Chapter 294
Chapter 294
CHAPTER 294
Ethan’s warning echoed through the observation room long after his voice disappeared from the speakers. Nobody spoke immediately because the words had introduced a possibility none of them had expected. If Ethan truly intended to harm Kayla, warning her to remain inside the observatory made little sense. The tension that had been building since his arrival did not disappear, but it changed direction. Suspicion remained, yet it was now accompanied by uncertainty.
Kayla kept her eyes on the monitor as the live feed continued to show Ethan standing outside the eastern perimeter. He had not moved from his position. His attention was no longer fixed on the observatory but on the tree line several meters behind him, as though he knew someone was watching from the darkness.
Marcus broke the silence first.
“I don’t like this.”
“No one does,” Arthur replied. “The question is whether he’s protecting himself or protecting us.”
Jason stood beside Kayla without taking his eyes off the screen. Every instinct he possessed told him that something about the situation was wrong. He had survived long enough in his world by trusting those instincts, and they had rarely failed him. Yet he also knew Kayla well enough to recognize what was happening behind her calm expression.
She was not thinking like a strategist.
She was thinking like a sister.
He gently touched her hand, drawing her attention away from the monitor.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
Kayla looked at him.
“I don’t think you do.”
“I think you’re wondering whether he’s been alone all these years.”
Her expression softened.
“I can’t stop wondering that.”
Jason understood. He wished she did not have to carry another impossible burden, but he also knew he could not ask her to ignore the truth standing just outside the observatory gates. He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles gently, uncaring that everyone else in the room could see the gesture.
“You don’t have to carry his pain by yourself,” he said quietly. “Whatever happened to him happened before you were born. None of it was your fault.”
Kayla smiled sadly.
“I know that.”
“Do you?”
She hesitated before answering.
“I want to.”
Jason’s heart tightened. The strongest thing about Kayla had never been her intelligence or her determination. It was the way she blamed herself for wounds she had never inflicted. He had seen it countless times, and each time he wished he could take that weight from her shoulders.
Charles cleared his throat, interrupting the moment.
“The thermal sensors have updated.”
Everyone turned toward Noor’s workstation.
She enlarged the latest scan of the surrounding area, revealing several faint heat signatures scattered beyond the eastern woods. They were too far away for facial recognition, but their positions formed a rough semicircle around Ethan’s location.
Arthur studied the display carefully.
“They’re not approaching.”
“No,” Noor replied. “They’re waiting.”
Marcus folded his arms.
“They’re watching him.”
“Or waiting for him to make the first move,” Charles added.
Kayla looked back at Ethan on the monitor. Even from that distance she could tell something had changed. He no longer appeared calm. His shoulders had become noticeably tenser, and every few seconds his gaze shifted toward the forest before returning to the observatory.
“He knows they’re there,” she whispered.
Jason followed her gaze.
“And they know he’s here.”
Noor suddenly frowned at her keyboard.
“That’s strange.”
Arthur immediately noticed the change in her expression.
“What is it?”
“I’ve picked up another transmission.”
“From Ethan?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Can you identify the sender?”
Her fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard before she slowly exhaled.
“The signal is encrypted using the same protocol that appeared in Lily Meyer’s hidden archive.”
Kayla’s heartbeat quickened.
“My mother’s encryption?”
Noor nodded.
“I’ve never seen it duplicated anywhere else.”
Arthur exchanged a concerned glance with Evelyn.
“Open it.”
Noor hesitated.
“It could be compromised.”
Arthur remained firm.
“Open it.”
The file expanded across the main screen. Instead of text, an audio recording appeared. The timestamp indicated that it had been created nearly twenty-five years earlier.
Kayla felt her throat tighten.
Another message from her mother.
Noor pressed play.
For several seconds there was nothing except static. Then Lily’s voice emerged, softer than before but immediately recognizable.
“If you are listening to this recording, then the children have finally found each other.”
Every person in the room fell silent.
Kayla could hardly breathe.
Lily paused briefly before continuing.
“I prayed this day would come, although I always feared the price that would have to be paid before it happened.”
Tears gathered in Kayla’s eyes.
Jason quietly slipped his arm around her shoulders, allowing her to lean against him without saying a word.
Lily continued speaking.
“Kayla, if you are hearing my voice, then you have already discovered that Ethan is alive. I need you to understand something before anyone else tells you their version of the story.”
The recording crackled for a moment before becoming clear again.
“Your brother was never taken because of who he was.”
The room became perfectly still.
“He was taken because of who you were destined to become.”
Kayla’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Arthur’s expression changed immediately.
Charles slowly looked toward the founder files still displayed on the adjacent monitor, as though a dozen unanswered questions had suddenly begun fitting together.
Jason tightened his hold on Kayla’s hand.
He could feel her trembling beside him.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody dared interrupt the recording.
Lily drew a slow breath before saying the words that left every person in the room questioning everything they thought they knew.
“I spent years trying to protect both of you, but I eventually realized that separating you was the only reason either of you survived…”
The recording ended abruptly, leaving an oppressive silence hanging over the observation room. Kayla remained motionless as Lily’s final words echoed repeatedly in her mind. She wanted to reject them, to believe there had been another way, but the grief in her mother’s voice made that impossible. Jason tightened his hold on her hand, silently reminding her that she was no longer facing these revelations alone. Before anyone could gather their thoughts, every monitor in the room suddenly flickered at once. Ethan’s face reappeared on the central screen, and this time his expression carried an urgency that none of them had seen before.