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 The moment I stepped into the apartment, I felt itâthat tight, invisible weight pressing against the walls. The kind that comes before a storm.
 Mum was sitting at the kitchen table, folding laundry she didn't need to do. She did that when something was on her mind.
 "Hey, sweetheart," she said without looking up.
 I didn't answer. Just dropped my bag and stared at her.
 She knew.
 I could see it in the stiff way her fingers moved. The way her smile didn't reach her eyes.
 "Who is Dominic Vale?" I asked quietly.
 She froze.
 Not for long.
 But just long enough.
 ---
 She stood slowly and placed the shirt she was folding back in the basket. "Where did you hear that name?"
 "Mum."
 "Lilly."
 "Please don't lie to me."
 For a long moment, she said nothing. Then she pulled out a chair, sat down, and looked straight at me.
 "Dominic Vale used to work for your father."
 I blinked. "My what?"
 "I meanâyour biological father," she said, correcting herself. "He was⌠dangerous, Lilly. Powerful in ways you don't understand. And Dominic worked for him. When I left that life behind, Dominic showed up once in a while. Always with veiled offers. Promises."
 ---
 I tried to breathe evenly. "He approached me at the bursar's office. Offered help when the university cut me off."
 She nodded slowly. "I didn't think he'd go that far."
 "Why didn't you tell me?"
 Her voice broke.
 "Because I wanted you to stay clean of all this. Of him. Of everything tied to that family."
 I sat down across from her, my hands trembling. "Why now? Why is Dominic back? Why am I suddenly someone people are watching?"
 She reached into a drawer, pulled out a small box, and slid it across the table to me.
 "Because your last name isn't just Lorenzo, baby."
 ---
 Inside the box was a folded birth certificate.
 I opened it.
 And my heart stalled.
 Lillian Alessandra Vale.
 My breath hitched. "No. That's notâhe's notâ"
 "Yes," Mum whispered. "Dominic's not just some fixer, Lilly. He's your uncle."
 ---
 Everything tipped sideways.
 The strange way he'd looked at me.
 The help offered without asking.
 The way he disappeared the moment I said no.
 He hadn't just been helping.
 He'd been watching.
 Protecting?
 Or preparing?
 ---
 "What does he want?" I asked.
 Mum shook her head. "Power, I think. Or legacy. Your father was involved in something massive when he disappeared. Dominic stepped into the shadows after it fell apart. But now⌠something's shifted."
 I remembered the message Luca got: Project Alchemy.
 "Did Dad work at the university?"
 "Not officially," she said. "But yes. He was funding researchâoff the books. Dangerous work. He wanted to turn knowledge into leverage."
 "And Dominic?"
 "Cleaned it up after it blew up."
 ---
 đđđžđź
 Julian had gone silent for over an hour.
 That meant trouble.
 When he finally called, his voice was sharp.
 "You need to see this."
 A shared folder popped up.
 Inside: documents marked CONFIDENTIAL. Research abstracts. Financial trails. Old university memos signed by familiar namesâincluding the head of the board.
 And in the middle of it all?
 Project Alchemy.
 And one unredacted goal:
 > To reconstruct intellectual inheritance via behavioral mapping and targeted genetic memory recall. Test Phase: LAV-A1.
 LAV.
 Lilly Alessandra Vale.
 ---
 Cliffhanger Ending:
 Back in her room, Lilly sat with the box on her lap, the certificate still in her hand. She didn't notice the shadow outside her window.
 Didn't see the flash of a camera.
 Didn't hear the soft click of someone unlocking the service door.
 But by the time she looked upâŚ
 She was no longer alone