“Are you serious?”

  Adrian Braun’s voice was calm, but Victoria caught that rare note he seldom let slip. Not judgment, not irritation, but a quiet astonishment.

  She sat across from him in the small conference room of the Advanced Energy Systems Lab, hands on her knees, fingers laced as if anchoring herself.

  “Yes,” she replied evenly, though her insides twisted.

  Between them, on the table, lay her tablet. On its screen, an invitation from IRIS—formal, grand. The damn document listed her name under “Senior Expedition Engineer.”

  “You’re refusing.” Adrian didn’t ask; he echoed her words.

  Victoria exhaled and nodded.

  “Yes.”

  He went silent for a few beats, then looked up at her, brow creasing slightly. She knew that look—scanning, assessing, like an engineer eyeing a malfunctioning machine.

  “Why?”

  She didn’t answer right away.

  “I…” She faltered, realizing how absurd it sounded against everything she’d fought for. “I can’t.”

  “Can’t? Or won’t?”

  “I won’t.” She said it clearly, firm, as if convincing not just him but herself.

  Adrian picked up the tablet, scrolled through the invitation like he couldn’t believe she needed it spelled out.

  “Vic, this is the biggest mission of our time. You get that, right? This’ll go down in history. The discoveries we make out there will flip natural science on its head. New systems, new materials, new energies… This is what you’ve always wanted.”

  She met his eyes, and there was something like pain in hers.

  “I know.”

  “Then why?”

  She exhaled sharply and looked away.

  “Darina.”

  Adrian didn’t respond immediately. For a moment, he just watched her, then slowly set the tablet back down.

  “She’s off on a mission,” Victoria went on, words catching in her throat. “No one’s saying how bad it is. But I know it’s bad. I know they’re heading into a hot zone, and I… I can’t leave while she’s out there.”

  “Vic,” he said softly, “I get it.”

  “No, you don’t!” she flared, though there was no anger, just desperation. “You haven’t lived in her world! You don’t know what it’s like to watch someone you…” She cut it off, then forced it out. “Someone you love walks away, not knowing if they’ll come back.”

  Adrian held her gaze.

  “But you know she chose that path.”

  “Yes,” her lips trembled, “and I chose mine.”

  “Did you?” He leaned forward slightly. “Are you sure this is your life?”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  She didn’t answer.

  “You’re passing on the flight, but what’s next? Sitting here, waiting? Checking frontline updates every morning? Worrying so much you can’t work?”

  She looked away, but he pressed on.

  “And what if she heads out again in a year? You’ll stay again? And then again after that?”

  She didn’t want to hear this.

  “Vic,” his voice softened, “you can’t keep her here. Just like she can’t keep you.”

  “I’m not trying to.”

  “But you’re giving up yourself for her.”

  Adrian leaned back and sighed.

  “I’m not judging you. I just need you to see the fallout. This expedition isn’t just another gig. It’s a dive into the unknown. We could uncover something that redefines how we see the universe. It’s what generations of scientists—including your dad—worked toward.”

  “This has nothing to do with my father.”

  “Doesn’t it?” His gaze was gentle but piercing. “You’ve got his mind, his drive. You were born for this.”

  She looked away.

  “I don’t want anyone telling me what I was born to be.”

  Adrian nodded.

  “Then tell me yourself. Are you staying because you chose it? Or because you’re scared?”

  Victoria froze.

  He went on.

  “Scared she might not make it. Scared that if you go and she dies, you’ll never forgive yourself.”

  Her fingers curled into a fist.

  “Vic, you know that’s it.”

  She wanted to argue. Wanted to say he didn’t get it, that it wasn’t that simple. But she stayed silent.

  “Here’s the thing,” Adrian’s voice was steady, almost warm. “What would Darina say if she knew you turned this down for her?”

  Silence.

  Victoria flashed to her voice, her smirk.

  “You’re not ditching me in this hole, right?”

  How would she react?

  She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

  Adrian waited, giving her space to wrestle with it. His silence pressed harder than words.

  “Alright,” he said finally. “If you want to think you’re staying for Darina, that’s your call. But you know what I think?”

  She met his eyes, wary, cold.

  “I think you’re not so different from your mom.”

  Silence.

  His words hit like a slap.

  Victoria exhaled slowly, but there was no calm, no acceptance—just icy anger.

  “What?”

  Adrian crossed his arms, his tone still even, almost sympathetic.

  “Your mom made her choice too, remember? She left because she thought something bigger was out there. Left you and your dad because she had… other priorities.”

  “Don’t you dare.” Victoria shot up from her chair.

  He didn’t flinch.

  “You’re doing the same, just reversed. She chased her dream, cutting ties with reality. You’re clinging to reality, ditching your dream because you’re terrified of losing someone.”

  Blood pounded in her temples.

  “You’ve got no right to talk about her.”

  “You do, though, don’t you?” Adrian leaned forward, voice dropping. “Or are you just dodging the truth?”

  She clenched her jaw, fists trembling.

  “She abandoned us. Abandoned Dad when he was at his peak. Abandoned me because I didn’t fit her damn fantasy.”

  She sucked in a breath, fury boiling hotter.

  “You think she wanted me to build reactors? No. She wanted me smiling on magazine covers, posing for cameras. She wanted to sell my life before I was even born!”

  Adrian watched her flare, silent.

  “I was a project to her, got it? She engineered me from the embryo up—my looks, my voice, how every outfit would fit! And you’re saying I’m like her?”

  Her chest heaved heavily.

  “Vic…” His voice softened.

  “No, don’t. Dad’s dead, and she’s as dead to me as he is. Don’t drag them into this.”

  They faced off, tension crackling, but the anger faded into exhaustion.

  “You’re mad because I’m right,” he said.

  “I’m mad because you crossed a line.”

  They locked eyes a few seconds more before Victoria spun toward the door.

  “You should go,” he called after her. “This isn’t just a shot—it’s what you’ve lived for all these years.”

  She didn’t stop.

  “Think about it.”

  She slammed the door, leaving him alone.