Project A01

James stepped forward, his voice low, controlled.

"That name."

His eyes flicked to Leah, then to Voss, his fingers already pulling up an auxiliary feed, securing the breach before alarms tripped.

"It was erased from the system decades ago. Someone wanted it gone."

His tone was even, but weighted.

James wasn't a man who wasted words. And right now? He was calculating.

Tracking every angle. Every threat.

Voss didn't respond.

Not to James. Not to Ava.

His gaze was locked on Leah.

His expression, a mask of cold precision.

But the tension in his jaw? The flicker behind his eyes?

Something was cracking.

Leah's voice cut through the room.

"You knew."

Not a question.

A statement.

Voss's fingers curled against the console. A slow, deliberate movement.

"I didn't."

Leah laughed.

Cold. Sharp. Disbelieving.

"Bullshit."

Her breath was coming fast now, her pulse hammering against her ribs. Too much. Too fast. The walls felt too close, the air too thin.

She pointed at the screen—at the name glowing like a damn ghost from the past.

"My mother was one of your father's experiments, and you expect me to believe you didn't know?"

Voss's voice was even. Cold. But not dismissive.

"I didn't know about her."

Leah's chest burned.

Her fists clenched.

"But you knew about the program."

Voss didn't deny it.

His silver gaze held hers, unwavering.

"I knew."

James exhaled through his nose. "Well, that's a fucking problem."

Ava barely spared him a glance, her fingers moving too fast for the human eye.

"No kidding."

Her voice was sharp, but her hands were ruthless.

She cracked into another layer of encryption, bypassing the final security walls—

And the last classified file dropped onto the screen.

PROJECT A01: OMEGA-PHORE TRIAL

GOAL: Omega Gene Viability in Alpha Class

RESULT: CROSS-BREEDING POTENTIAL WITH OMEGA CARRIERS — STATUS: INHERITED MARKERS CONFIRMED

The words sat there, staring back at them.

Ava exhaled, low and slow.

Then, her voice flat, clipped, but edged with something dangerous.

"Leah."

She didn't look away from the screen.

"Your genes—" Ava's voice dipped, flicking through the markers, "—are Alpha-line."

Her eyes lifted—burning, sharp.

"But Omega-coded."

Voss's head tilted, just slightly.

His gaze flicked back to the data. A slow inhale.

Leah felt the moment he put it together.

The way his expression shifted—fractionally.

Not shock.

Not disbelief.

But understanding.

Like the final piece of a puzzle he hadn't even realized he was solving.

His voice—low, razor-sharp.

"You aren't incompatible."

A flicker of something dark crossed his face.

"You're one of a kind."

Leah's breath shook.

But she held his gaze.

Her voice, hoarse, iron-willed:

"Then why the hell did every Alpha reject me?"

Ava's fingers stilled.

Her voice, dark, sharp, and cutting:

"Because they weren't made to handle you."

And then—

The final sequence hit.

The last line—freed from the dark.

COMPATIBLE CANDIDATES – GEN 2 ALPHA CROSSMATCH:

AUTHORIZED SUBJECT: K. ORION VOSS – PROJECT 'LANCER'

The silence stretched, thick as iron.

Ava's fingers hovered over the console, the screen still glowing with the raw, brutal truth they'd just unearthed.

Leah felt it—the weight of it.

It wasn't just her mother.

It wasn't just her.

It was him.

Kael Orion Voss.

He hadn't moved.

Hadn't reacted.

But the air around him had changed.

Gone heavier. Sharper.

Like something old and dangerous was trying to crawl out from behind his ribs.

And when he finally spoke, his voice was low. Controlled. Unforgiving.

"The project was terminated."

Leah's pulse jumped.

Her fingers curled into fists.

Her voice, rough and edged with something raw:

"Why?"

Kael exhaled—slow, measured.

His silver gaze flicked to the screen again. To the old, buried records.

And then—

Back to her.

"Because my father lost his backing."

Ava swore, voice sharp. "Lost it? That bastard was the Alpha program."

James, ever the calm center of a storm, leaned slightly against the table, his expression unreadable.

"Which means someone cut him loose."

Kael's jaw flexed, but he nodded once.

"It was always about control. The moment they lost it—" his voice dipped, cold, absolute, "—they cut their losses."

Leah's heart pounded.

"You knew."

Kael's gaze snapped back to her.

Not sharp. Not aggressive.

But assessing.

And then, low, precise:

"I never met your mother."

Leah's breath hitched.

She shouldn't have felt anything at those words.

Shouldn't have expected anything.

But still.

It was like a fist tightening in her chest.

Kael continued, even, stripped-down.

"But I met others."

The words landed heavy.

And Leah knew—he wasn't talking about other Omegas.

Ava leaned forward, her hands braced against the table. "How many?"

Kael's voice dropped.

"Enough."

A beat.

A breath.

And then—

"But none of them worked."

Leah's eyes narrowed. "Worked?"

Kael's silver gaze locked onto hers.

Something dark flickering behind them.

Something like understanding.

And then, soft. Precise.

"I wasn't the only one."

Ava's laptop chirped, pulling up more records.

The feed blurred—more profiles. Three more.

James, scanning the screen, exhaled. "They ran parallel projects."

Leah's throat went tight.

She scanned the profiles, her pulse spiking.

Three other Alphas.

All of them with high DND markers.

All of them designed for compatibility.

And all of them—

Failures.

Kael's voice cut through the haze.

"We didn't respond to just any Omega."

His gaze flicked back to Leah.

Something cold. Unshakable.

"That made us difficult to control."

Leah stilled.

Her heart hammering against her ribs.

Ava's brows pulled together. "So what, they just—gave up?"

Kael's expression didn't change.

"No."

His voice dipped, something lower, sharper.

"They went a different route."

The screen flickered again.

New files. New paths.

Three Alphas.

Each one granted wealth. Power. A controlled rise into business, trade, and industry.

A carefully engineered reward system.

Leah's fingers clenched.

Her voice, cold. Calculating.

"That's why you're rich."

Kael didn't deny it.

"They put us in the one system they could control."

James exhaled, rubbing his jaw. "So instead of forcing bonds, they threw you into business."

Ava let out a low whistle. "Damn. So they turned you into assets instead of soldiers."

Kael's voice stayed even.

"It was never about us. It was about the investment."

Leah's jaw tightened.

Her voice like glass.

"And you just—played along?"

Kael's silver gaze locked onto her.

"I played the game."

A breath.

A pause.

And then, soft.

"Until I didn't."

Leah's stomach twisted.

Her breath, sharp.

Her mind racing.

She looked at the files. At the past staring back at her.

And for the first time—

She realized something.

She wasn't supposed to be here.

She wasn't supposed to have lived.

Her mother was supposed to die, her genetics were supposed to be erased.

And Kael?

He was supposed to be someone else's weapon.

Instead, they had both been discarded.

And now?

Now they were the last two standing.

Leah's breath shook.

She looked at Kael.

And for the first time—

She didn't see a billionaire.

She didn't see an Alpha.

She saw what he was supposed to be.

And what he chose instead.