He Thought His Adopted Daughter Was Sick—Until He Discovered What His Fiancée Had Been Hiding Behind the Locked Door

Julian scanned the first page of the dossier, expecting to find bank accounts, shipping routes, and assassination orders. Instead, what he saw made the blood freeze in his veins.

It was a genetic profile. A medical file. But it wasn't Victoria's, and it wasn't the syndicate leader's.

It was Mary Jane’s.

The documents detailed advanced biogenetic splicing, neural conditioning, and a classified government project designated Project: Chimera. The files indicated that Mary Jane wasn't an ordinary orphan he had adopted; she was a manufactured weapon, and the syndicate hadn't been trying to institutionalize her to get to Julian's money. They were trying to trigger her activation. Victoria hadn't been abusing her out of sadism—she had been following a stress-initiation protocol to wake up whatever was dormant inside the child.

Julian lowered the file, his mind reeling. He looked at Victoria, who was now smiling a bloody, terrifying smile.

"She isn't yours, Julian," Victoria whispered. "And she's already awake."

Suddenly, Julian’s earpiece, connected to the secure line at his safe house where he had left Mary Jane, crackled to life. It wasn't the voice of his hired security. It was Mary Jane. But her voice wasn't weak or terrified anymore. It was cold, modulated, and utterly emotionless.

"Target acquired, Father," the child's voice echoed in his ear.

Before Julian could react, the glass window behind Victoria shattered. A high-caliber sniper round tore through the room, missing Julian by a fraction of an inch, obliterating Victoria's chest.