Nora Vanderbilt's life takes a mysterious turn when a near-death experience grants her extraordinary abilities, catching the attention of the enigmatic Dr. Hunter Aloysius Percy. Invited to join an exclusive research study on NDE survivors, Nora is...
Hap's grip on her wrist remained unyielding, his fingers digging into her skin as he looked down at her with that familiar, predatory gaze. "You were waiting on me?" he asked, his voice low, almost curious, but laced with a dangerous edge.
Nora's breath caught in her throat as she met his gaze, torn between the fear she felt and the overwhelming relief that washed over her at the same time. "Yes," she admitted, her voice quiet but steady. "But I was also trying to get back." She paused, trying to steady her nerves. "Upstairs, we have two brilliant sons. One of them is building the mechanisms I was going to use to travel. He was programming the movement into robots."
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Hap's grip tightened slightly, though his expression didn't change. "That's how I'm here," he said softly, the words almost as if he were explaining something to himself. "Elodie was letting me use the ones she made for traveling. I was eating the flowers—the ones that grew from the bodies... from that house. I found you. The flowers were the navigation, and of course, I supplied the will—to find you."
Nora's pulse quickened at the mention of the flowers—the strange, unsettling connection they had, the symbols that marked her journey through timelines. She remembered those flowers. She remembered the house. The disorientation, the sense of displacement that had clung to her for so long.
"What happened to me?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper, as the weight of her missing memories began to crush down on her.
Hap's eyes narrowed as he looked at her, his grip still tight on her wrist. "The baby is gone," he said with a cold finality. "And you wouldn't wake up. That's when we realized your consciousness either didn't want to or couldn't come back."
Her heart lurched at the mention of the baby, at the realization that something inside her had been lost, something she couldn't grasp. "I wanted to," she whispered, almost to herself, the truth of it breaking through. "I was coming back."
Hap's gaze softened, but it was fleeting. "It was too late for us there," he said softly, almost as if trying to explain something to himself. "But here... we have children?" His voice was quieter now, but the underlying question was still there—was this a reality he could accept?
Nora nodded, her chest swelling with emotion as she thought of her sons, of the life they had here. "They're perfect," she said, a smile tugging at her lips despite the situation. "Brilliant, just like you. Bishop and Rook. They're everything we hoped for."
The words hung in the air between them, and in that moment, everything felt almost right again. Despite the chaos that had brought her here, despite the brokenness of everything that had come before, she couldn't help but feel a flicker of hope. Her boys were here. They were brilliant, thriving, and full of promise, just like Hap had always been.
And then, for the briefest moment, her eyes met Hap's, and she saw something in him—a flicker of the man she had once known, the man she had once loved.
