CEO loves me with all his soul.-Chapter 148. The Absence of Orders. The time passed.

Chapter 148: 148. The Absence of Orders. The time passed.
The man in front had a sharp face, sharp posture, and dull, unreadable eyes. His badge bore the symbol of the central government’s Executive Oversight Division.
"I’m Director Varo," he said smoothly. "And this is Deputy Analyst Mira. We’re here on behalf of the State."
"No one asked you to come," Jesper said without looking at him.
"You’re right," Varo replied. "But you should’ve asked."
Isaac straightened. "Where was the State when Doctor Naehr dispersed a biogenetic toxin into the national atmosphere?"
Varo didn’t blink. "Following protocol."
Augustin stepped forward. "Protocol?"
Mira, the analyst, finally spoke. "All information regarding Apex Labs and Project Equinox was classified under Order A-739. That included surveillance restriction, noninterference commands, and media silence."
"You’re saying the government knew?" Cain’s voice was pure venom.
Varo nodded.
"They knew," Mira said. "They funded the early phases. But they didn’t expect it to escalate."
Jesper stood. "You sat back while Naehr hunted children and tried to rewrite the human genome?"
"We observed," Varo said. "To see if the project was viable. And then... we waited."
"Waited for what?" Isaac demanded.
"For someone to clean up the mess," Varo replied. "Which you all did."
.
"You used us," Diana snapped, slamming her hand on the table. "You let my brothers and their children be exposed—"
"We didn’t intervene because public exposure would’ve caused global panic," Varo said. "We needed... independent assets."
Lucas stepped into the room, expression unreadable. "You let us risk our lives to fix something you created."
"Yes," Varo admitted. "Because we couldn’t afford to act publicly. If the world had known Naehr was once part of a government-sponsored enhancement program... there would be war."
Jesper laughed. A bitter sound.
Cain gritted his teeth. "I’ve worked beside your agencies. You pretend to protect the nation, but all you do is gamble with it."
Mira cleared her throat. "We’re here now to debrief and recover the genetic sample."
"No," Isaac said flatly.
Varo raised a brow. "Excuse me?"
Isaac stepped forward, voice low and steady. "No. You don’t get the sample. You don’t get the data. You don’t get access to anything we’ve bled for."
"That’s treason," Varo warned.
"And what do you call standing by while your scientists play God?" Leclair snapped.
Varo’s face twitched.
At that moment, the doors opened again.
Ethan stepped through, cradling a small datapad in one hand. Behind him, Adrian followed—weak, pale, but upright.
Everyone turned to him.
Adrian’s eyes locked on Varo.
"I thought I was the only one being used," he said quietly. "Turns out the entire world is."
Jesper moved toward him, but Adrian lifted a hand to stop him.
"I’m fine. I need to say this."
Adrian approached Varo and held up the datapad.
"This is the stabilized serum sequence. It neutralizes Naehr’s genome weapon. It has the potential to rewrite global medicine. But you won’t get it."
"You would deny the cure to your own country?" Varo hissed.
"I’m denying you the power to sell it," Adrian said. "You’ll leak it. Unregulate it. Use it for leverage. I’m not that naive anymore."
"Then what do you plan to do?"
Adrian looked around at the others—Lucas, Isaac, Ethan, Jesper, Diana, and the rest of the people who had given everything for this mission.
"We’ll distribute it ourselves. Through international humanitarian channels. Quietly. Safely."
"You’re bypassing national authority?"
"Yes," Ethan said, stepping beside him. "Because our children deserve a world where their genes aren’t currency."
Mira looked uneasy now.
"We didn’t come here to threaten you," she said. "We came to offer... protection. And amnesty."
Cain laughed. "From what? Your own dirty hands?"
Varo’s mouth thinned. "This isn’t over. You’re not heroes. You’re insurgents. And someday, someone else will decide that your truth is dangerous too."
"That day may come," Ethan said. "But we’ll be ready."
Isaac stepped forward one last time. "You underestimated us. All of us. That was your mistake."
Varo turned without another word. Mira followed.
As the doors shut behind them, the silence was thick.
Jesper exhaled shakily. "So... that’s the government."
Lucas nodded slowly. "We were never alone. Just... disposable."
Diana whispered, "This goes deeper than Naehr."
In the late hours of the night, Adrian sat near the twins’ crib. They were asleep, warm, untouched by the chaos outside.
Ethan walked in, holding two cups of tea.
Adrian didn’t move.
"They’re safe," Ethan said softly.
"For now."
Ethan set the cup beside him. "You did something brave."
Adrian whispered, "Did I do something smart?"
"They’re not always the same."
Adrian looked up, silver eyes clouded. "What if they come back? What if the government sends someone stronger?"
Ethan knelt beside him. "Then we fight again."
Adrian’s shoulders slumped. "I’m tired."
Ethan kissed his temple. "Me too."
In another part of the manor, Isaac stood with Lucas, arms around his waist.
