The warehouse stood in the industrial district like a forgotten tombstone and Ethan led Claire through the streets.
"This was my father's emergency base," Ethan said.
The lock resisted for a moment, then surrendered with a click that echoed in the empty street.
Inside the warehouse, dust covered everything like a shroud. Ethan moved through the space, stopping at what looked like a solid concrete wall, his fingers tracing patterns on the wall. When he pressed his palm flat against a specific point, the wall split down the middle with a pneumatic hiss that made her jump.
Behind the false wall was a laboratory. At the center of the lab, a containment unit glowed with soft blue light. Inside, dozens of pills rested in individual stasis fields, each one marked with codes.
"Prototype cultivation pills," Ethan said. "My parents' life work. The breakthrough that got them killed."
Claire approached the containment unit carefully.
"These could revolutionize healing," Claire whispered. "Awakening latent abilities in people born without cultivation potential. That would change everything. The Council, the families, and the entire power structure would shift overnight." She turned to look at Ethan. "Why would the Blackwoods want them buried? They could have made fortunes manufacturing these."
"They couldn't replicate them." Ethan's hand touched the containment unit. "My mother's journal documented their attempts. Victor Blackwood tried for months to reverse-engineer the formula, but he didn't have the knowledge or the talent. So he did what people like him always do when they can't have something. He destroyed the competition."
A monitor on one of the workstations flickered to life as Ethan's presence activated proximity sensors. Video logs, organized by date, filled the screen with thumbnails showing his father's face. Ethan clicked on the most recent entry, dated two days before the accident that claimed their lives.
Michael Cross appeared on screen, his face haggard with exhaustion and fear. "If you're watching this, son, then they must have succeeded. Elizabeth and I tried to protect the research and protect you, but the Blackwoods are more ruthless than we gave them credit for. They want the formula, and they'll kill anyone who stands between them and it." He paused, his eyes wet with tears he refused to let fall. "Finish our work, Ethan. Make them pay for what they've stolen. Make them remember that the Cross family doesn't forgive, and we sure as hell don't forget."
The video ended.
Claire stared at the screen, then slowly turned to look at Ethan. Her eyes moved between his face and the frozen image of Michael Cross, searching, and comparing. The shape of the jaw. The way sorrow carved lines around the mouth. Those impossible golden eyes that she had convinced herself were just unusual, coincidence, or just anything except the truth her heart had been screaming since the moment he walked into her apothecary.
Realization crashed over her like a tidal wave, stealing her breath and her balance in equal measure.
"Ethan?" His name came out as a broken whisper. "Ethan Cross? You are the one?"
Before she understood what she was doing, her body moved instinctively. She crossed the distance between them in three desperate steps and threw herself against him, her arms wrapping around his waist. Sobs tore from her throat, fifteen years of grief, longing and desperate hope finally finding release.
"Why didn't you tell me?" The words came out between gasps for air, and her face pressed against his chest hard enough to muffle her voice. "Fifteen years. They told me you were dead. Five years ago, they said you died in a prison riot and I went to your memorial service. I even spoke and cried. And you were alive the entire time. Why didn't you tell me it was you?"
Ethan's arms came around her slowly, like he was afraid she might shatter if he held her too tightly. When he finally spoke, his voice came out rough with emotion he had been suppressing since the moment he walked out of Irongate's gates.
"I was trying to protect you." His hand moved to the back of her head, fingers tangling in her hair. "If I revealed myself, they would target you even more than they already have. Tyler's obsession would have been nothing compared to what Victor and Damien would have done if they understood you were my weakness. They would have used you to control me, hurt you to break me, and even killed you just to watch me suffer. I don't want you to die the same way my parents were killed".
"I don't care" Claire pulled back enough to look up at him, her face wet with tears and twisted with anguish. "I don't care about the danger, Ethan. Do you have any idea what these fifteen years were like? I really missed you, Ethan".
"I know." Ethan's thumb brushed away tears that kept falling faster than he could catch them. "I watched you through communication crystals when I could afford to bribe guards for access. I saw you struggle to keep the apothecary open. I saw you visit your mother in the hospital. And I saw Tyler circling you like a predator, and I couldn't do anything except to get stronger so that when I finally got out, I could end them all."
Claire's hands moved to his face, forcing him to meet her eyes. "Promise me. Promise me you'll never hide from me again. I don't care how dangerous it is. I'd rather die standing beside you than live safely believing you're gone."
Ethan's forehead pressed against hers, his breath warm against her skin. "I promise".
"I promise too," Claire repeated.
When they finally pulled apart, both breathless and shaking, Claire kept her hands on Ethan's face as if afraid he might disappear if she let go. "Your eyes. They're different. More golden than I remember."
"Celestial cultivation changes everything," Ethan said, his voice still rough with emotion. "Master Tian's training transformed me down to the cellular level. I'm not the same boy you knew."
"Yes" Claire's smile was watery but genuine. "You were no longer the idiot who took the fall for Tyler's crime to protect me. But you are still the man who would rather suffer alone than let the people he loves get hurt. That hasn't changed, even if everything else has."
Before Ethan could respond, someone knocked on the warehouse door. Ethan tensed immediately, his body positioning itself between Claire and the potential threat.
He checked the security camera feed, and then opened the door.
"Thought you were dead, kid," the man said.
"Brick." Ethan's face glowed into a smile. "You look old."
"Yeah, well, waiting fifteen years for ghosts to return from prison ages a man."
Brick Stone pulled Ethan into a hug. When he released Ethan, his gaze moved to Claire. "And this must be the reason you're doing this now instead of waiting longer to build more power."
"Claire Moonstone," Ethan said, his hand finding hers naturally. "Claire, this is Brick. He was my father's head of security and one of the few people who didn't abandon our family when the Blackwoods started their campaign."
Brick's expression softened slightly. "Your dad saved my life twice. Once in the war overseas, and once when I came back broken and nobody else would hire damaged goods. I've been watching the Blackwoods for years, documenting their crimes, waiting for a chance to strike back." His gaze returned to Ethan. "Margaret called me an hour after you left her office".
Claire squeezed Ethan's hand, feeling the tension in his grip. "You're not alone anymore. You never really were."