Miller
"I cannot give you a definitive statistical certainty until we run a comprehensive diagnostic panel on him," Gerald informed me, his fingers resuming their slow, anxious tapping against the mahogany desk. "But the biological markers you described—the complete locking away of his baseline scent combined with the sudden breakthrough of a sweet, secondary pheromone—are dangerously identical to the early stages of Lucas’s decline. We have to act immediately, Mr. Reid. We must make absolutely sure that he does not turn out to be like his father. We cannot let him repeat that tragic history." Gerald leaned across the desk, his eyes wide with absolute urgency. "Does Leo know anything about what you observed?"
I shook my head, my throat completely dry. "No. I was too afraid to ruin the progress we’ve made."
"You have to tell him," Gerald commanded, his voice leaving no room for argument or hesitation. "You must break the news to him as gently but firmly as possible, if at all possible, tonight. Do not let another sunrise pass without him knowing the reality of his condition. Once you have spoken to him, let both of you come directly to my office first thing tomorrow morning. The moment you walk through those doors, we will set the exact time and date for the clinical testing. Now is absolutely not the time to waste, Miller. Every single hour he keeps those pheromones sealed behind those walls is an hour we lose to the atrophy."
"I understand," I said, my voice grounding itself as the survival instinct took over. I pushed myself up from the leather chair, my legs feeling slightly unsteady but my mind completely focused on the mission ahead. "Thank you, Director Gerald. I appreciate you telling me the truth about his father. I know it wasn’t easy."
Gerald stood up as well, offering a small, solemn nod.
As I turned toward the exit and reached for the heavy brass door handle, his voice echoed across the room one last time, stopping me in my tracks.
"Mr. Reid, wait."
I turned back around, looking at him questioningly.
Gerald looked toward the closed door, then back to me, lowering his voice significantly. "I am absolutely not supposed to be telling you this either, as the administrative council has kept it under strict lock and key... but there might be incredibly good news on the horizon for everyone very soon. During our recent off-island summit, one of the primary Council members was officially found out to be a latent Enigma themselves."
My eyes widened instantly, the shock of the statement making me let out a sharp gasp. The High Council had spent decades enforcing strict, borderline oppressive regulations on Enigmas, treating them like volatile weapons that needed constant containment. For a Council member to be exposed as one of them was a political earthquake.
"Yes," Gerald said, a faint glimmer of genuine hope breaking through his exhausted features. "It hasn’t made the public news cycles yet, and the legal documentation is still being fiercely debated behind closed doors. But the power dynamic is shifting rapidly. Enigmas might be getting incredibly good news regarding their social liberties and medical rights sooner than anyone expected. The mandatory restrictions might finally be dismantled." He offered me a firm, encouraging nod. "So please, Miller... do everything in your power to help Leo survive this threshold. He needs to be alive and whole to see the world that is coming for him."
I nodded sharply, a newfound determination locking into my jaw. "I won’t let anything happen to him, Director. I promise you that."
I turned the handle, walked out of the office, and closed the doors behind me.
I practically sprinted down the administrative corridors until I reached the front courtyard, where a private island transport car was waiting.
The drive back to our secluded villa felt agonizingly long. The electric vehicle sped through the winding, darkened paths of the resort, the dense tropical foliage passing by like blurred shadows under the moonlight.
By the time the car finally pulled up to the stone driveway of our villa, it was pretty late into the night.
The air was thick with humidity, the distant sound of the ocean waves crashing against the shore doing absolutely nothing to calm the roaring storm inside my chest.
I stepped out of the vehicle, my boots crunching softly on the gravel. Looking up at the villa, I noticed that every single window was completely dark. The entire structure looked abandoned, shrouded in a heavy, ominous silence.
I heaved a deep, steadying sigh, smoothing down my shirt as I walked up the porch steps. I knew for a fact that Leo was probably waiting for me inside. He was a creature of habit, and my sudden, hours-long disappearance without an explanation was bound to have irritated him.
I pressed my palm against the biometric scanner on the front door. The lock clicked open with a soft beep. I pushed the heavy oak door open and stepped into the pitch-black foyer.
The darkness was absolute, the quiet so profound I could hear the rapid thumping of my own heartbeat.
The very second my second foot crossed the threshold into the house, the automated motion sensors triggered. The overhead track lights flooded the entire living room with a sharp, brilliant white glow all at once.
My eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness instantly, and my breath caught in my throat.
Leo was standing right there in the center of the room. He hadn’t gone to bed at all; he was still fully dressed, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, his posture rigid as steel. His glasses were pushed up slightly on the bridge of his nose, and his sharp, dark eyes were narrowed into a dangerous, icy glare that pinned me directly to the spot.
"Where the hell have you been, Miller?" he asked, his rough voice cutting through the silence of the villa. ’’You left the event so fast and I thought you were home but I didn’t find you here so where have you been?’’