"Do you believe it’s really over?" Lucas asked.
"No," Isaac said. "But I believe in tomorrow."
They kissed under the moonlight.
In a dark corridor of the now-abandoned Apex site, a man with long silver hair and half-burned face opened a metal door beneath the ruined lab.
Behind him, flickering monitors came to life.
One screen showed Naehr in his prison cell.
Another showed a girl with glowing veins—locked in stasis.
"Phase Two is ready," he whispered.
And smiled.
;;;
10 Years Later
The orchard behind Levistis Manor had bloomed early.
Pale pink blossoms danced in the warm wind, casting soft shadows on the cobbled walk. Laughter echoed through the trees—children’s voices, bright and alive.
Seraphina chased Aurelius down the path, both of them now ten, their black and silver hair catching the light like woven silk. Behind them, a girl in a soft lavender dress walked quietly, reading a book while humming.
"Eira," Aurelius called, "Come help me tackle Sera!"
She didn’t look up. "Books before battles, Rell."
"You’re so weird," Seraphina shouted fondly.
"I know," Eira replied.
From the terrace, Adrian watched the three with a warm smile, a hand wrapped around a cup of sweet herbal tea. His silver eyes had softened with the years, the sharp lines of exhaustion faded. His back leaned comfortably into Ethan’s chest as Ethan wrapped his arms around him from behind.
"Ten years," Adrian whispered.
"I still feel they were born just yesterday."
.
Before Eira had a name, she was a gentle flutter beneath Adrian’s ribs, like a secret whisper in the quietest hours of the night.
Adrian hadn’t known what to expect. He had already given birth once — twins no less — and yet nothing prepared him for the soft shift of balance, both physical and emotional, that came with this child.
This time, it wasn’t fear or uncertainty.
It was something like warmth, like love before words.
When they found out, Ethan had stood frozen with the medical in his hand, eyes locked on the confirmation. The silence stretched between them like a thread wound too tight.
Then Adrian had tilted his head and whispered, "It’s real."
And that’s when Ethan dropped the file, stepped forward, and cradled Adrian’s face in both hands.
"I’ll take care of everything," he said in a voice too low, too reverent. "You just rest. Just be safe."
Adrian had scoffed. "I’m not fragile."
But Ethan had pulled him into his arms anyway, kissed his forehead, and whispered, "You’re not. But you’re precious."
In the first trimester, Adrian didn’t show.
But Ethan noticed the little changes — the way Adrian’s steps slowed slightly by the end of the day, how he turned green at the smell of garlic, how his fingers lingered longer on warm tea mugs.
And Adrian, normally composed, found himself unreasonably emotional over everything.
One morning, he broke down crying over a baby deer video.
Ethan found him wrapped in a blanket, clutching a tablet, whispering, "It was so
tiny
, Ethan. Its legs were shaking."
Ethan blinked. "Do you want a deer?"
"I want ten," Adrian sniffed.
Ethan had to bury his face in the pillow to stop laughing — not because he was mocking Adrian, but because seeing his quiet, elegant husband unravel emotionally over baby animals was just too much.
After that, he kept emergency sweets in the kitchen and extra pillows on the couch. And deer plushies. Lots of them.
Eira was born with a cry like sunlight through a storm.
Small. Soft. And with Ethan’s raven-black hair and Adrian’s silver eyes.
Ethan cried the second he held her — real, messy, powerful tears.
Adrian, exhausted but smiling, whispered, "She’s here."
.
.
Jesper stood further down the balcony, his silver hair now streaked with white, his eyes still clear. Cain was reading quietly beside him, a tablet in hand. Their children—Diana, Yuin, and Jaya—had returned home for the spring festival.
Lucas and Isaac arrived shortly after, hand in hand, with Isaac’s motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm and Lucas laughing at some ridiculous thing Isaac had just said.
Augustin and Leclair strolled down the stone steps next, Augustin talking animatedly while Leclair listened with patient amusement.
For a moment, everything was quiet. Peaceful.
Then a shadow stepped from the inner hall—tall, imposing, composed.
Dr. Zara.
She still wore white, her hair always tied back in the same no-nonsense braid. But she no longer carried only burdens. There was a softness in her now, visible only to those who knew how much she had lost—and how much she had helped them all win.
"I need to speak to you," she said to Adrian, but her eyes flicked to Ethan too.
Ethan narrowed his gaze. "What is it?"
Zara glanced at the children, then motioned for privacy. "Walk with me."
In the private greenhouse, where Cain and Jesper once kept rare flora, Zara adjusted her gloves.
"I’ve spent the last decade researching the backup archives we recovered from the Apex secondary servers. The encryption took years to break, but... it confirmed something."
Adrian tensed. "About Naehr?"
"No. About
Zenaya
."
Ethan’s eyes darkened. "We already know he was Naehr’s puppet."
Zara shook her head. "No. He wasn’t a puppet. He was...
the keystone
. The final experiment."