+15 Bcnus
One by one
Amber POV
“The Vincents don’t control the women.”
Mrs. Owens’ words refused to leave my mind.
I sat in Jason’s study with Emory, Mr.Stait, Mr.Sun and grandfather, replaying the conversation over and over.
She was right.
The Vincents could buy politicians.
They could threaten businessmen.
They could blackmail military officers.
They could force men into silence.
But the women…
The women were different.
They endured.
They pretended.
They survived.
And when the opportunity finally appeared…
They fought.
I thought about Jason’s stepmother.
She had been sold into marriage by the Vinnys and the Beckers under Vincent orders.
She had every reason to hate the family she had been forced into.
Yet she had protected Jason whenever she could.
Quietly.
Carefully.
Never openly enough to draw attention.
It wasn’t because she was weak.
It was because she had been trapped.
I slowly looked around the room.
“If we can get the children out…”
Jason looked up from his computer.
“What?”
1/7
by
“The women.”
hey’re waiting.”
“They’ve been waiting for years.”
I leaned back in my chair.
“If we can extract their children from Vincent control…”
“They won’t have anything left to lose.”
Jason was quiet for several moments.
Then he nodded.
“I think you’re right.” 1
“Children are the chains.”
“And once those chains disappear…”
“…the Vincents lose their leverage.”
A notification appeared on Jason’s monitor.
He immediately opened it.
“I found something.”
Everyone still in the room gathered behind him.
Family trees.
Birth certificates.
Corporate ownership records.
Marriage licenses.
Jason enlarged the screen.
“The Vinnys…”
He clicked another document.
“…and the Beckers…”
Another click.
“…aren’t allies.”
He turned toward us.
“They’re Vincents.”
Silence filled the room.
“They simply use different surnames.”
+15 8cnus
7
217
+15 Bonus
Marcus frowned.
Different branches?”
Jason nodded.
“The same bloodline.”
“The same family.”
“The same strategy.”
He highlighted generation after generation of carefully arranged marriages.
“They’ve been hiding in plain sight.”
Emory, who had remained behind to review Jason’s latest blood work, suddenly looked thoughtful.
“I may know why.”
Everyone turned toward him.
He opened several medical files.
“I’ve been comparing genetic markers from every Vincent-related sample we’ve recovered over the years.”
He hesitated.
“They all carry the same hereditary defect.”
My stomach tightened.
“What kind of defect?”
Emory answered quietly.
“Infertility.”
The room froze.
“Not complete infertility,” he clarified.
“But a severe reproductive incompatibility.”
“Most Vincent men can only have children with a very small percentage of women.”
He enlarged a genetic diagram.
“For many…”
“The chance of naturally having children is almost zero.”
I slowly understood.
“That’s why…”
Emory nodded.
“That’s why they target young female heirs.”
3/7
“They don’t simply want political alliances.”
They need compatible bloodlines.”
Marcus crossed his arms.
“And when they can’t produce heirs…”
“They adopt them.”
Jason quietly finished the sentence.
“They steal other people’s children.”
Emory nodded.
“Exactly.”
Another realization struck me.
“The infertility rumors…”
Jason looked at me.
“They weren’t random.”
I nodded slowly.
“They projected their own weakness onto you.”
If everyone believed Jason was infertile…
No one would question it.
Because within the Vincent family…
That was normal.
Later that evening, everyone finally retired.
The castle became quiet.
The news still hadn’t learned Alex was safely home.
For once…
We intended to keep it that way.
Jason remained in his study. 1
His expression had changed.
He looked…
Focused.
Dangerously focused.
“What are you doing?”
+15 Bgnus
4/7
He didn’t look away from the monitors.
m going hunting.”
I smiled.
“Digitally, I hope.”
A faint grin appeared.
“Digitally.”
Dozens of programming windows filled the screens.
Lines of code appeared faster than I could read them.
Jason never stopped typing.
“I’ve built a micro-bug.”
I walked behind him.
“How small?”
“So small that antivirus software won’t recognize it.”
He enlarged the code.
“It activates when a user simply opens their email application.” 1
“They don’t even need to read the message.’
“What happens afterward?”
Jason’s smile became almost predatory.
“It quietly opens a window.”
“A very small one.”
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