Chapter 206

Lucian's POV They were there again—hovering just beyond my reach in that foggy realm between consciousness and sleep. My parents. Not the cold-blooded business tycoons who raised me, but my true parents—their faces always slightly blurred, like looking through rain-streaked glass. "We trusted them," my mother's voice whispered, as it always did in these recurring dreams. "And they destroyed us." My father's hand reached toward me, fingers never quite making contact. "The truth is buried in the ashes, son. Find it." I jerked awake, my silk sheets damp with sweat, heart hammering against my ribcage like it wanted to escape. "I will make this right," I whispered to the empty penthouse bedroom. "I swear it." Sleep was pointless now. I threw back the covers and padded to the floor-to-ceiling windows that showcased the city sprawled below. My city. The empire I'd built from nothing after clawing my way up from the ashes of my true family's destruction. Celestial Gems hadn't become the jewelr