Broken Code. Part 1. English Edition

“And what was your knight doing in your dream?” she asked, her voice raspy.

“He was just looking at me,” Mira answered softly, a shadow of pity slipping across her face. “And he also said that you’re going to mess everything up again.”

Eva snapped upright, feeling an invisible string inside her pull tighter and tighter.

“What?”

“Don’t be angry,” Mira repeated, just as calmly. “He’s real.”

A ringing silence filled the room.

“And he said he’s coming soon.”

A second hung frozen in time. Eva spun sharply away, escaping her daughter’s unbearable gaze.

“Enough,” Eva said coldly, straining to keep her voice from betraying her panic. “No more stories. I don’t have time to listen to this nonsense.”

Attempting to distract herself and regain control over the familiar domestic routine, she pulled the handle and opened the refrigerator. And instantly froze, forgetting how to breathe.

Sitting alone on the empty middle shelf was an apple.

Glossy, vibrant red. Far too perfect, as if plucked from a picture or a mockingly precise illustration. Eva couldn’t move. A single, frantic thought hammered in her head: she definitely hadn’t bought any apples. In fact, there hadn’t been a single one in this house for years.

Her fingers went numb. Slowly, gingerly, as if afraid of disturbing a coiled snake, Eva closed the refrigerator door.

“Mom...” Mira’s voice came from behind, quiet and insidious.

Eva remained standing face-to-face with the fridge, unable to turn around.

“What?”

“You can’t stand apples, right?”

“I don’t like them,” Eva breathed out, barely audible.

A heavy, suffocating silence flooded the room.

And in that silence, a memory suddenly surfaced from the depths of her mind. It struck with such crushing force that her vision momentarily went dark, and Eva had to clutch frantically at the edge of the table just to keep from falling.

***

A white light flashed before her eyes. Too bright, almost sterile.

A sharp scream.

No, it wasn't her screaming—it was the cry of Mira. A small, tiny Mira. She was barely a year old.

Eva clutches her frantically, feeling her own hands tremble uncontrollably.

“She’s choking!” someone’s unfamiliar, unnaturally sharp voice explodes in her ears…

The baby gasps, coughs, turning blue. Her face first flushes with a deep crimson, then pales rapidly, terrifyingly.

That cursed piece of apple.

“How could I have looked away?.. My God, how could I?..”

“Breathe, my little one, breathe...” Eva frantic whispers, no longer knowing who the words are meant for—her suffocating daughter, or herself, frozen in horror.

The memories shift into jagged, fragmented frames: a wailing siren, the flashing lights of the ambulance, strangers bursting into the house. Someone roughly yet decisively tears the limp Mira from her numb arms.

“We’ll do everything we can,” the doctor throws over his shoulder, but there isn’t a drop of confidence in his drained, colorless voice.

And the final scene. The hospital corridor.

Deafeningly cold.

Her hands are empty. Terrifyingly light.

And it was right then, for the very first time in her life... that she realized she was entirely out of control. She couldn’t control her perfect logical chains. Nor the obedient numbers. Nor the time slipping through her fingers.

“We’re losing her,” a muted, unfamiliar voice drifts in from somewhere far away.

The words cut brutally to the quick.

Eva unconsciously takes a step back, her spine pressing against the cold hospital wall.

And suddenly...

“Please...” a barely audible whisper slips from her lips. She speaks with zero control over herself. “Please, just let her live...”

Eva doesn’t know who she is appealing to. She is rational to her core; she has never believed in anything. Not in God, not in fate, not in miracles. But in this horrific moment... she was praying. Fervently, desperately.

“I’ll do anything... Do you hear me? Anything, just let her breathe...”

Tears stream down her cheeks in an unbroken flow, but she doesn’t feel them.

Viscous seconds stretch into eternity. Her entire familiar world swiftly crumbles around her and ceases to exist, leaving her in absolute emptiness.

And suddenly...

A raspy, racked cough.

Sharp. Piercing. Alive.

Mira!

One of the doctors spins toward her, extreme astonishment frozen on his face.

“She spit out the piece of apple!”

He pauses for a second, as if unable to believe it himself, and then blurt out:

“She’s breathing... She’s stable.”

