When the world broke the news, silence filled the house. Professor Thornwood—my father, my mentor, the man who had given me everything—was missing.
No trace. No calls. Just an empty message in the government database: LOCATION UNKNOWN.
I sat at the centre of his study, the only sound the soft whir of my laptop's cooling fans. My seven wives stood around me, each waiting for me to say something.
The air felt thick—part fear, part grief. But I was quiet. Too quiet.
Nyra was the first to move, her voice cracking. "Mukul… why aren't you saying anything?"
Sera's eyes narrowed in the low light. "You're too calm. You always go silent before doing something dangerous."
Vira crossed her arms. "Say it. What's on your mind?"
I looked up from the screens and met their eyes. The reflection of code flickered in my pupils like green fire. "Nothing happened," I said gently. "I'll find him."
For a moment, no one spoke. Then Yue Xiang whispered, "Just like that? You think it's that simple?"
I smiled slightly. "It's not simple. It's certain."
They knew that tone—the same one I had used to walk into wars and return unscathed. It meant I had already chosen a path.
Their panic faded a bit, replaced by equal resolve.
"Then we start now," Lei Mira said, adjusting the gloves on her hands. "Tell us what to do."
I turned back to the screens. There were five laptops linked together in a chain, connected to satellite runners I'd built earlier for research missions. But tonight they would do more than research.
"Arina," I said quietly, "run all government and corporate security breaches for the last seven days. Look for anything connected to the keyword 'Nexus.'"
Her voice was steady, unfazed. Accessing. Decryption commencing. Estimated time: forty‑nine seconds.
During those seconds, my wives moved like a single unit. Yue Xiang dimmed the lights and set up a sound‑shielding barrier. Lei Mira connected portable servers to expand the data range. Avelyra checked communication lines. Each of them knew their role without asking.
By the time Arina spoke again, we were ready.
Data found: Nexus activity detected in Sector 71 of Mumbai's underground district. Hidden warehouse. Marked as abandoned.
Vira grinned. "Abandoned always means trouble."
I shut the laptop with a snap. "Get ready. We move in five minutes."
Outside, the city slept under an electric storm. We moved through alleyways like shadows, with no sound except rain and the occasional clatter of metal.
The entrance to Sector 71 was guarded by a flickering neon sign and three men who didn't look like locals. They stood too straight, eyes too sharp.
"Scouts," Nyra murmured.
I nodded, raising a finger for silence. Each wife vanished into a different corner of darkness. My own body moved on instinct, like a feather riding the wind.
A step forward. Two breaths.
Then motion.
Lei Mira sent a jolt through a nearby electric grid; the lights shorted out. In that two‑second darkness, the three guards collapsed quietly.
When the lights returned, we were already inside.
The warehouse smelled of oil and old data chips. Rows of servers lined the walls, each emitting a low hum.
"This is it," I muttered, opening a panel on the nearest console to connect my portable drive. Lines of encrypted data spilt onto the screen like a storm of codes and coordinates.
Arina's voice came through my ear commlink: "Warning: Signal interference. Local AI detected."
"Show it."
A red symbol flashed over the screen—a serpent biting its own tail, the trademark of the Nexus Order.
"Looks like they've grown bolder," Avelyra said. Her eyes glowed with a faint crimson light as she analysed patterns. "They're using quantum keys now. Someone wanted this data to stay buried."
"Not deep enough," I replied, fingers flying over the keyboard. "Shadow‑jump decryption sequence, Arina. Follow the trace until the location ping."
Processing.
The code rewrote itself so fast the screen looked alive. Then a single map materialised: a secret network stretching beneath the city, ending at one node — a facility marked "Project Thorne."
My heart stopped for an instant.
"Thorne…as in Thornwood," Vira whispered.
Sera's voice shook a little. "They named a project after him?"
"No," I said quietly. "They took him. He's there."
The sound of heavy footsteps snapped us back to the present. A hatch opened on the opposite wall. Half a dozen black-clad agents stepped out, weapons glowing faint red.
"Unauthorised entry," one said. "Identify yourselves."
Nyra smiled coldly. "After you."
They barely had time to blink before Yue Xiang's violin case snapped open, unleashing a pulse of sound that flattened their formation. Sera moved in after her, precise as a shadow, and I finished it—two taps on my watch and the entire server grid overloaded, masking our escape with a shower of sparks.
We vanished into the rain before reinforcements arrived.
Back in the safehouse, I transferred the coordinates to Arina. "Lock onto Project Thorne. Track heat, signal, and heartbeat if any."
Target locked. Vital signs detected… one. Status—weak but alive.
The room filled with quiet gasps and hope.
I turned to my wives, who watched me with unspoken determination. "The next mission's clear," I said softly. "We'll go get Father back."
And as the city thundered outside, I felt the same resolve surge through me again—calm, focused, unshakable. This wasn't anger or despair. It was a purpose.
The hunt for Nexus had truly begun.