OPERATION WINTERSPINE (Strings Between Us Book 2)

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

"To the world, they were healers. Specialists in trauma and neurodevelopment. But the truth?" Her voice turned razor-sharp. "They weren't healing children. They were designing them."

Dad nodded grimly. "Hyacinth's job was to make the 'kind killers.'"

Empathy rewiring. Fear tolerance conditioning. Reinforcement-response cycles.

"They called it behavior sculpting," Dad added. "Smiling assassins. Kids who'd hug their targets before pulling the trigger."

Saichel and Xythe is still beside me. Making sure I won't breakdown.

"And KD?" I forced out. "He was part of it?"

Mom's expression cracked—but she didn't look away. "He wasn't just part of it, Riyee."

Dad met my eyes. "He was the prototype."

The room turned to ash. Only the projector behind them was still humming. Flickering to life. Not with pictures, but with records.

PROJECT ECHO-9: SERAPH UNIT

Subject Codename: Lucem

Alias: Kian VIncel Villaflor. The boy who was studied before he was ever held.

The words landed like bullets.

"Lucem." Lyle voice echoed. "Keryn and I encountered that name when we were searching in Celestine's private archive."

"So, our theory was right." Keryn clenched her fist. "Khaizer Dylan was programmed."

Dad explained. "They called it Echo-9. A Tier-0 experimental directive under the Halcyon Pact. Their mission? To engineer a child sovereign. Not nurtured—designed. Crowned not by bloodline, but by equation."

Mom's voice was quieter now. Shaken. "Khaizer was selected before he could walk. Not chosen—claimed."

I stared at the projection as Dad continued.

"The day he turned one, he wasn't given a cake. He was strapped into an observation capsule. His vitals logged. His expressions were monitored. His cries were recorded and catalogued. No lullaby.

Just a voice saying: 'Subject-9 exhibits emotional delay under maternal deprivation simulation.'"

By then, even the Court had gone silent. No one moved. No one dared.

"His mother watched them do it," Mom added, voice trembling. "Watched as her own son was used to prove her theory right."

Emotional enhancement protocols. Neural mirroring. Compassion tied to obedience. They taught him to feel—but only in the way they dictated.

"He wasn't raised," Dads whispered. "He was shaped."

I saw it now.

The way KD flinched when praised too quickly.

The pauses before he accepted affection.

The silence behind every smile.

He wasn't emotionless.

He was afraid of feeling it wrong.

Alexis broke the silence. "So how did they get out? The file we saw from the Headmaster says 'they were defectors'."

Dad glanced at Mom, then back at us.

"When the Pact ordered Khaizer's full behavioral remapping—Hyacinth snapped. She refused to let them take the last part of him that was still hers."

"Caleum defected with her," Mom continued. "They ran. But they needed a place to hide. New names. Erased records. Safety."

Dad gave a half-smile that didn't reach his eyes. "That's where I came in." He glanced at Alexie. "And your parents too."