NRX-889
Valeria
Even before I open my eyes, I know he’s there.
His warmth surrounds me. His breath brushes through my hair, slow and steady—but something tells me he isn’t asleep.
I open my eyes.
Dante is watching me. Not like a man in love. Like someone making sure I’m still here.
And suddenly, I understand what my death did to him.
Until now, I’d been too focused on Bianca, on their wedding, on the place she occupied in his life to see the other side of the story.
What my disappearance had done to him.
The man lying beside me isn’t whole.
He’s someone who survived losing half of himself and somehow learned to keep breathing despite the emptiness.
I wish I knew how to heal his wounds and mine.
But where would I even begin?
Then an intrusive thought slips in.
He found someone to comfort him.
A stab of jealousy cuts through me despite myself.
He shared his life with her. His daily life.
Does part of him miss her?
“What’s going on in that pretty little head?” he asks softly. “I don’t like that look in your eyes.”
I try to deflect.
“What look?”
“Doubt.”
I lower my eyes.
Do I really want to open that door right now? When we have less than an hour before we need to leave?
“I’m still having trouble realizing you’re here.”
His expression softens.
“Don’t think I missed that pathetic attempt to change the subject.”
The corner of his mouth lifts slightly.
“We’ll talk about it tonight.”
A faint smile slips from me. I missed the way he sees straight through me.
The silence between us feels easy. We simply look at each other. For all the days stolen from us. For every moment we believed this one would never exist again.
His hand rises to my cheek, stroking it with the back of his fingers.
My eyes close for a second.
His gaze drifts briefly to my mouth before he forces himself to look away.
Despite the intimacy of the night, we still don’t kiss.
I’m not ready. And he doesn’t ask.
*
We barely speak during breakfast.
I make the coffee while he handles the toast. Our bodies brush now and then, and every contact leaves me shaky and wanting more.
Sometimes our eyes meet and we can’t help smiling.
It’s crazy how the simplest things regain value once you’ve believed you lost them forever.
Sometimes he simply takes my hand to press a kiss against it.
Sometimes the desire becomes too strong, too immediate, and suddenly awkward and flustered, we put physical distance back between us.
Stephen arrives around eight.
His gaze moves from Dante to me with obvious amusement.
The smirk on his face tells me immediately that he’s in an unbearable mood.
He opens the car door for me with an exaggerated bow.
“Ms. Ivanov.”
He deliberately emphasizes the name.
Dante smiles without even trying to hide it.
“Remind me to give you a raise.”
“I’d rather have a bonus,” Stephen shoots back without missing a beat.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Mara arrives just then to act as his driver. After a brief exchange, we climb into our respective cars and head to the office by different routes.
The drive is uneventful, although Stephen seems even more vigilant than usual.
*
When the elevator doors open onto my floor, I head straight for my office.
Louane opens her door at the exact same moment.
“Good morning. Do you have five minutes for a coffee?”
“No coffee. No thanks. I’ve had enough for one day. But if you have hot chocolate, I might make an exception.”
Her face lights up.
A few minutes later, after a stop in the break room, we settle into her office with our hot drinks.
“I owe you an apology for the way I welcomed you the other day,” she says bluntly. “You have enough problems without me adding my distrust to the pile. Serious things are happening here. We have no interest in wasting energy on a pointless turf war.”
I nearly choke on my drink.
“What makes you say that?”
An amused smile brushes her lips.
“Your disappearance for two years. Your mysterious return. Two cyberattacks. A molecule someone tried to steal. Trackers. Files stripped of their contents. An emergency meeting where no concrete action was taken.”
She tilts her head slightly.
“Do you really want me to keep going?”
“No, that won’t be necessary.”
Her expression turns more serious.
“I’m a chemist too. I know that a revolutionary treatment is always a double-edged sword.”
She gestures vaguely toward the laboratories beyond the glass wall.
“What heals can also kill. And whatever you’re protecting is clearly valuable enough that some people are willing to commit crimes to get their hands on it.”
A chill runs through me.
For a second, I wonder if the second mole is standing right in front of me.
Then I remember the men’s shoes.
Louane watches my silence without taking offense.
“I’m not trying to uncover your secrets,” she adds more gently. “But if you need help... I’m here.”
The simplicity of the offer catches me off guard.
Then again, Bianca had seemed concerned too.
I study her for a little too long, searching for an inconsistency. A hesitation. Anything that might betray a lie.
I find nothing.
Which proves absolutely nothing.
But I need allies.
And maybe learning to trust people again is one of the things I need to relearn.
“What’s on your schedule today?”
“Reports. Testing. Administrative work. Nothing urgent.”
I make my decision before I can change my mind.
“Then come with me.”
*
The air inside the lab is colder than the rest of the building.
A faint scent of ethanol and sterile plastic lingers in the room.
The LED panels cast a clinical white light that erases every shadow.
Everything is perfectly organized.
Black lab benches.
Control screens.
Racks filled with transparent microtubes.
The constant hum of the ventilation hoods.
