Chapter 61 — "Echoes of White Masks"
Lyra's POV:
It had been days… maybe even a month.
Time didn't feel real anymore. It was just something slipping through my fingers while I kept staring at invisible threads between people I couldn't trust.
Kieller. His brother. Luna.
And that day—Luna's eyes when she looked at me like I was the reason everything broke.
I kept replaying it all.
Over and over.
Not because I wanted to.
Because my mind refused to let go.
And the worst part?
I had no clue where the truth ended… and where the lie began.
Right now, I was standing in the middle of something I couldn't name.
A game I didn't remember agreeing to play.
And somehow… I was already losing.
I told myself one thing again and again:
I will solve this.
Alone, if I have to.
Because trusting anyone now felt like handing them the knife and waiting for the cut.
The next morning, the world decided to remind me why I couldn't breathe easy.
The news flickered on TV screen like a warning I didn't ask for.
"UNKNOWN MEN IN WHITE MASKS—ATTACK ON LYRA VALE, CEO OF LYRA INDUSTRIES. SUSPECTS ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK."
My fingers froze mid-air.
White masks.
Again.
My pulse didn't rise immediately.
It just… dropped.
Like my body already knew what my mind was trying to deny.
I stared at the screen longer than I should have.
Because I remembered.
I remembered everything.
That operation in New York. NexaTech's deal . Kieller standing too far ahead like he didn't care if he lived or died.
And then—
The white mask stepping out of the smoke.
The gun aimed.
Not at me.
At him.
I still remember how I moved before I even thought.
The shot that hit me instead.
The heat. The shock. The collapse.
And the silence after.
My right side still carried it. A faint reminder under skin that had healed but never truly forgot.
I touched it without realizing.
A ghost of pain answered.
So they escaped.
Again.
And someone let them.
That wasn't just an attack.
It was a message.
I stood up slowly.
Too slowly for someone who had just seen her past walk back into the present.
No hesitation this time.
I picked up my phone and dialed.
"Detective Rael Callen."
He picked up almost instantly.
"Lyra Vale."
"I need you," I said coldly. Controlled. Too controlled. "Come to my house. Evening."
A pause.
Then his voice sharpened. "What happened?"
"I'll explain when you get here."
And I ended the call.
Because explanations needed silence first.
And I didn't trust my voice not to break into something worse.
The rest of the day, I worked like a machine.
Not thinking.
Not feeling.
Just connecting points on a mind map like if I stared at them long enough, they would confess.
Red envelope.
Three white ones.
A black feather.
A dried white rose.
All laid out across the table like pieces of a ritual I never agreed to attend.
I opened them again.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Like they might bite.
And then I found it.
A note inside the white envelope.
"You weren't supposed to remember anything. But now that you do… don't trust anyone. Not even yourself."
I exhaled sharply.
Not a warning.
A command.
A control mechanism disguised as fear.
Someone didn't just want me confused.
They wanted me obedient.
My eyes drifted to another card.
White.
Two words only.
"Look behind you."
My stomach tightened.
That one wasn't symbolic.
That one was personal.
It took me straight back.
The room. The chains. The drugs.
The sound of my own heartbeat being the only proof I was still alive.
I shut my eyes hard.
No.
Not now.
But memory doesn't ask permission.
It dragged me anyway.
And then—
Her.
My sister.
Ally ,I rarely let myself think anymore because it came with a silence too heavy to survive.
Taken. Gone. Erased from a life I barely understood when I was still too young to know what "death" even meant.
My breath cracked before I could stop it.
Tears slipped out before I could claim control again.
Damn it.
I wasn't supposed to break here.
Not like this.
The doorbell rang.
I wiped my face instantly.
Mask back on.
Always.
Even when it felt like my ribs were splitting open.
Even when everything inside me was collapsing.
Detective Rael Callen stood at my door by evening.
Calm. Observant. Too sharp to be fooled.
"It's been a while, Miss Vale," he said carefully.
I didn't respond.
I led him inside instead.
Straight to the table.
Straight to the truth I had collected like evidence against my own life.
"I need your help," I said.
And I pushed everything forward.
Envelopes.
Cards.
Feathers.
The warning.
The history.
My kidnapping.
The drugging.
The assaults I never reported because no report would ever make it feel real.
Rael didn't speak for a long time.
Just looked.
And for once, I saw it—
Not pity.
Not disbelief.
Recognition.
Like he understood the weight of what I was carrying.
"You can trust me," he finally said. "But only if you let me see every evidence."
A bitter laugh almost escaped me.
"Trust," I repeated quietly. "That word doesn't work in my world anymore."
He didn't argue.
Smart man.
Instead, he leaned forward. "Then let's call it survival."
That… I could accept.
Barely.
Before he left, he added one thing.
"The white mask group… they're not just escaping. They're being moved."
My eyes sharpened instantly.
"By who?"
He paused.
"I don't know yet."
And that was the most honest thing anyone had said to me in a long time.
Night fell too fast.
Too heavy.
And just when silence finally started feeling like a threat of its own—
My phone rang.
Kieller.
For a second, I just stared at it.
Not anger.
Not softness.
Just… something dangerously quiet.
I picked up.
But the voice on the other end wasn't his.
"Are you related to Mr. Kieller Voss?"
My spine stiffened instantly.
"No," I said sharply. "I'm Lyra Vale. Why?"
A pause.
Then—
"Ma'am, this is Eden-Crest Elite Hospital. Mr. Voss is in critical condition."
The world didn't blur.
It snapped.
For a second, I couldn't breathe.
Then everything inside me shifted into something sharper than panic.
"What happened to him?" My voice cut through like steel. "I'm coming there right now."
I didn't wait for answers.
I didn't ask details.
I grabbed my coat and keys and moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
Like something in me refused to accept delay.
I ran.
Not walked.
Ran out of that house like it was burning behind me.
Like if I stopped, something irreversible would happen.
The car engine roared alive.
Roads blurred.
Headlights became streaks.
And somewhere between speed and silence—
The radio crackled.
Breaking news.
"Reports confirm a high-speed accident involving a luxury vehicle registered under Voss Industries. Authorities suspect possible sabotage…"
My grip tightened.
Suspicion.
Of course.
Because nothing in my life was ever just an accident.
Not anymore.
Not Kieller.
Not me.
Not anything tied to that name.
And as the city lights tore past my windshield—
One thought burned louder than everything else.
If someone touched him…
I would find out who.
And I would make sure they regret ever learning my name.