Eva stands there, stunned by the news, and it takes her a long moment to process that the worst is over.

***

Eva snapped her eyes open, as if surfacing from icy water.

The kitchen. Familiar walls. The same oppressive silence.

Her fingers were still clutching the edge of the table frantically, her white knuckles aching. Forcing herself to relax with great effort, she breathed out slowly, whistling through her teeth.

“Mom...” a quiet voice broke the silence. Mira looked at her intently, with a piercing insight far beyond her years. “Are you thinking about that again?”

Eva clenched her teeth to the point of pain, feeling everything inside her turn to stone.

“No.”

It was a lie. A pathetic, transparent lie.

She didn’t despise apples because of their taste.

It was because back then, in that cold hospital room... she had broken for the very first time in her life. She had betrayed her own pragmatism and done what she had never genuinely believed in—she had prayed for mercy. And ever since that day, she had been desperately, furiously trying to erase that moment of weakness from her memory.

“He knows that, too,” Mira dropped softly, almost cooing.

Eva turned toward her daughter slowly, as though pushing through thick, resisting air. Her throat was bone-dry.

“Who?”

Mira looked her dead in the eye and offered a faint, barely perceptible smile with just the corners of her lips.

“Daddy...”

Chapter 3

The laptop screen cast a soft glow in the dim room.

Eva mechanically scrolled through the news that had flooded the internet over the past three days.

“Mass electronic clock failure reported across several countries.”

“North district residents report a strange humming in the sky.”

“Scientists baffled by sudden shift in migratory bird patterns.”

Eva let out a quiet scoff and scrolled past.

“Good Lord... people get worked up over nothing,” she muttered under her breath.

The next article made her pause.

“Thousands of people claim to have shared the exact same dream.”

Eva rolled her eyes in annoyance and was about to close the laptop when an email popped up in her inbox: “We have reviewed your profile...”

She automatically scrolled down.

VESPER Corporation — one of the most secretive and influential giants in cybersecurity. Whispers had trailed the company for years. People claimed its systems were unhackable. And that no one truly knew what they actually did behind closed doors.

Eva frowned.

“Strange...”

She had never sent them a resume.

And yet, the email felt unnervingly... precise. Too personal...

At the bottom was an address.

And a signature.

L.

Her fingers froze over the keyboard for a second.

Something inside her shifted.

Not fear.

More like... recognition.

Logic.

Facts.

Sequence.

Pattern.

An apple.

What a strange letter...

“Nonsense,” she said softly.

And at that exact moment...

“Agreed. But you always start with that word.”

Eva whipped around.

He was standing by the window. As if he had been there all along.

Calm.

Slightly ironic.

An absolute stranger.

And yet — somehow not...

The dim evening light brushed against his face, highlighting his sharp features and slightly tousled dark hair. The sleeves of his black shirt were carelessly rolled up to his elbows, top buttons undone — as though he always felt suffocated around other people. There was something dangerous in his eyes; not an outright threat, but the quiet confidence of a man accustomed to having total control.

“You...?” She sprang to her feet, frantically scanning the room for something heavy.

For nearly eight years, she had managed to hide artfully, concealing Mira’s very existence.

Of course, she had once envisioned their eventual reunion — random, fleeting, vague... But never here, in her own kitchen.

“How did you end up here? How did you find us... me? How did you even get in?”

“Good Lord, so many questions, Eva!” He smirked condescendingly. “Easily. I wasn’t searching for you. I walked right through the door, like any normal person.”

Eva clenched her fists tightly.

“I didn’t hear...”

“You don't hear a lot of things, Eva.”

A heavy silence fell between them.

He slowly looked around the kitchen, his gaze lingering on the table before locking onto her.

“Still obsessed with control and order?”

“Get out,” she hissed through gritted teeth.

“How are you two doing?” he asked impassively.

“Using formal address now?” Eva tried to bite back, but her voice treacherously quavered.

The man turned his gaze toward the room where Mira was peacefully sleeping.

“By 'you two', I mean you and our daughter.”

The air in the room seemed to grow thick.

“You have nothing to do with her!” Eva snapped.

He let out a low chuckle.

“Is that so?”

He took a step forward.

Eva felt rage surging inside her.

“I want nothing to do with you. I forgot all about you long ago.”