I pull two new lab coats from the cabinet.
The familiarity of these gestures feels strange.
Like rediscovering part of myself.
We slip on gloves while Louane disinfects the workstation.
At the back of the lab, behind a secured glass partition, the cryogenic unit glows with pale blue light.
I press my eye against the biometric scanner.
The lock releases with a dull click.
A wave of cold air escapes as I open the compartment.
My eyes move across the storage racks.
Dozens of perfectly labeled samples.
But only one draws my attention instantly.
NRX-889.
Hundreds of chemical reactions.
Countless failures.
And finally...
The beginning of a result.
I carefully remove the sample before returning to the workstation.
“This is what they’re after.”
Louane studies the transparent vial while I explain.
“In some patients, NRX-889 reactivates neural regions considered permanently lost.”
Her gaze snaps back to mine.
“Strokes. Brain trauma. Early-stage neurodegenerative diseases...”
I see the exact moment she understands.
“Patients who could no longer speak started communicating again. Some regained lost motor functions.”
Genuine shock flashes across her face.
“My God... Now I understand why people are willing to kill for this molecule.”
I nod.
“But it isn’t ready. In its current form, the formula works... but it causes neural overload far too often.”
Louane holds her breath.
“Convulsions. Cerebral hemorrhaging. Neuronal death.”
Silence crashes down between us.
Then she asks quietly,
“What avenues are you exploring to improve it?”
“I’m still thinking.”
I prepare a sample slide and place it beneath the microscope.
The molecular structure gradually appears on the main monitor.
Louane steps closer immediately.
And for the next three hours, the rest of the world disappears.
Bianca. The attacks. The fear. None of it exists anymore.
Only numbers. Hypotheses. Chemical reactions. And that familiar obsession.
Louane proposes modifications.
I dismantle her reasoning.
I offer my own.
She tears those apart in return.
For the first time in two years, I feel like I belong somewhere again.
Alive.
*
I have lunch with Louane in the company cafeteria.
We join several researchers. Former colleagues. A few new faces.
The atmosphere, awkward and tense at first, gradually begins to relax.
Until Bianca stops by our table with the head of marketing.
“Valeria, I see you’re reconnecting with your old colleagues... Did you tell them why you disappeared for two years, or are you leaving them in the dark like the rest of us?”
Ah.
She’s trying to regain control. Her wedding just fell apart, and she still found the energy to come after me here.
Around me, my coworkers shift uneasily in their seats. Louane opens her mouth, ready to step in, but I stop her with a slight shake of my head.
“What do you want, Bianca?”
“How could you do this to your own friends? To your husband? I can’t even understand it.”
I smile at her.
“I’ll admit, you’re very good at this. Tell me, is it a natural talent, or do you rehearse your lines in front of a mirror?”
Her smile falters for a fraction of a second.
“You’re talking nonsense.”
“Really? Then why are you here instead of just walking away? Why come over to my table if your goal wasn’t to make me uncomfortable and humiliate me?”
She shoots a quick glance at the people sitting around me.
Seeing the curiosity in their eyes, she realizes they’re wondering the same thing I am.
Her tactic changes immediately. Her expression turns sorrowful.
“I don’t know what happened to you or why you’re so defensive, but I want you to know I’m here for you. Even if Dante never forgives you, my door will always be open.”
I look at her without answering.
She makes a disappointed face before turning on her heel and walking away.
After lunch, I leave the office for an hour.
Stephen drives me to the criminal investigations division.
Sanders receives us almost immediately.
I hand him the USB drive.
“It contains evidence linking the second cyberattack to Ciphera Corp. It comes from Dante Ivanov. But to preserve certain internal strategies, he’d rather avoid direct contact with you for now.”
Sanders rolls the USB stick between his fingers before lifting his eyes to me.
“I’ll be honest with you. For evidence to hold up in court, chain of custody has to be airtight. How exactly did you obtain this data?”
I explain the digital tracing system and the markers embedded in the files.
He listens in silence.
“In that case, we can add them to the case file, but my experts will verify their traceability.”
Then his gaze sharpens.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I know Andrea Ivanov’s methods.”
“What do you mean?”
A faint smile appears on his face.
“He’s not always particularly concerned with legality. And I know your ex-husband’s reputation too.” His smile widens slightly. “I imagine the Ivanov brothers wouldn’t stop at anything to protect you.”
He leans back in his chair.
“That said... I understand. If someone had tried to kill my wife, I’m not sure I’d follow the rules either.”
Stephen stands perfectly still beside me.
I’m not even sure he’s breathing anymore.
Then I realize my own posture is just as rigid and suspicious as his.
Damn.
He caught us.
A knowing smirk crosses his face before he continues.
“That said, you still haven’t told me why the cyberattacks are connected to the case against Ms. Fabre.”
“That’s because there’s no direct connection. Not yet.”
He raises an eyebrow.
“Because starting today, Aurenza Biotech is officially filing charges against Hector Wald and Ciphera Corp.”