Page 481 of Black Reign

His forehead touches mine.

Across the room, Pierre mutters something in Italian at his game.

Then his little voice rises.

“Papa?”

Xavier doesn't move away from me.

“Yes?”

“I broke your firewall.”

I bite my lip.

Xavier closes his eyes.

I whisper, “Baby genius.”

He exhales.

“I'm changing the credentials.”

Pierre calls back:

“I'll find them.”

I start laughing.

Xavier looks toward his desk.

Then down at me.

“We should be worried.”

“Very.”

He kisses me anyway.

And while our child happily dismantles his father's security behind us, I look through the windows toward the field where Papa once taught me the stars were code.

Maybe he was right.

Maybe everything is information.

Patterns.

Signals.

Connections waiting for someone clever enough to understand them.

I spent half my life trying to disappear from the world.

Then I found Ghost.

We built NULL.

We built a life.