This is book 2 in the "Beautiful Destruction" series. You MUST READ "Theirs to Claim" first in order to understand this one.
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When I was ten, my father told me that all of my dreams would one day come true. Naively, I believed him.
I may have gr...
A/N: This chapter is really short, however since I'm now on spring break, I'll be able to write a lot more frequently up until the 28th.
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Chapter 8 : Marcus Thursday, November 24th, 2022
"Boss, should I activate the lockdown protocol?" James Davis looks to me in question, but I don't return his glance. Instead, my eyes remain trained on the live footage on the screen before me, my daughter sneaking out of the Keep with a small girl in her arms.
Alessia may have gotten her on a plane, but she remained unaware that I've spent some time learning about the blindspots in this institute. Apart from the windowless bathrooms and bedrooms, I have every inch of this place locked down on cameras, hidden where people wouldn't bother to go looking.
By now, I've risked too much to not have them in place.
"Send Lev Ivankov out in the morning to follow her and be clear he understands that he is to remain as her backup only." I say, rubbing my hand across my jaw as the identity of the small girl swarms my head.
The problem is that I didn't know she was here in the first place. That meant whatever footage had been playing down the hallways where she was being kept remained in a continuous, hidden loop that I'd been unaware about.
"But, Sir, she's leaving—" My soldier attempts to protest with the utmost disbelief, but the one thing that has never changed about Madelyn is that she is not a person to be chained. I knew as I watched her slip out one of the back entrance doors, kissing the top of the small girl's head with affection, that she was my daughter through and through.
I would not stop her from doing what she wished, even if the sight of her sneaking out made me want to drag her back here where I knew she could be safe all the more.
"My daughter will soon be exactly where she needs to be." I say, my stern, silent command not leaving any room for further argument.
Children should never get in the middle of work, otherwise I never would've left Madelyn as much as I did when she was growing up. Those years with her are ones I will never get back, but she's alive.
That's what's most important.
Sometimes I still have to remind myself of that.
"Understood, Sir." James nods despite the fact he clearly disagrees with the call. I didn't care what he thought, though, as long as he listened.
The Keep used to be the safest place in the world Madelyn could remain in, hidden with no enemies to be able to get to her. That was before I realized that some of the villains lived right next door to me, under the very roof I provided them.
Listening as James leaves the room with his orders, I watch as Madelyn cradles Nina protectively against her chest as though she didn't even want to risk the night being able to hurt her.
The footage was blurry, but there was no mistaking the long messy braid of her bright hair, determination unforgivingly set in her eyes.
She would become everything I'd hope for of my daughter and so much more. I would not stop her in her flight to New York, and this time, I would not require her return.
The hard truth is that the Resistance has a mole, and it turns out my ex-wife's brutal murder was not at the hands of Xavier Alcaraz.
No matter the last year of hatred I have carried towards him for taking the only woman I've allowed myself to love, he was not responsible for her death.
This recent realization was why I watched Madelyn step onto the plane in the dead of night, just as the doors closed with a kind of finality I had no intention of fighting against.
Xavier didn't kill Heidi Adams, but someone did.
Now that I know this, only one question remains—one that changes everything.
What in the hell happens now?
- End of Chapter 8 -
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