my child. And it was about stopping Vivian Thorne before she

-