Chapter 1 - The Glass Horizon The dining room sat sixty stories above Manhattan, wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass that turned the Empire State Building into an indifferent bystander. Nia held her fork with steady fingers, though every nerve screamed to bolt. Across the white linen sat Julian and Leo, four years old, their identical dark curls catching the noon light, completely oblivious to the ghost standing at their table.
Luca’s voice had cracked on their age, but his eyes were worse—blown wide, registering the bone structure of his own face replicated twice over. Behind him, Julianna, dripping in champagne-colored silk, took a half-step back, her manicured fingers pressed against her lips as if trapping an accusation.
"Eight months," Luca whispered. The noise of clinking silverware around the dining room seemed to fade into a vacuum. "Nia... you let me walk away."
"You didn't walk away, Luca," Nia replied, her voice smooth and devoid of venom. That was what stung him most: there was no theatrical anger to fight against, only the cool reality of an abandoned room. "You severed ties. You told me our world had run its course. I simply honored your freedom."
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Julian looked between the tall man in the dark green tailored suit and his mother. "Mom? Is this the friend from the old pictures?"
Luca flinched as if struck.
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