CHAPTER 2 — THE MAN WHO SHOULD NOT BE HERE
The lights dimmed slightly.
Not intentionally.
The system had been overridden.
Adrian noticed first.
His head tilted just a fraction, scanning the ceiling, the corners, the exits.
Emma felt it too.
A pressure shift in the air—like the room had gained a second heartbeat.
Then—
A man stood up from the far table.
No one had noticed him before.
That alone was wrong.
He wasn’t dressed like the others. No luxury suit. No glass of wine. Just a dark coat, too plain for the restaurant, too clean for coincidence.
One of Adrian’s bodyguards moved instantly.
The man smiled.
Not warmly.
Not humanly.
“Interesting,” he said. “You found the interference point faster than expected.”
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“Identify yourself.”
The man tilted his head slightly.
“You already know who I work for.”
Emma felt the baby shift slightly in her arms—just a small movement—but enough to make her instincts scream.
This wasn’t about kidnapping.
This was infrastructure.
The man continued:
“The child is not the target. He is the carrier.”
Emma tightened her grip.
“You’re using a baby as a signal relay,” she said, disgust in her voice.
The man’s eyes flicked to her.
“Brilliant deduction.”
Adrian moved.
Not fast.
Not loud.
Just one step.
But the entire room reacted to it like thunder.
“You touched my son,” Adrian said.
The temperature of the room dropped.
The man finally stopped smiling.
“I didn’t touch him,” he said calmly. “I built him into the system.”
And then he pressed something in his pocket.
A soft beep echoed.
Emma felt it immediately.
The baby’s heartbeat synced—just for a second—with the sound.
May you like
Her eyes widened.
“It’s live,” she whispered.
