Chapter 2
PART 4
"We finally found her."
The man's smile never reached his eyes.
Marcus immediately stepped in front of Lila.
Every instinct screamed the same thing:
Danger.
"Who are you?" Marcus demanded.
The stranger ignored him.
Instead, he stared directly at Lila.
Almost like he wasn't seeing a frightened little girl.
Almost like he was seeing something valuable.
Something he had spent years searching for.
Sophia suddenly moved between them.
"No."
Her voice shook.
"You are not taking her."
The man sighed.
"As always, Sophia, you make everything difficult."
Marcus looked from one to the other.
"You know him."
Sophia didn't answer.
She couldn't.
The expression on her face told him everything.
The stranger slowly climbed the final steps.
Two armed men followed behind him.
Neither spoke.
Neither needed to.
Their presence was enough.
Marcus felt his stomach tighten.
"Someone explain what's happening."
The stranger finally looked at him.
"You really don't know, do you?"
"What don't I know?"
The man's smile returned.
"The child you call your daughter isn't ordinary."
Marcus felt anger flare.
"Leave her out of this."
"I'm afraid that's impossible."
The stranger reached into his jacket and pulled out a photograph.
Then he tossed it onto the floor.
Marcus picked it up.
His breath caught.
The image showed Sophia.
Much younger.
Standing inside what appeared to be a laboratory.
Beside her was a little girl.
A little girl who looked exactly like Lila.
But the photo was dated eleven years ago.
Marcus stared at it.
His hands trembling.
That was impossible.
Lila was only seven.
Seven.
The photograph was eleven years old.
"What is this?" Marcus whispered.
Sophia closed her eyes.
As if a burden she had carried for years was finally crushing her.
The stranger answered for her.
"That's the first Lila."
The room went silent.
Marcus looked up.
"What did you just say?"
"The first Lila."
His voice was calm.
Cold.
Matter-of-fact.
"As in... the original."
Marcus felt sick.
"No."
The stranger nodded.
"Your wife worked for us."
Sophia shook her head violently.
"Don't listen to him."
But the man continued.
"She was one of our leading researchers."
Marcus stared at his wife.
His wife.
The woman he thought he knew.
The woman who had supposedly been a school teacher before they met.
The stranger smiled.
"That was the lie."
Sophia's eyes filled with tears.
"I was trying to protect you."
Marcus could barely breathe.
Protect him from what?
Protect him from whom?
Nothing made sense anymore.
Then the stranger said something that shattered what little certainty Marcus still had.
"The blindness wasn't an illness."
Marcus froze.
The man pointed toward Lila.
"It was a side effect."
Marcus's pulse thundered.
"A side effect of what?"
The stranger's gaze shifted to the little girl.
For the first time, genuine fascination appeared in his eyes.
"A side effect of abilities that should never have existed."
At that exact moment, Lila suddenly gasped.
Her head snapped upward.
As though she were looking at something nobody else could see.
The lights overhead began flickering.
The windows rattled.
The floor vibrated beneath their feet.
Everyone froze.
Including the armed men.
Lila slowly stood.
Her sightless eyes glowing faintly silver.
"Daddy..."
Her voice sounded different.
Older somehow.
Stronger.
Then she turned directly toward the stranger.
And for the first time in months—
She looked straight into his eyes.
Not near him.
Not past him.
At him.
Marcus's heart stopped.
Lila could see.
The stranger's confident smile vanished instantly.
Fear replaced it.
Real fear.
"What have you done?" he whispered to Sophia.
Sophia's answer came through tears.
"I saved her."
The entire house shook violently.
A crack raced across the ceiling.
The stranger stepped backward.
For the first time since arriving, he looked terrified.
Because Lila wasn't just seeing again.
Something inside her was waking up.
May you like
Something they had spent years trying to control.
And something that no longer wanted to stay hidden.
