Seraphina stared at the photograph in her hands, unable to move.
The woman standing beside Alexander looked familiar, but she couldn’t understand why.
She had never seen her before, yet something about her face made an uncomfortable feeling settle in her chest.
She turned the photograph over again.
Your grandfather never told you who they were.
Her fingers tightened around the edges.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
The bedroom door opened.
Lucien stepped inside and immediately noticed her expression.
“What happened?”
Seraphina didn’t answer.
She simply held out the photograph.
Lucien took it.
For several seconds, his eyes remained fixed on the image.
Then his expression changed.
Seraphina noticed.
“You know something.”
Lucien didn’t respond.
“Lucien.”
He looked at the photograph again.
“I know that building.”
Her heart skipped.
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“An old Alexandria facility.”
Seraphina frowned.
“That’s what Darius said.”
Lucien shook his head.
“It’s more than that.”
He placed the photograph on the bed.
“The building was closed years ago. But I remember seeing that symbol before.”
He pointed toward the stone wall behind Alexander and the woman.
A strange black symbol had been carved above the entrance.
It looked almost like a cross.
Seraphina immediately looked at her left hand.
The black cross on her skin remained perfectly still.
“What does it mean?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
Lucien looked at her.
“I said I don’t know what it means. That’s different.”
Seraphina picked up the photograph.
“Then we’re going there.”
“No.”
She stared at him.
“No?”
“It’s abandoned.”
“So?”
“So abandoned places are usually abandoned for a reason.”
“You’re the Devil. Aren’t you supposed to be brave?”
Lucien gave her a flat look.
“Being brave doesn’t mean being stupid.”
“I didn’t ask you to be stupid.”
“You’re asking me to take you into a place connected to your grandfather, your parents, and apparently that thing.”
He pointed at the photograph.
“That is exactly why I’m going.”
Lucien was silent.
Seraphina noticed the hesitation in his eyes.
“You’re coming with me.”
“I know.”
She smiled slightly.
“Good.”
The next morning, they left before most of Alexandria Corporation’s employees arrived.
Lucien drove while Seraphina sat beside him, holding the photograph.
Neither of them spoke much.
The farther they travelled from the city, the fewer buildings they saw.
Eventually, the road narrowed and disappeared beneath thick trees.
After another fifteen minutes, Lucien slowed the car.
“There.”
Seraphina looked ahead.
Behind a rusted metal gate stood an enormous stone building covered with vines.
Several windows were broken, and parts of the roof had collapsed.
It was the same building.
“This is it.”
Lucien parked outside the gate.
They got out.
The air felt strangely cold.
Seraphina wrapped her arms around herself.
“Why does it feel like this place is watching us?”
“Because you’re standing beside me.”
She looked at him.
“Was that supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.”
They walked through the gate.
The old building was silent.
Their footsteps echoed through the entrance as they stepped inside.
Dust covered everything.
Broken chairs.
Old equipment.
Empty cabinets.
Seraphina moved slowly through the hallway.
“Alexander worked here?”
“Possibly.”
She stopped.
On the wall ahead was the same black symbol from the photograph.
The black cross on her left hand suddenly became warm.
Seraphina looked down.
“Lucien.”
He turned immediately.
The mark wasn’t glowing.
But the skin around it had become noticeably warm.
Lucien’s expression hardened.
“Don’t touch it.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
They continued.
At the end of the hallway, they found a heavy metal door.
It was locked.
Seraphina looked at Lucien.
“Can you open it?”
“Not without using the cross.”
She held up her left hand.
“Then use it.”
Lucien hesitated before taking her hand.
The moment his fingers touched the black cross, a faint pulse travelled through it.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Seraphina stared.
Inside was a small office.
Unlike the rest of the building, it had been carefully preserved.
A desk.
A filing cabinet.
Several shelves.
And photographs.
Seraphina walked toward the desk.
There were old documents scattered across it.
She picked up the first file.
ALEXANDRIA CORPORATION — CONFIDENTIAL.
Her heart began beating faster.
She opened it.
Names.
Dates.
Medical reports.
Then she saw two names that made her hands freeze.
Her parents.
She read the first page.
Then another.
And another.
“Lucien…”
He came closer.
“What?”
She held up the file.
“They were here.”
Seraphina swallowed.
“My parents worked here.”
“I know.”
“No.” She shook her head.
“Not like that. They weren’t just employees.”
She turned another page.
“There are records about them.”
“What kind?”
“I don’t know.”
Her eyes moved quickly across the page.
Then she noticed something.
A section of the file had been removed.
Several pages were missing.
“Someone took them.”
Lucien’s eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
He examined the empty section.
“Recently.”
Seraphina looked at him.
“How can you tell?”
“There isn’t enough dust around the edges.”
She stared at the missing pages.
Someone had been here.
Recently.
And they had known exactly what they were looking for.
She turned back toward the desk.
Something caught her eye.
A small photograph was lying beneath a stack of papers.
She pulled it out.
Her breath caught.
It was her.
As a child.
Seraphina stared at the little girl in the photograph.
She was standing in this very building.
Behind her was the same black symbol.
But she wasn’t alone.
Her mother was holding her hand.
Her father stood beside them.
Seraphina’s eyes filled with tears.
“I don’t remember this.”
Lucien said nothing.
She turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
Subject: Seraphina Vale.
Her heart sank.
“Subject?”
Lucien stepped closer.
Seraphina’s voice trembled.
“Why would they call me a subject?”
Before Lucien could answer, something crashed somewhere deep inside the building.
They both turned.
Seraphina grabbed his arm.
“What was that?”
Lucien listened.
Nothing.
Then came another sound.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
Someone was walking toward them.
Lucien moved in front of Seraphina.
“Stay behind me.”
The footsteps stopped.
Silence filled the building again.
Then a voice came from the hallway.
“You should never have opened that file.”
Seraphina’s blood ran cold.
Lucien’s eyes darkened.
Someone was standing outside the office.
But before either of them could see the person’s face, the lights suddenly went out.
And in the darkness, Seraphina felt the black cross on her left hand begin to burn.