“That’s only temporary.”

A pause...

“You never remember anything.”

Eva took a decisive step toward him.

“If you don’t explain what’s going on right now, I’m calling the police.”

He chuckled softly in response.

“Try it.”

She grabbed her phone. The screen lit up on command. No Service. Eva froze.

“Are you serious...?” she exhaled, exhausted.

He paced impatiently across the kitchen, stopping by the table. Suddenly, he reached out and picked up an apple. That very apple.

Eva instantly tensed up.

“Don’t touch it.”

He shifted his gaze to her.

“Still?”

“Put it down.”

He slowly rolled the apple between his fingers, a subtle, suggestive smile playing on his lips.

“Do you remember how it all started?”

Eva replied in an icy tone:

“No. But I remember perfectly how it ended.”

“Oh, really? And did you manage to forget the 'HEAVEN' club too?”

The word struck like a blow. Something inside her snapped.

***

The cheerful, former Eva laughs out loud. Him. Only very young. And without that bitter, tired irony in his eyes.

“Where are we going?” she asks through her laughter.

“To heaven,” he nods toward the glowing sign. “HEAVEN”

“Seriously?” Eva jokingly rolls her eyes. “Where do you get all this drama?”

“All for your sake.”

***

The past crumbled. Eva was abruptly pulled back to reality. Her breath hitched.

“No...” She took a step back. “All of this was a mistake.”

“You always say that,” he replied softly, his voice low. A long pause stretched between them. “When you don't want to face the truth.” He looked straight at her.

“Who the hell do you think you are, showing up here after all these years and...”

He didn’t let her finish:

“The one who would follow you to the ends of the earth...”

Everything inside Eva twisted in painful agony. And this was coming from the man who hadn’t even bothered to properly explain why he had dumped her so cold-heartedly. Who had walked away on the very day she — confused, yet so deliriously happy — was rushing to him to share the news of her pregnancy. The news she never got to speak out loud. She had loved him so madly, trusted him blindly. A man who, she thought, would move mountains for her... How cruelly mistaken she had been.

And now he had the audacity to talk about following her to the ends of the earth?!

“You? Follow me?” Eva scoffed bitterly.

“I know you don’t believe me right now,” he replied calmly. “But you will. Mark my words.”

“No, mark my words: I will never believe you again. Not even if the Almighty Himself comes down to Earth and tells me so,” she said with icy irony, having long given up on believing in any higher power.

He merely chuckled in response.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Eva. He surely has far more important things to do than descend from heaven just to clear my name.”

The room sank into an oppressive silence once more. The air grew almost palpably heavy.

“I knew about her.”

“What...?” Eva gasped sharply.

“Always,” he answered evenly.

Silence settled over them.

“And you did nothing? Nothing at all?!”

He slowly turned his gaze to her.

“I was waiting.”

“For what?!”

“For you to start destroying everything again.”

A pause...

“As usual, really.”

Eva closed the distance between them, stepping right up to him.

“Me? Destroying things? Are you seriously trying to pin your own sins on me?! Don’t you dare talk to me as if you know me.”

“I know you better than you know yourself.”

“The naive, trusting girl you used to know no longer exists. I don’t believe in people... and I don’t believe in God,” she added, barely audible.

“Sometimes you still do. I know how desperately you prayed...”

“Shut up! I never pray.”

“At the hospital,” he continued ruthlessly. “When you were going out of your mind with fear of losing her.”

“Shut up!!!”

He went silent. The mockery vanished from his face in an instant — for the first time that evening, he became terrifyingly serious.

“You see?” he said softly. “You just don't want to remember.”

The silence returned. Heavy, tangible, pressing down on their shoulders.

“Eva, you’re going to destroy everything again.”

A pause...

“But this time...”

His eyes flicked back toward the room where Mira was sleeping.

“...I won’t let you ruin it.”

At that exact moment, the phone in Adam’s pocket rang demanding.

“Excuse me, I need to take this,” he tossed to Eva, immediately answering the call. “Yeah, I’m busy. Call me back later.”

“Wait, Adam...” a voice came through the receiver, stern yet surprisingly friendly. “What on earth are you doing? You shouldn't be there.”

