Jay's POV
It had been exactly two weeks since the doctors finally allowed me to leave that suffocating hospital room, and ever since I stepped back inside the mansion, the house had turned into an absolute zoo.
There was no other way to describe it. It felt like a wild, chaotic, overcrowded shelter where privacy did not exist anymore. Every single hour of the day, someone was lurking nearby. The boys of Section E, my brothers, the girls—everyone had basically moved into our living room, and they absolutely refused to leave me alone for even a single minute.
The most annoying part was how everyone was treating me. It drove me completely crazy. They were treating me like a fragile piece of expensive glass or a porcelain doll that would shatter into a million tiny pieces if they breathed on me too hard.
If I tried to reach for a glass of water, three people would lunge across the room to grab it for me. If I tried to walk down the grand staircase, someone would walk right beside me, holding their hands out like they were waiting to catch a falling toddler.
I was a trained fighter. I had survived an underground bunker and a crazy mercenary army. Yet, here I was, trapped under a mountain of fluffy blankets, being spoon-fed hot soup like a helpless baby.
But beneath all the noisy care and the chaotic warmth, there was a heavy tension that never truly went away.
Ava, Zoe, Jane, and my kuyas— Angelo, Percy,Kian, Jaxon and Aries—tried their absolute best to gently question me. They wanted to know where I had been during those one month and twenty-five days. They wanted to know the details of how Vales found me, what he did, and most importantly, why he called my name that way.
Every time they brought it up, my chest tightened, and I quickly changed the subject or pretended to be too tired to speak. I couldn't tell them the truth now. I simply couldn't.
The truth was a dark, toxic monster that belonged to a life I had tried so hard to bury. If I let them see what was hidden beneath that name, my past would come knocking directly on my present. And the people I loved would be caught in the crossfire. I would never let that happen. I would rather carry the heavy burden of my secrets forever than see my brothers or Jane get hurt because of who I used to be.
Meanwhile, Section E had been making desperate, highly dramatic efforts every single day to win back my forgiveness, as well as Jane's. They knew they had messed up with their hidden plans and their web of lies, and they were trying everything to fix it.
But we still needed time. Trust wasn't something you could just rebuild in a fortnight with a few smiles and apologies.
Their methods of asking for forgiveness, however, were completely ridiculous.
Take Cin, for example. He had been constantly sending me baskets of expensive, rare snacks that he ordered from overseas. Every time he brought a tray to my bed, I would cross my arms, look him dead in the eye, and firmly refuse to eat them.
And what did he do? He would sigh heavily, sit right at the foot of my bed, and happily eat all the snacks himself while telling me how much I was missing out. It was less of an apology and more of a free lunch for him.
Then there was Felix. He desperately wanted to cheer Jane and me up, so he decided to show us his best basketball drift and trick shots right in the middle of the courtyard. It was an absolute disaster. He tried to do a complicated spin with the ball, lost his footing on the smooth tiles, and somehow ended up falling flat on his back, over and over again. By the fifth time he crashed into a decorative bush, Jane and I couldn't even hide our laugh anymore.
David tried a more traditional approach. He decided to write a long, formal letter of apology to both Jane and me to ask for our forgiveness. The only problem? He wrote the entire five-page letter by hand, and his handwriting was so incredibly dirty and messy that it looked like a spider had dipped its legs in ink and crawled across the paper.
Jane and I spent two hours trying to read the first paragraph before giving up because we couldn't understand a single word.
Edrix and Rory decided that the best way to make up for their lies was to teach us basic coding and digital defense. They brought three massive laptops into my room, set up a whiteboard, and started talking about firewalls and data encryption algorithms. Within twenty minutes, Jane was fast asleep against my shoulder, and I was staring at the screen with empty eyes, wishing they would just bring us ice cream instead.
And behind every single one of these chaotic, heartwarming efforts... was Keifer.
I wasn't stupid. I knew he was the one coordinating the boys, directing their apologies, and making sure the mansion was completely locked down for my safety.
