CHAPTER 61
CHAPTER 61
Kieran’s POV
I couldn’t see.
When the lights went dark, my body immediately shifted into a defensive position. The atmosphere was dense with tension and an electric charge. My eyes took some time to adapt, but this adjustment proved insufficient. I couldn’t make out Adrian. I couldn’t see Serena. Evelyn ceased to breathe beside me within my hearing.
"Adrian!" I shouted.
No answer.
I dashed towards the noise of footsteps and metal scraping the ground. The rage inside me exploded like fire touching my spine. I had waited long enough. They took my everything once, and I made a vow to prevent it from happening again.
My foot connected with the chair where Adrian had previously been bound.
Empty.
My breath caught. I spun around completely while my flashlight beam danced across shattered tiles and walls that cast deep shadows.
Then I saw her.
Serena moved through a side door while pulling Adrian's unconscious body by the wrist. Her face was pale, but her eyes blazed with fire as she glanced back once. The twisted pride she felt remained like a curse that lingered on her lips.
“Stop!” I yelled, charging after her.
The metal door slammed shut before I managed to reach it. A lock clicked on the other side.
"Damn it!" I punched the metal surface with my hands while its sound reverberated throughout the space.
Evelyn stayed somewhere behind me as she likely remained immobilised in darkness with the individual identifying himself as the prototype. I couldn’t think about him right now. I remained focused because my son was being taken from me.
Reversing direction, I picked up a loose pipe from the ground before I struck the door’s control panel with it.
Sparks flew, but the lock didn’t budge.
I hit it again.
And again.
And again.
In my anger, my voice broke as I shouted, "Come on, come on!"
The door didn’t open.
But something inside me did.
That last thread of control snapped.
I pulled back and growled from deep in my throat before driving my shoulder into the door with all of my strength. Once. Twice. My arm was engulfed in sharp pain, yet it failed to distract me. I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. Adrian needed me.
And then it gave.
The hinges emitted a screeching noise as the frame twisted while I forced my body through to enter a narrow corridor.
My heart raced as I ran with each footstep pounding like a war drum.
With each breath, his name echoed through my mind.
Adrian.
Adrian.
Adrian.
I saw only him in my mind while he stood nowhere near me. His face, bruised. His voice, quiet. He began to address me as Dad for the first time. She wanted to take that away from him now.
No.
Not this time.
Never again.
The hallway divided before me, and I came to a stop with my heart pounding as I listened intently.
A faint noise came from the left. Something heavyis being dragged.
I dashed down the hallway and then curved around the next corner.
Then I saw her again.
Serena carried Adrian in her arms while she moved halfway across the room.
“Let him go!” I bellowed.
She flinched but didn’t stop.
I ran faster.
She reached for something on the wall. A lever.
I charged into action before learning its function.
With full force, I propelled myself across the room to tackle her from behind.
We both hit the floor hard. Adrian rolled to the side.
As I tried to reach Adrian, she seized my leg and yanked me back.
“Never will you touch him!” she whispered fiercely.
I spun around and landed a powerful punch directly on her jaw.
She crumpled with a gasp.
For a second, everything stopped.
The room. The noise. My thoughts.
And then Adrian groaned.
I crawled to him, hands shaking.
“Hey… hey, it’s me,” I whispered.
His eyelids fluttered.
“Dad?”
I shut my eyes tight while the word sliced through me worse than any knife.
“I’m here,” I said. “I’m getting you out.”
The ground beneath us shook as I bent to lift him.
I glanced upward and understood she had nearly triggered the self-destruct mechanism.
A blinking red light appeared on the distant wall. A timer.
Three minutes.
I realised she planned to bury us alive.
I lifted Adrian onto my shoulders as I swung his arm over my back and started down the hallway.
But Serena groaned behind me.
Blood streamed from her mouth as she climbed to her feet.
“Do you believe you can just walk out of here and escape?” she gasped through her injuries.
“No,” I said. “It ends with you staying behind.”
And I meant it.
After all her destructive actions and the lies she implanted in Adrian’s life, justice was served.
While I carried my son through the hallway with alarms sounding, I escaped her attack.
I didn’t stop.
Even when the ceiling cracked.
Even when fire lit behind us.
When Adrian coughed while mumbling Serena’s name, he appeared confused.
I didn’t stop.
I had made a vow.
I would get him out.
Close to the final exit door, I encountered an unexpected obstruction.
A shadow stepped through the smoke.
The prototype.
The prototype bore a resemblance to Adrian but possessed a colder demeanour. Sharper.
His eyes met mine.
“Leave the boy,” he said. “He belongs to her now.”
I charged to the front with muscles locked and a voice that resonated with firmness.
“No. He belongs to me.”
He smiled. Not with kindness, but with pity.
“Then you’ll die with him.”
And in the next second, he charged.