“Actually, I didn’t have a choice. He's crossing all lines now.”

“Just make sure you don't cross the line yourself, remember?”

Adam let out a bitter smile.

“Are those your own words, or did Father dictate what to say? Fine, we’ll talk later, I’m busy,” he muttered, quickly hanging up.

“Yeah, we all know just how 'busy' you are,” the man on the other end scoffed inwardly, staring at the darkened screen.

Eva froze, unable to move... “What is this lunatic even talking about? How could I have fallen in love so blindly to choose a complete psycho as the father of my child...?”

“Get out.”

He gave a sharp nod.

“On my way.”

Turning on his heel, Adam headed for the exit.

But right at the door, he stopped.

Without turning around, he said softly:

“And one more thing... What happened back then wasn't entirely your fault.”

Eva frowned.

“What?”

He turned his head ever so slightly back toward her.

“After all, we didn't get kicked out of 'HEAVEN' because of you.”

The door shut. A dead silence fell over the room once more.

A second passed. And in that very instant, something inside her flipped like an invisible switch. It wasn't just a thought, nor a mere flash of memory. It was something far greater.

***

Music. Deafening, heavy. It vibrates through the air and pounds right against her chest. Blinding lights unmercifully sting her eyes. Someone’s laughter... And right in the middle of all this madness — Eva. Completely different. Real, vibrant, loud, and utterly free. She throws her head back, laughing unrestrainedly.

“Are you seriously telling me you brought me here?” she shouts, trying to drown out the noise.

He’s standing right beside her.

“Why, doesn't it look like heaven to you?”

She rolls her eyes.

“If this is heaven, I’ve got a few questions about the values around here.”

He smirks, looking at her with undisguised admiration.

“You doubt everything, Eva.”

“And you’re always way too confident.”

“Only about one thing — the fact that I'm head over heels in love with you.”

She threw her head back and burst into genuine laughter.

“Not the best place you could’ve picked for a first confession!”

That night, they danced endlessly. Kissed far too much. And drank an unbelievable number of cocktails.

Eva dances, getting tipsier by the minute... Free, with zero regard for rules... Abandoning her usual need for control. Her movements feel dangerously provocative and bold.

“Easy there, sweetheart, everyone’s watching you,” he whispers into her ear with a soft smile.

“Good!” she laughs back. “Everyone behaves like this here!”

“Alright, alright... Maybe I should take you home? I think someone’s had a bit too much to drink.”

“No way! I finished my freshman year today, and with straight A’s, I’ll have you know! Doesn’t a diligent student have the right to be a bad girl just once? Tonight I can do anything: dance, drink, live for the thrill, and dance some more!”

Eva revelled in her own irresistible charm. Or rather, it was the alcohol feeding her thoughts of complete superiority and absolute freedom. Without breaking her rhythm amidst the surging crowd, Eva daringly undone the top couple of buttons on her blouse. Right at that moment, Adam was distracted — staring down at his phone screen, trying to hail a ride through an app.

“Hey...” came a voice right beside her.

It was a stranger.

A guy. His whole vibe radiated a cockiness bordering on downright arrogance.

“Are you here alone?”

Eva let out a drunken laugh.

“Hoping I am?”

Instead of answering, he just smirked and took a step toward her. Too fast, invading her space completely.

“I just thought you looked... available.”

“You thought wrong,” she cut him off sharply, though the smile hadn't entirely left her face yet.

That didn't stop the stranger. The surrounding music seemed to crank up even louder, ringing in her ears. The guy casually dropped a hand onto her waist, but Eva immediately slapped it away.

“Don't touch me.”

“Oh, come on, relax,” he scoffed. “You're the one who...”

He didn't get to finish. A powerful hand gripped his shoulder like a vise and yanked him back forcefully.

“She said no,” Adam said in an icy tone.

The guy just offered a defiant smirk in return:

“And who are you supposed to be? Her husband?”

“Not yet,” Adam replied.

A brief, ominous silence hung in the air.

“But picking this fight was your first mistake.”

Eva stared at Adam in utter shock. Extreme bewilderment was written all over her face.

“Hey, relax, man,” the guy raised his hands placatingly. “I was just...”

