The mansion had never felt this quiet.
Not peaceful.
Just… heavy.
Like the air itself knew something irreversible had just happened.
Outside the tall glass windows, flashing red and blue lights painted the night sky. Sirens echoed across the city as emergency networks scrambled to respond to the chaos that Project Olympus had unleashed.
Inside the control room, no one spoke for a long moment.
Elara stood near the main console, staring at the blank monitors.
The world was changing.
Right now.
Because of him.
Slowly, she turned toward Adrian.
Or Ares.
She still didn't know which name belonged to the man standing in front of her.
"You should have told me," she said quietly.
Adrian didn't look surprised.
"I wanted to."
Elara crossed her arms.
"But?"
He looked at the screens instead of her.
"But the truth has consequences."
Luca leaned back in his chair with a tired sigh.
"Yeah, and apparently those consequences include half the intelligence agencies on the planet losing their minds tonight."
His fingers tapped quickly across the keyboard.
Screens flickered back to life.
News alerts flooded the system.
Government leaks.
Financial corruption.
Military black operations.
Corporate espionage.
The Olympus files were everywhere.
Luca whistled.
"Wow."
"Okay… this is bad."
Elara stepped closer.
"How bad?"
Luca rotated the monitor so she could see.
"Let's just say three governments have already issued emergency statements."
"And one intelligence director just resigned live on television."
Adrian's voice remained calm.
"Expected."
Luca stared at him.
"You're way too relaxed about this."
Adrian finally turned to face them.
"I prepared for this for five years."
Elara studied him carefully.
"Five years ago… that's when you disappeared."
He nodded once.
"That's when Ares died."
The room fell silent again.
Elara's voice softened.
"What really happened?"
Adrian hesitated.
For the first time since the chaos began.
Luca noticed immediately.
"Uh oh."
"That hesitation means this story is about to get dark."
Adrian leaned against the console.
"The Consortium discovered Olympus during its early development."
Elara frowned.
"They wanted it."
"They wanted control."
Luca scoffed.
"Of course they did."
Adrian continued.
"Olympus was designed to expose hidden power structures."
"Every secret system."
"Every illegal operation."
"Every manipulation."
Elara understood instantly.
"You built it to force transparency."
"Yes."
"But the Consortium saw something else."
Luca finished the thought.
"A weapon."
Adrian nodded.
"They wanted Olympus rewritten."
"To monitor the world instead of exposing it."
Elara felt a chill.
"They wanted total surveillance."
Adrian's expression darkened.
"And control."
Luca rubbed his temples.
"So what did you do?"
Adrian's voice dropped slightly.
"I destroyed the facility."
Elara blinked.
"You what?"
"The entire research division."
Luca stared.
"Adrian… that building had hundreds of staff."
"They were evacuated."
Adrian said the words carefully.
"But the project servers were still there."
Elara realized what he meant.
"You erased Olympus."
"From their reach."
"Yes."
Luca leaned back slowly.
"Then how does it exist now?"
Adrian tapped the console screen.
"Because I rebuilt it."
Elara looked stunned.
"Alone?"
"Not entirely."
Luca raised a hand proudly.
"I came in during phase two."
Elara smirked faintly.
"That explains the chaos."
Luca grinned.
"Hey, chaos is my specialty."
But Adrian wasn't smiling.
Elara noticed.
"You're worried."
Adrian's eyes moved toward the window.
"They'll respond soon."
"Cassian wasn't bluffing."
Luca sighed.
"Yeah, the Consortium definitely isn't going to send a thank-you card."
Just then—
One of the monitors flashed red.
A security alert.
Luca sat up straight.
"Hold on."
His fingers moved fast.
"Someone's accessing the Olympus network."
Elara stiffened.
"That shouldn't be possible."
Luca nodded.
"It shouldn't."
He stared at the screen.
"And yet…"
Adrian stepped closer.
"Trace it."
Luca ran the command.
The screen filled with data streams.
Then—
The location appeared.
Luca's grin vanished.
"Oh… that's not good."
Elara leaned forward.
"What is it?"
Luca slowly turned the screen toward Adrian.
The signal was coming from a place none of them expected.
Adrian's expression hardened instantly.
"That's impossible."
Elara looked between them.
"What?"
Adrian spoke quietly.
"That server was destroyed five years ago."
Luca swallowed.
"Apparently…"
"Someone rebuilt it."
Elara felt her pulse spike.
"Who?"
The screen updated again.
A name appeared in the data logs.
A name Adrian hadn't heard in years.
His voice became very still.
"…No."
Elara frowned.
"You know them?"
Adrian's eyes darkened.
"Yes."
Luca looked nervous now.
"Okay that reaction means we're in serious trouble."
Elara's voice was tense.
"Adrian… who is it?"
Adrian stared at the screen.
A ghost from the past.
A person who should never have been able to access Olympus again.
He finally spoke.
"My brother."
The words hit the room like a shockwave.
Elara blinked.
"You told me you didn't have family."
Adrian's voice turned colder than she had ever heard it.
"I didn't."
"Until tonight."
Luca leaned back slowly.
"Well…"
"That just made things a lot worse."
On the screen, the remote server connection stabilized.
Whoever was there wasn't just watching.
They were entering the system.
Adrian's voice dropped to a dangerous whisper.
"Lock the network."
Luca typed quickly.
"Trying."
The screen flickered again.
Then a message appeared across every monitor in the room.
A single line of text.
Hello, Ares.
Adrian's jaw tightened.
The past he buried five years ago had just found him again.
And this time—
It had come back alive.