The child's image wouldn't leave her mind.
Even as the villa blurred behind them, and the forest swallowed the road, Aurora couldn't stop shaking.
That face. Those eyes.
Hers.
She had her eyes.
Xander drove in silence, his hand tight on the wheel, the other resting over hers, anchoring her.
"Aurora," he said gently, "Talk to me."
She looked at him.
And for once, the seductress was gone.
No mask. No games.
Just a woman — broken, afraid, and desperately trying to hold herself together.
"Her name was Isla," she whispered.
Xander's fingers froze.
She continued, her voice hollow.
"I was nineteen. Silas had already pulled me into his network. I thought I was just running messages. I didn't realize I was carrying data—illegal biogenetic samples."
She paused, eyes misting.
"I met someone. A researcher. He was kind… he saw through Silas. He tried to help me escape."
Xander watched her carefully.
"What happened?"
Aurora swallowed.
"I got pregnant. Silas found out. He… said I was compromised. That I needed to disappear."
Her voice cracked.
"I woke up in a facility. White walls. No windows. Men in masks. Needles. Pain. They said I signed consent. I didn't remember anything."
Xander's jaw clenched, rage building.
"And Isla?"
"I thought she was dead," Aurora whispered. "They told me I lost the baby. And then they erased everything. Memories. Files. Identities."
She turned to him, tears streaking down her cheeks.
"But I saw her. Xander, she's real. She's alive."
He reached for her, pulling her into his lap as the car slowed on an empty road.
"You're not alone," he said firmly. "We'll find her. I promise."
Aurora buried her face in his chest.
"I don't know how to be a mother," she whispered.
"You don't have to be perfect," he murmured. "You just have to be there."
________________
Back in the city, Silas watched the footage again.
Elijah stood nervously beside him, avoiding his gaze.
"She's going to come for the girl," Silas said, tapping the screen.
Elijah nodded. "She saw the feed. She'll want proof."
"Give it to her," Silas said.
"What?"
"Send her this photo," he said, selecting a new image—Isla asleep, a small scar under her jaw. "Make sure she knows the girl's real."
Elijah hesitated. "That's dangerous."
Silas smirked. "Exactly. She'll come straight to us."
He turned.
"And Elijah… make sure she believes you defected for her."
Elijah blinked.
"You want me to… lie to her?"
Silas leaned in, his smile cold.
"I want her hopeful. That's when she's weakest."
_________
Three hours later, Xander and Aurora reached an old train station deep in the hills—long abandoned but fully wired by Xander's crew.
They set up camp.
But Aurora couldn't sleep.
She stared at the photo Elijah sent—Isla in pajamas, holding a book. Her favorite childhood toy beside her.
The fox doll.
Aurora's breath caught.
She'd whispered that name before the birth.
"No one else could've known."
"She's mine," she said aloud.
Xander came behind her, wrapping her in warmth.
"You okay?"
She turned, kissed him deeply.
"No. But I will be."
Their kiss deepened—slow, intense, soaked in emotion.
This wasn't lust.
It was need.
He stripped her bare, kissed every scar, every place that hurt.
She clung to him, shaking, as he filled her slowly—his hands grounding her, his lips reminding her she was still alive.
They moved together, not for pleasure but for survival—like clinging to the only oxygen in a drowning world.
After, she lay in his arms, finally calm.
But outside, in the woods, a figure watched through binoculars.
"Elijah to Silas," came the whisper. "They took the bait."
Silas's voice crackled through.
"Good. Let them believe. Then burn everything down."