But it was his personal presence that affected me the most. I noticed how he behaved whenever the group visited my room. When everyone else finally left to grab dinner or clear out, Keifer didn't leave the room. He would stay behind in the shadows, sitting quietly in the corner chair, just watching over me.
He remembered every single small thing I had ever mentioned casually in the past. If I had once said that I preferred a specific brand of herbal tea, a hot cup of it would mysteriously appear on my nightstand every morning. If I mentioned that the room felt a bit chilly, the thermostat would adjust itself within seconds. He was like a silent, protective ghost, hovering nearby to ensure I had everything I could ever need.
And God, when I looked at his eyes... it absolutely broke me.
Every time our gazes met, his eyes were filled with a deep, suffocating guilt that he couldn't hide. He looked like a man who was carrying the weight of the entire world on his shoulders, blaming himself for every single bruise on my skin.
Whenever I saw that broken look on his face, a powerful surge of emotion would hit my chest. I wanted to throw off the heavy blankets, run straight across the room, and throw my arms around his neck. I wanted to bury my face in his chest and scream, I forgive you, Keifer! I forgive you for the lies, for the secrets, for everything! I love you, you complete asshole, so please stop looking at me like you're dying inside!
But I couldn't. I had to stay strong. The wall between us wasn't just about the past lies anymore; it was about the dangerous future. Until I knew for sure that my past was completely handled and that the ghost of "Jean" wouldn't destroy his life too, I had to keep him at arm's length. I had to protect him from the darkness that was still chasing me.
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Jane's POV
It had been two whole weeks since my little sister had finally come home from that terrifying hospital wing, and my life had completely centered around her recovery.
The house was loud, messy, and filled to the brim with Section E's ridiculous apology attempts, but my eyes were always fixed on Jay. I was her older sister, her protector, and I knew her better than anyone else in this mansion did.
While everyone else was laughing at Felix falling into the bushes or complaining about David's terrible handwriting, I was watching the quiet details that she tried so hard to hide from the world.
I noticed how she still flinched violently at small, sudden movements. If a door closed a bit too loudly down the hallway, or if someone accidentally dropped a metal spoon in the kitchen, her entire frame would go completely rigid for a split second.
Her breathing would trap itself in her throat, and her eyes would dart instantly toward the exits before she could catch herself and force a calm smile back onto her face.
I saw how her body tensed up automatically whenever someone laughed a bit too loudly near her bed. The loud, sudden noises seemed to trigger memories of that dark underground bunker, forcing her mind back to the moments when she was completely helpless under Vales' control.
She tried so hard to play the part of the tough, untouched princess of the family, but the trauma was etched deep into her instincts.
But I didn't push her for answers. I didn't demand to know what happened, and I didn't force her to talk about the name Vales had called her. Instead, I just made sure I was always there with her.
My love for my sister was the most powerful thing I possessed. Every single night for the past two weeks, I had dragged my mattress right next to her bed, sleeping close enough to hear the steady rhythm of her breathing.
Whenever she woke up gasping from a sudden nightmare in the middle of the night, I was already there, pulling her into my arms, rocking her gently in the dark until the shaking stopped.
I showered her with a warm, unyielding care that left no room for doubt. I brushed her hair out of her face with absolute gentleness, helped her change her bandages with meticulous care, and made sure her favorite comfort foods were always within arm's reach.
Section E could try all the coding lessons and snack deliveries they wanted, but I was going to be the shield that healed her soul. Nobody was going to bring the darkness back into her life while I was drawing breath.
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Keifer's POV
Seeing Jay awake, sitting up in bed, and occasionally laughing at the absolute chaos the boys were causing around her should have been the happiest sight of my life.
For fifty-five days, I had lived in a waking nightmare, a monster driven entirely by the agonizing pain of her absence. Now, she was finally back under our roof, safe from the hands of the mercenaries, and breathing the same air I was.
