OPERATION WINTERSPINE (Strings Between Us Book 2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: OF FIREWALLS, GHOST NAMES, AND THE BOY WE TRIED TO UNMAKE

The words hung in the air. Heavy. Sharp.

I could feel the pulse in my temples, the thrum in my chest, like the room itself had gone still—holding its breath with me.

Silence pressed in from every corner.

My hands curled into fists. I thought of Brixter's gentle laughter. Of Loti's hugs. Of how easily the other kids flinched at loud footsteps or sudden touch.

"They were never just survivors, were they?" I said softly.

"They were engineered survivors," Mom replied. "But here, they're being taught something else. To be children again."

I looked at her. Really looked. And something in her eyes had shifted. She wasn't just my mother anymore. She was someone who had once let it happen. Then chose to fight it.

My chest tightened. Breath caught. "You mean... Loti? Brixter? All of them?"

She nodded. "A lot of them are still in the Pact. And we are still rescuing every one of them."

And then she said it.

"Even Khaizer is one of them."

The room seemed to shrink. The air thickened. And for a moment, all I could do was stand there, frozen, letting the weight of it settle in my chest.

Lyle's jaw clenched. Seb dropped the pen in his hand. Alexie blinked in disbelief.

"What about him?" My voice wasn't loud. But it cut through the air like a knife. "What happened to him?"

The words slammed into me like a fist. My heartbeat stuttered, then surged. A cold, sharp spike of disbelief. Of... fear. Of everything I hadn't realized I'd been holding back.

I felt my hands clench, pulse hammering in my ears, mind racing. Khaizer. KD. My KD. One of them. That's why they want him.

My knees nearly gave out. Almost. But I didn't fall.

Saichel's arms wrapped around me. Solid. Steady. And somehow, it was enough to keep me upright, even as the world felt like it was tilting.

"Ari..." His voice is full of concern. "You're spiraling."

And then I feel Xythe removed my bracelet—the one that linked to KD's ring. "I'm temporarily holding this for now. You can't leak your heartbeat to Khaizer. He can't know that something is wrong. He can't know about this."

Mom opened her mouth—but this time, it was my dad who stepped forward.

He looked at me. Then at the Court. His voice was steady—but something in his eyes had aged years in seconds.

"You all know him as Khaizer Dylan Dela Vega," Dad said. "But before that name... he was called Kian Vincel Villaflor."

I felt the air pull itself from my lungs.

"Villaflor?" Thres echoed, disbelieving.

Dad nodded.

"His biological father—Caleum Dominic Dela Vega—was once known as Dr. Vince Adrian Villaflor. Halcyon's internal handler. The one they called The Ghost Scalpel."

Tofer leaned forward slowly. No one interrupted.

"His mother?" Dad continued, voice tightening. "Hyacinth Rivera-Villaflor. Pediatric neurologist. Publicly adored. Privately... she was Halcyon's Behavioral Architect. Their emotional engineer."

Keryn's lips parted in shock. Seb stopped breathing altogether.

Mom stepped forward now, her voice a tremor of fire and grief.