The lab was in complete disarray, the once pristine facility now reduced to a wreckage of shattered glass, scattered equipment, and charred debris. Smoke hung in the air, mingling with the acrid scent of burning circuitry. Walls that had once gleamed with sterile cleanliness now bore the blackened scars of the explosion.
Eli's heart sank as they stepped into the lab, her eyes sweeping over the destruction. Everything she'd built, every experiment, every breakthrough—gone in an instant. She had known the sabotage was coming, but seeing the damage with her own eyes made it all feel far more real.
"This can't be happening…" Eli muttered, her voice shaky as she moved deeper into the wreckage. Her footsteps crunched over broken glass, and the familiar hum of the equipment was replaced by the eerie silence of ruin.
Rai stayed close, his eyes scanning the room for any remaining threats. His jaw clenched at the sight of the destruction, but he knew better than to let his emotions get the best of him now. "We need to find your core data. If we lose that, everything's over."
Eli nodded, forcing herself to focus. The data. That was all that mattered now. If she could salvage the core information from her experiments, there was still hope—however slim—for preventing the catastrophe that loomed over humanity. She raced toward the far corner of the lab, where the primary data server had been housed.
To her relief, the server itself appeared intact, though the surrounding equipment was scorched beyond recognition. Eli crouched down, her fingers flying over the emergency console as she initiated the retrieval sequence. The system sputtered to life, flickering weakly but functioning.
"Come on, come on…" she whispered, her heart pounding as lines of code flashed across the screen.
Rai stood guard by the entrance, his gaze flicking back to Eli every few moments. He could see the strain in her face, the weight of everything resting on her shoulders. "You've got this, Eli," he said quietly, trying to reassure her even as tension gnawed at him.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the console let out a soft beep. "Yes!" Eli exhaled in relief. "I've got it—the data's safe." She quickly transferred the files to a portable drive, clutching it tightly in her hand.
But as she stood, the reality of their situation hit her like a ton of bricks. The lab was irreparable. Months—no, years—of work had been obliterated in a matter of minutes.
"The data's all we have left," Eli said, her voice thick with emotion. "But the lab… It's completely destroyed." She looked around, her eyes misting. "We can't continue the research here anymore."
Rai approached her, his expression unreadable as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Then we move forward. We adapt. We always do."
Eli met his gaze, the weight of his words sinking in. She knew Rai was right—there was no time for grief or regret. The world didn't wait for anyone, and neither did the threats they faced.
*
The days that followed the terrorist attack at the Matheris estate didn't improve. Eli drowned in guilt, a heavy weight that only grew stronger every time they found themselves in bed, facing the broken man beside her. Rai lay next to her, mask off, his scars bared, his single hand resting stiffly at his side, and Eli felt the ache of her own helplessness.
One night, after what felt like hours of brooding silence, Rai finally broke. He sat up, his voice cutting through the dark like a knife. "You must hate looking at me like this, don't you?" His tone was dry, laced with the kind of bitterness that came from years of festering wounds. "That's why you spend all your time in the lab. Now that it's destroyed, you're stuck with a freak like me. Must be torture for you."
Eli opened her mouth to protest, but deep down, she knew there was truth in his words. She did find it hard, not just because of his appearance but because of the memories his injuries invoked—the war, the losses, the future they'd been robbed of. Half his face was gone, the flesh torn away by the horrors of war, replaced with crude, uneven scars. And his body… it was a miracle he was even alive. When he took off his clothes, he looked more like a patchwork monster than a man.
"You're fighting for a world we'll never see," Rai continued, his voice thick with resentment. "And I'm just your stand-in. A placeholder until Adira shows up. You married me to keep yourself safe, to keep the Matheris name intact. The moment Adira's found, you'll throw me away. I'm not an idiot, Eli. I know I'm just your backup plan." He spat the last words, his sarcasm sharp, cutting. "Hell, I'm barely even myself anymore. I've lost half my face, half my arm, and don't forget—half my brain too."
Eli flinched. It wasn't the first time Rai had thrown these words at her, but this time they hit harder. The truth was, he had lost a part of himself.
He had sustained brain damage in the war, and though he was still sharp, still sarcastic, there were moments when his memory faltered, moments when he became someone she barely recognized.
"Rai…" she started, her voice tentative, but he cut her off again, his eyes blazing.
"Don't. Don't you dare try to make me feel better about this." He gestured toward his scars, the hand he no longer had, his entire broken body.
"Your father sent me to die, Eli. They shipped me off to the front lines hoping I wouldn't come back because my father and yours were at odds. My father was the head of the military, and your father, Duke Matheris, saw him as a threat to his power. So he got rid of him—and me. The only reason I survived was dumb luck. But when I came back, nothing was the same. My father was dead, and there were rumors—rumors that it was your father who had him killed."
*