Chapter 7: Dawn on the Estate
By five in the morning, the flashing lights had cleared out, leaving only the soft glow of morning mist rolling over the manicured lawns. Luca opened the heavy steel door of the cellar, extending his arms as Lily ran straight into his chest.
He lifted her easily into the morning air, carrying her up to the sunlit terrace.
"Is the bad storm gone, Daddy?" she asked, resting her head on his shoulder.
"It’s gone, sweetheart," he whispered, looking out over the sprawling green grounds that had felt like a prison for so many months. "The sun is up."
Dr. Robert Hayes, Luca’s trusted childhood physician who had secretly helped him synthesize counter-agents to flush the sedatives from his system over the past four weeks, walked onto the patio with a cup of warm tea.
"Your motor functions are remarkably resilient, Luca," Dr. Hayes said, offering a weary smile. "The physical therapy you did in secret every night saved your peripheral nerves. But you need genuine rest."
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"Rest will come," Luca replied, setting Lily down at the outdoor breakfast table. "First, we rebuild what was dismantled."
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