LUCIEN
The door slammed shut behind me with a force that rattled the frame, but it wasn’t enough to drown out the echoes of my own words. The moment I took my first step inside, the walls seemed to close in on me, like a predator circling its prey. My ribs ached with shallow breath, the injury Vladimir inflicted burning like a fire that refused to be extinguished. I pressed my palm against the wound, trying to steady myself, but the pressure only seemed to intensify the pain.
Despite that I was glad I finally stood up to him—to Archimedes, my supposed father. Every single thought I’d buried for eighteen years, every ounce of resentment I’d swallowed just to survive in Archimedes’ shadow, it had all come pouring out like a flood I couldn’t stop. And yet, as the silence of the room closed
