ALEX POV
Darkness crashes down like a held breath finally released.
The lights cut. The hum of the facility dies. For half a second, there's nothing , no sound, no movement , just Camila's sharp inhale beside me.
Then the speakers crackle.
Static.
And his voice again.
"Welcome back, mi niña."
Solano.
I raise my gun instantly, pivoting, placing myself between Camila and the room. My heart is pounding, but my hands are steady. They always are when it matters.
"Show yourself," I growl into the dark.
Laughter answers me , low, amused, echoing from every direction at once.
"Oh, Alexander," Solano says. "Still pretending this is a battlefield you can win with bullets."
Camila's fingers curl into the back of my jacket. I can feel her trembling now , not fear alone, but recognition. Memory knocking from the inside.
Ethan coughs from the chair.
Wet. Broken.
"Alex…" he rasps. "You need to listen, "
"Shut up," I snap, never taking my eyes off the darkness. "You don't get to speak until I say you do."
A weak laugh leaves Ethan's throat. "You always were like this. Thought control meant protection."
Camila shifts beside me. "Ethan… what did they do to you?"
Her voice , soft, shaken , hits him harder than my gun ever could.
"They finished what your mother started," he whispers. "And what she tried to stop."
The emergency lights flicker on suddenly , dim red, bathing the chamber in blood-colored shadows.
The room comes into focus.
The chair.
The headset.
The cables snaking across the floor.
And Ethan.
Bruised. Bound. Barely holding himself upright.
Camila gasps softly.
I move forward one step, keeping her behind me. "Where is he?"
Solano's voice glides in again, closer now.
"Watching," he says. "Learning. Waiting."
A monitor lights up on the far wall.
Solano's face fills the screen , older, calmer, untouched by the years he should have lost. His eyes lock onto Camila with unmistakable hunger.
"You grew beautifully," he says. "Your mother would be… conflicted."
"Don't say her name," Camila whispers, voice shaking.
He smiles.
"She begged," Solano continues. "Did you know that? Not for her life. For yours."
My jaw tightens.
Camila's breath comes faster. "Why am I here?"
"Because this place remembers you," Solano says gently. "And you're finally old enough to remember it back."
"No," Ethan chokes. "Don't, don't let him, "
Solano cuts him off with a bored glance. "You were never very useful at the end."
The screen splits.
Images flicker to life , surveillance footage, old and grainy.
A small girl strapped into a chair.
Crying.
Screaming.
Camila.
She staggers back like she's been struck.
"That's not, " Her voice breaks. "That's not real."
I grab her shoulders. "Camila. Look at me. Breathe."
But the images keep playing.
Doctors.
White coats.
Needles.
A woman fighting to reach the child , restrained, screaming her name.
Her mother.
Camila lets out a sound that tears straight through my chest.
"I remember," she whispers.
"No," Ethan gasps desperately. "Don't, don't let it lock in, "
Solano's smile widens.
"Yes," he murmurs. "That's it. Let it come back."
Camila's body goes rigid in my hands.
Her eyes glaze, unfocused, staring through the images into something deeper.
Her voice changes , steadier, older.
"I was scared," she says quietly. "But she told me not to cry."
My blood runs cold.
"She said," Camila continues, "'If they ask you questions, you don't answer. If they hurt you, you don't break.'"
Solano leans closer to the camera.
"And did you break, little one?"
Camila lifts her head.
"No," she says.
The room hums, power surging, systems waking.
Screens light up across the walls. Code streams down in rapid lines.
Ethan starts shouting. "Alex, get her out of here! Now!"
But Camila steps forward.
Out of my arms.
I reach for her instinctively. "Camila, "
She turns to me.
Her eyes are clear , blazing, awake, alive.
"I remember what she hid," she says softly. "And I know what he wants."
My heart pounds. "Then we leave. Now."
She shakes her head.
"Not yet."
Solano's voice sharpens. "Careful."
Camila looks up at the screen , fearless.
"You built Ophidian to control people," she says. "My mother turned it into something else."
"And what would that be?" Solano asks, intrigued.
Camila inhales , steady, deep.
"A mirror," she says. "It exposes the truth. Every transaction. Every betrayal. Every name."
Ethan laughs weakly through blood. "She did it… she actually did it."
Solano's smile falters for the first time.
"You're bluffing."
Camila steps closer to the console.
"I'm not," she says. "And you can't activate it without killing me."
Silence.
Heavy. Electric.
Solano studies her for a long moment.
Then he smiles again , slower now. Dangerous.
"Then I suppose," he says, "we'll have to persuade you."
The lights slam off again.
Alarms erupt.
The floor vibrates as heavy doors unlock throughout the facility.
I grab Camila, pulling her back to me. "We move. Now."
Gunfire erupts somewhere beyond the walls.
Boots pound metal corridors.
Ethan screams, "Go! Don't let him take you, "
The restraints on his chair suddenly tighten with a mechanical hiss.
Camila looks back, torn. "Alex, "
I cup her face, fast and fierce. "Look at me. Whatever happens next, you stay with me. You hear me?"
She nods, tears shining but unbroken.
"I'm not that little girl anymore," she says.
And I believe her.
The final door at the back of the chamber slides open.
Darkness waits beyond it.
Solano's voice follows us, smooth as poison:
"Run if you must, Camila.
You always do."
I pull her into the corridor, gun raised, heart hammering.
But this time,
She's not running away.
She's running toward the truth.