Chapter 126: The First Step Toward War
Theo stayed in the hospital room for two more days before he was allowed to move without support.
His strength returned slowly, but the fire inside him ca back instantly.
The mont he could sit up, he asked for updates. He asked about the rescued won. He asked about Aidan’s progress. He asked about Argash’s followers.
And then, when he had a mont alone with Danielle, he asked about her father.
Danielle didn’t hide anything. She never did with him. Her shoulders lifted and fell slowly as she breathed in.
"My father will pretend nothing happened," she finally said. "He will bla Argash. He will deny the decisions he made. He will try to make the country pity him."
Theo watched her, his eyes soft but anchored in sothing stronger than pain.
"He kept us in that place...He chose power over his own child. And now he has to face what is coming."
Theo nodded. He knew. He had seen enough of Zack to recognise the pattern in another man too.
But he also knew that fighting a leader was never simple. Danielle carried that pressure in her posture and in the way her voice trembled even when she tried to control it.
Aidan entered the room later with docunts and a tablet. He had been working quietly and without rest, trying to gather every piece of evidence...
Danielle listened as he explained the next steps, the risk, the strategy, the political ss ahead. But sothing inside her stayed strangely calm. For the first ti in years, she knew what she wanted and what she had to do.
She wanted her father to answer for everything. And she wanted Theo safe beside her while they did it.
Theo was observing her as Aidan spoke, studying her face, noticing how her expression changed every ti her father’s na ca up.
His bunny was ready to confront, even if her voice wavered or her hands shook. She had made up her mind, and Theo knew that nothing would change it.
But one thing still bothered him.
The won who were rescued from the cult were placed in a special ward. So of them still struggled to speak. So still whispered prayers to a god who never existed. So clung to Aidan’s team as if freedom was sothing that could be taken away again if they blinked.
Danielle visited them every evening, smiling even when her smile was tired, speaking even when her voice hurt from too much talking.
It was on the seventh night, after Aidan left them with more files and warnings, that Theo finally managed to stand up from the bed without help.
Danielle looked at him in alarm and moved forward to stabilise him, but Theo lifted a hand.
"I am alright. I need to talk to you."
The tone made her stop.
Theo approached her slowly, every step seed full of pain but also full of purpose.
When he reached her, he rested one hand on the edge of the window fra to keep himself steady.
She reached out instinctively, placing both hands on his waist to support him, because she still rembered how he had looked on that mountain floor, how pale he was, how close he had co to losing consciousness forever.
Theo let out a breath and looked straight into her eyes.
"You want to take down your father," he stated. "And you should. He deserves everything that is coming. But you cannot do this alone."
"I know," Danielle glanced through the window.
Theo shook his head slightly. "You know it in your mind. But I need you to know it in your heart too."
She frowned softly, confused by the sudden shift in tone.
He reached for her hands, lacing his fingers with hers.
"You are not fighting this war alone," Theo said. "And I am not standing behind you. I am standing beside you."
Her breath hitched. She felt warmth rise in her chest, a warmth that felt heavier than pain and sharper than hope.
Theo continued. "We are connected now. We went through hell together. You stayed beside when I could not even open my eyes. And when I thought I had lost you, I think sothing inside broke completely."
"Theo..." She tried to speak, but emotion pulled at her throat.
He held her hands tighter.
"I am going to help you destroy everything your father built," he said. "Every lie, every secret, every cri he tried to bury. But after all of that... I need you to know sothing."
Danielle felt her pulse rise so fast she almost stepped back.
Theo took a breath, stronger and sure.
"I still want to marry you."
Her eyes widened as her mouth opened.
He didn’t smile or laugh. Theo was serious, painfully serious, as if the words were a vow spoken before anything sacred.
"I wanted it before everything fell apart," he said. "I wanted it when I thought you were gone. I want it even more now. I am not saying this because of what we survived. I am saying it because I know who you are. And I know that I want you beside for the rest of my life."
The room went silent. Even the machines seed to pause, letting the weight of his confession settle into the air.
Danielle stared at him, her lips parted but unable to form a single word. Tears gathered in her eyes before she even realised they were there.
Not because she felt weak but because sothing inside her felt like it had finally been seen, truly seen.
Theo moved one hand from hers and lifted it to her cheek, brushing away a tear.
"I want you."
She leaned into his touch without thinking, her breath couldn’t stop shaking against his palm.
And then Danielle slowly lowered her forehead to his chest.
Theo wrapped his arms around her, holding her with a gentleness she rarely experienced.
When Danielle finally found her voice again, it was small and cracked.
"We can’t think about marriage yet," she whispered.
Theo nodded. "I know."
"But..." she continued, taking a slow breath, "do not stop wanting it."
His heartbeat picked up. He lowered his head until his forehead rested against her hair.
"I never will," he said.
Danielle felt chosen.
Not by a father who used power like a leash or by a cult who used her na like a curse.
But by soone who finally saw the real her and stayed.
Their war had only begun.
But they would face it together...
How heartbreaking and absurd it was that children had to kill their own parents just to secure a future that was promised to be better...
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