Joanne’s fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly her knuckles turned a white against the leather wrapper. The tires hummed an ominous tune against the cracked asphalt of the sector expressway, the city’s neon lights casting flickering shadows across her elegant profile. She tilted her head slightly, her eyes darting away from the road for a brief second to lock onto the young doctor sitting beside her in the dim cabin.

"What exactly do you mean by that, Damian?" Joanne demanded, her voice dropping into a tense whisper that cut straight through the low vibration of the car engine. "Are you saying those horrific accidents weren’t some freak spiritual occurrence? Who could possibly possess the kind of terrifying reach to police a girl’s bedroom from the shadows for years without getting caught by the authorities?"

Damian let out a heavy breath, leaning his head back against the headrest as he watched the rusted, sprawling architecture of the outer slums blur past his window. His expression was tight, completely stripped of its usual calmness, replaced instead by the analytical calculation of a man who had spent four years putting together a puzzle made of blood and secrets.

"Think about the historical data, Joanne," Damian began, his voice carrying an intense, chilling gravity that filled the small space. "If you look back through Jannah’s family background, the first-born daughters of their lineage have always been believed to be cursed in that exact, devastating way. For generations, the rumor mill has claimed that any Alpha who tries to touch them or make them a wife ends up ruined or dead. But if these women are biologically capable of producing a legendary Enigma child—the ultimate sovereign being that can dominate all other ranks—then it means a curse is just a convenient cover story. It means there is a hidden number of powerful, dangerous people who already know the secret of her bloodline, and they end up wanting to own them. To keep the prize pure and available, they will ruthlessly eliminate anyone who dares to get close."

Damian turned his body slightly in the leather seat, his eyes flaring with a realization-filled light as he gestured toward the small case resting in Joanne’s lap. "Take my own father, Bellero Boren, as the perfect modern example of this layout. The moment he discovered that Dorrent Grefo had involved himself with Jannah, he didn’t hesitate for a single second. He was willing to eliminate your billionaire boyfriend from the picture. Why? Because Dorrent was getting dangerously close to claiming the prize. My father was simply acting as the hidden executioner, preserving Jannah for his bloodline."

He leaned closer to the center console, his tone dropping into a flat, freezing whisper. "If my father is doing it right now, who is to say someone else wasn’t doing the exact same thing years ago? The secret of Jannah’s biology is likely known by a lot more people than we think know about her. The previous five dominant Alphas who tried to claim her over the last few years didn’t meet their drastic ends because of some magical, mystical omen. They were targeted, systematically hunted, and slaughtered by invisible forces who wanted to keep her womb empty until they were ready to strike. It wasn’t a curse, Joanne. It was the brutal reality of her biology being wanted by monsters."

A shudder rippled down Joanne’s spine, the smooth fabric of her dress suddenly feeling like a tight restriction against her skin. The scope of the danger surrounding the simple herbalist was expanding right before her eyes, shifting Jannah from a mere domestic nuisance into a highly explosive focal point of a shadow war.

"If that is truly the case... then it makes sense," Joanne said, her voice trembling slightly as she processed the horrific logic. She glanced at Damian, her brow furrowing into a deep line of intense concern. "But if that data is accurate, Damian, then it means you might be in serious, fatal trouble too. The moment you step into that mansion and become the doctor in charge of her healing process, you are putting a massive target directly on your own back. You should watch your back very carefully, because whoever harmed those previous five Alphas might still be watching her from the dark."

Joanne’s jaw clenched tightly, her eyes swamping with a sudden, venomous hatred as her thoughts anchored back onto her unyielding boyfriend. "This is exactly what I was terrified of. That pathetic slum girl is going to bring ruin and destruction to Dorrent’s life. Honestly, she already has! He almost took a high-caliber bullet to the skull. I need to do my best to separate them much sooner than we planned, before her toxic baggage completely burns his world to the ground."

Damian’s expression hardened into a grim mask, his fingers clenching into tight fists against his knees. The legacy of the Boren bloodline~the dominant Alpha genes he had tried so hard to suppress behind a medical coat~began to boil to the surface of his skin. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Let them come," Damian growled, his voice carrying a dark, dangerous rasp that sounded exactly like his father’s chilling tone. "If the worst comes to it and I find myself being hunted by those invisible factions, I will have to use my father’s most ruthless, bloody means to defend my position, even if I loathe his violent methods very much. I have spent my whole life trying to be a healer, a savior of people... but I am still a Boren. At the end of the day, I at least have to stay alive by any means necessary if I want to successfully get the girl first and secure her womb for myself. I will paint the streets red before I let another man take her if remaining cool won’t work."

Joanne let out a low, breathy sigh, a dark, bitter smirk touching her beautiful lips as she guided the luxury sedan through the iron gates of the grand, towering silhouette of the Grefo mansion finally pulling into view at the end of the long road. She stared up at the massive, dark windows of the estate, her mind replaying the image of the pale, quiet herbalist who had managed to turn the entire city upside down without lifting a single finger.

"It’s almost funny," Joanne whispered, her words hanging in the quiet cabin like a final, chilling note of a tragedy. "That girl looks so innocent, so fragile and helpless... that nobody on this earth would ever know she is a walking disaster at all..."