He didn't get to finish. A sharp, lightning-fast, and terrifyingly precise punch landed right on his jaw. Without the slightest warning.

The stranger stumbled heavily backward, barely keeping his feet.

The club music kept booming from the speakers, but people around them were already turning, anticipating a spectacle.

“Are you out of your mind?!” Eva cried out in a panic, grabbing Adam's arm to hold him back.

“Quite the opposite,” he replied, as composed as ever. “I just realize faster than most how these conversations usually end.”

The guy wiped the blood streaming from his split lip with the back of his hand. He didn't have time to respond — security guards and his friends had already grabbed him by the arms, quickly pulling him away. But before disappearing into the crowd, he threw a heavy glare at Adam and hissed through a crooked smirk:

“We’ll meet again, pal.”

A pause...

Adam said nothing. He just silently watched the stranger leave — a long, terrifyingly calm gaze.

As if... he was calculating him, measuring him up.

“Security! Over here!” someone in the crowd shouted.

Chaos erupted around them. Rough, relentless hands grabbed both of them without ceremony, pinning them in place.

“Out! Move it!”

“He started it!” Eva tried to stand up for Adam.

But nobody was listening to her. The security guards roughly dragged them toward the doors, and a moment later, the cool night air hit her face. In contrast to the suffocating room, it felt sharp, almost like a slap across the face.

Regaining her senses, Eva yanked her arm free from Adam’s grip with force.

“Are you even sane?!” she gasped indignantly, trying to catch her breath.

“Entirely,” he replied, completely unfazed.

“That was just a ridiculous situation!”

“No,” Adam countered calmly. “It was the beginning.”

Eva froze.

“The beginning of what?”

He looked at her intently, a strange, unfamiliar emotion flickering in his eyes.

“The beginning of everything...”

She let out an involuntary laugh, all her recent anger evaporating in an instant.

“Are you always this dramatic?”

Adam gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.

“Only with you...”

It was at that exact second, it seemed, that she realized once and for all that she was head over heels in love...

***

Eva was left alone with her thoughts.

In absolute, deafening silence.

The untouched apple still lay on the table in front of her.

And along with that silence came a bitter, unmistakable realization: everything she had spent years building, everything she considered her normal life... was beginning to shatter to pieces right now.

Chapter 4

The VESPER building loomed over the city like a giant glass monolith.

Too precise.

Too perfect.

As Eva stepped across the threshold, she was enveloped by a sterile chill. Inside, a subconscious feeling gnawed at her—as though the very space around her was... watching her intently.

"They're expecting you," the receptionist said warmly, her face set in a picture-perfect smile.

Of course they are...

The high-speed elevator carried her silently to the top floor.

The doors slid open.

A corridor met her with cold emptiness, save for a single door standing ajar at the far end. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Eva took a step inside.

A stranger stood by the window with his back to her. Far below, the city sprawled like a static, cold, and unyielding circuit board. The height swallowed all street noise—up here, at the summit, the rest of the world felt infinitely distant and unreal. The man wore an immaculate, tailored dark suit without a single wrinkle. Yet neither the expensive fabric nor the soft, matte lighting of the office could conceal the intimidating, monumental presence radiating from him.

He turned around slowly.

Sharp cheekbones, a predatory jawline, and hair as dark as anthracite. His deep, almost pitch-black eyes locked onto Eva. For a fraction of a second, she felt as if he were looking right through her—peering into the hidden depths of her soul where no one had ever dared to look before.

And at that exact moment, the steady pulse of time seemed to... stumble.

"I’ve been waiting for you," he said softly.

That voice.

Calm.

Velvety. Deep.

And... terrifyingly familiar.

Eva froze, barely remembering to breathe.

Her heart thudded heavily against her ribs. She was positive that she had never met this man before, yet something in his cadence rang a bell—striking a chord so deeply it sent a shiver through her.

"You invited me here for a job?" she asked, striving to keep her voice from trembling.

"I’ve heard a great deal about you," Lucian offered with a subtle nod. "We require specialists of your caliber."

He paused, and the air in the room shifted instantly—turning more businesslike, yet no less charged.

"So, as your qualifications are beyond question, let’s get straight to the point. Try to find a vulnerability in my system," he said. There was an unmistakable double meaning in his quiet tone.