But every single time I looked at her, a profound, crushing sorrow settled deep into my bones, heavy enough to make my chest ache with a physical pain.
I saw the way she smiled when Percy made a ridiculous comment, and I heard the soft, beautiful sound of her raspy laugh when Felix crashed into the courtyard bushes.
She was right there. Just a few feet away from me. But the distance between us felt like a giant, uncrossable canyon.
The most agonizing part of my reality was the simple, devastating fact that I couldn't hold her.
When she collapsed into Angelo's arms at the hospital, when she held onto Aries, and when she spent hours tangled in Jane's warm embraces, I had to stand in the dark corners of the room, completely frozen.
I couldn't step forward. I couldn't reach out my arms and pull her against my heart like I desperately wanted to. I had no right to hold her. I was the one who had lied to her. I was the one who had constructed a web of plans using the people she cared about just to settle scores with Aries. My failures had left her vulnerable, and those weeks of torture she endured were a direct consequence of my pride.
I watched her from the shadows of her bedroom, my heart breaking into a million jagged pieces every time she purposely looked right past me. Her dark eyes would sweep across the room, acknowledging every single boy in Section E, but the very second her gaze approached my corner, she would drop her eyes or turn her head away, treating my entire existence like absolute empty air. The rejection was a silent, lethal strike to my soul, but I accepted it. I deserved it.
I remembered every single small detail she had ever mentioned in passing during our quiet days before everything.I spent my hours making sure those exact things appeared in her room, using the section e boy as my proxies so she wouldn't refuse them.
I changed the room temperature, I tracked down the exact herbal teas she liked, and I coordinated the maximum-security perimeter around the mansion to ensure she could sleep without fear. I was doing everything to heal her body, but I knew I was completely failing to heal the bond I had shattered.
One evening, after the boys had finally cleared out of her room after a loud, failed coding lesson by Edrix and Rory, the bedroom fell into a heavy, quiet stillness.
Jane had stepped down to the kitchen to fetch some fresh fruit, leaving the two of us alone for the first time in weeks
.
Jay was sitting up, staring out the large window at the setting sun, her profile framed by the soft golden light. She looked so beautiful, yet so incredibly distant.
I slowly stepped out from the dark corner, my boots making no sound against the heavy rug. I stopped a few feet from the edge of her bed, my hands curling into tight fists at my sides as I stared at the bandages still wrapped around her pale wrists. The guilt in my chest was a suffocating monster, tearing at my sanity.
"Jay..." I whispered, my voice sounding raw, broken, and completely devoid of the old, arrogant confidence I used to carry.
She didn't turn her head. Her body went slightly rigid, her posture freezing against the pillows as she kept her eyes fixed firmly on the window glass outside. She was completely ignoring me, building that icy wall higher and higher between us.
A bitter, sorrowful breath escaped my lips, and I closed my eyes, letting my head drop as the sheer weight of my regrets crushed down on my shoulders. I wanted to beg. I wanted to drop to my knees beside her mattress, grab her cold hand, and weep until she understood how much I loved her..
I wanted to tell her that the monster I became during those one month and twenty-five days belonged entirely to her, and that I would gladly burn the rest of the world to ash just to see her smile at me again.
But I knew that forcing my emotions onto her right now would only cause her more stress. She needed peace to heal. She needed time to find her footing again after the horrors accident that had inflicted upon her.
"I'm still here," I whispered softly into the quiet air of the room, my voice trembling slightly before I forced it to harden into a quiet, unyielding promise. "I'm not going anywhere, queen. Even if you never look at me again... even if you hate me for the rest of your days... I will stand in this dark corner and guard your life until my last breath. You will never be alone in the dark again."
I stood there for a final, lingering moment, memorizing the line of her jaw and the way the sunset hit her hair, before slowly, quietly stepping back into the shadows near the door.
The canyon between us was wide, and the road to her forgiveness was going to be the hardest war I had ever fought, but looking at her breathing safely in that bed, I knew I would gladly spend the rest of my life fighting it.