The Heiress He Underestimated novel Chapter 158

The Heiress He Underestimated

Chapter 158 The Game Is On

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Finished

“Okay,” Elera said, wiping tears from her eyes. “So maybe we’re all a little jumpy.”

“Just a little,” Drakonius agreed, his arm still around her.

They got back to work. The plan took shape soon. They would start with Angela Reeves and Jennifer Martinez. Frost would arrange their relocation to a secure location–one of Drakonius’s properties out of state. Clara would begin the careful media leak, using her contacts from her journalism days. Drakonius’s legal team would start preparing the financial assault. And Elera would… well, Elera would do what she always did. She would hold it all together, and she would keep working on the cure.

Because in the middle of all this, Drakonius was still healing. His color was better, his hands were steadier, but they weren’t out of the woods yet. The Chimera Protocol was working, but it was a delicate process. Stress was its enemy. And they were currently manufacturing stress on an industrial scale.

Later that night, when the plans were made and everyone had gone to their rooms, Elera found herself in the lab. Though, she wasn’t working but she was just standing there, looking at the vials, the centrifuges and the screens full of glowing DNA sequences.

This was her sanctuary. This was where the world made sense. Cells followed rules where chemical reactions were predictable. You could look at a problem under a microscope and, with enough skill and patience, solve it right.

Human beings were so much messier.

She heard the door open and close softly. She didn’t need to turn around to know it was Drakonius.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, coming to stand beside her.

“Too much in my head,” she admitted. “I keep thinking about my father and about what he did and what he’s really capable of. And I keep thinking… that’s my blood. That’s my DNA. What if that’s in me too? What if I’m just… a better hidden version of him?”

Drakonius turned her to face him. His hands were warm on her shoulders. “Listen to me. You are nothing like him. You build things. He destroys them. You save lives. He ends them. You hide to protect yourself and your work. He hides to hurt people. The only thing you share is a last name. And soon, you won’t even have that.”

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Cliaptor 158 The Game is n

“What do you mean?”

“When this is over, we’re changing your name. Officially. You’ll be Elera Vex. No more Nethys. We’ll burn that bridge and salt the earth.”

The idea was strangely appealing. To shed that name, that legacy, like a snake shedding a poisoned skin. “Elera Vex,” she said, testing it out.

“It has a nice ring to it,” he said.

“It does.” She leaned into him, resting her head on his chest. “But I’m scared,” she whispered, finally admitting it.

“I know,” he said, his arms wrapping around her. “So am I. But we’re scared together. That’s better than being scared alone.”

They stood like that for a long time, in the quiet hum of the lab, two people holding each other up

in a world that was trying very hard to knock them down.

Outside, the crow had returned. It sat on a tree branch, watching the lighted window. It didn’t tap this time. It just watched, its head cocked, as if curious about the strange creatures inside.

Then, with a rustle of dark feathers, it took flight, disappearing into the night.

The game was on. And all the players were now in motion.

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