Chapter Thirty Eight:
604 Words
Xavier’s POV
The house was silent.
Too silent.
Xavier stood at his window, watching the shadows stretch across the Reed estate. Downstairs, the security lights glowed a cold white. His father’s office was still lit — a faint glow seeping from under the door.
It was nearly midnight.
And his father never stayed up this late unless it had to do with Project Mnemosyne.
Xavier’s jaw tightened. The name had been gnawing at him since the first time he’d heard it whispered between closed doors. His father, his mother, the hushed phone calls at odd hours — it all connected somehow.
And he was done pretending not to notice.
He grabbed his hoodie and slipped out of his room, moving like a shadow. Every creak of the staircase felt like a gunshot in the quiet house. He paused at the bottom step, listening.
Nothing.
His father’s office was at the end of the hallway.
The door was closed.
A soft hum came from inside — computer fans, maybe. Then the unmistakable click of a drawer locking.
Xavier waited until the light went off and the footsteps faded down the hall. His father’s bedroom door clicked shut.
Now.
He moved quickly, pulling a thin wire from his pocket — a trick he’d learned from too many bored nights in boarding school. The lock clicked open.
The office smelled like cedar and ink.
Bookshelves lined the walls, but it was the desk that caught his attention — organized, spotless, except for one corner where a small flash drive gleamed beneath a folder stamped “Confidential.”
The word beneath it made his stomach twist.
PROJECT MNEMOSYNE — SUBJECT FILES (RESTRICTED ACCESS)
He froze.
“Subject files”? What subjects?
He opened the folder. Inside were documents full of numbers, codes, and blacked-out names. One page had a familiar name scrawled across the margin — E. Miller.
Mila’s father.
His pulse jumped.
Why was her father’s name on a file from his father’s office?
He scrolled through the flash drive on his father’s computer. Lines of encrypted text filled the screen, followed by short clips — security footage? — each labeled with a date.
One showed a young girl sitting in what looked like a hospital room, hooked to monitors. Her face was blurry, but something about her curls…
No.
He blinked, leaning closer. The feed distorted, but just before it cut off, he swore he saw the reflection of a name tag on her wrist:
MILA M.
His blood went cold.
The screen suddenly flickered — then a window popped up:
> ACCESS BREACH DETECTED. LOGGING OUT IN 5 SECONDS.
“Shit.”
He yanked the flash drive out, heart pounding, and shoved it into his pocket. The screen went black.
Footsteps.
Fast. Coming closer.
Xavier darted to the side door just as his father’s voice echoed from the hallway.
“Who’s in my office?”
He slipped out, heart hammering, pressing his back against the wall. His father opened the office door, the light spilling into the hall.
A pause.
Then a muttered curse.
He’d noticed the computer rebooting.
Xavier stayed perfectly still until the door closed again. Then he exhaled shakily, his pulse still racing.
Whatever Project Mnemosyne was, it wasn’t just science or business.
It was something darker.
And somehow, Mila was a part of it.
He clutched the flash drive tighter.
He couldn’t tell her yet. Not until he knew what he was dealing with.
But deep down, one truth settled like ice in his chest —
their fathers weren’t just connected.
They were hiding something that could destroy them both.
- Writer
