My mother founded a secret spy organization called L.U.M.E.N.N. — Liberate the Unseen, Mobilize the Exploited, and Nurture the Neglected. On the surface, she's just an ordinary housewife. The devoted wife of a powerful chairman, mother of three: Caelus, the current CEO of our family company; Castillo, a psychiatrist with too much emotional baggage; and then there's me — Callista. Just a college student majoring in Computer Science by day… and a skilled hacker by night.
Well, maybe not just a hacker anymore. Not after getting tangled up with Aurelius and the search for Aurora.
My mother built L.U.M.E.N. with a mission: to rescue children from darkness — kids sold by their parents, tossed into orphanages, left begging in the streets — and train them to reclaim their worth. During the day, they live like royalty. A second chance at life, full of dignity and choice. But at night?
That's when the real work begins. Nightmare training. Missions. Intel gathering. Combat and psychological conditioning. By morning, they blend back into society — models, actors, baristas, even tech geniuses. But underneath the glamour? They're shadows trained to protect, uncover, and survive.
Even Caleb's so-called "celebrity" friends belong to this world. They're agents. All of them. Nobodies once. Now they're the people this world bows to — thanks to my mother and my Aunt Vivian, who both saw potential in the broken.
Phelia, Xavier, and Simon — my closest friends — are part of L.U.M.E.N.
Phelia was once a street beggar. She doesn't talk much about her past, but she used to sleep beside a dumpster, pretending that newspaper clippings were bedtime stories. Now? She's an infiltrationspecialist. Trained in disguise, performance, manipulation — you name it. She can slip into any role, any identity, and make it look effortless. It's no wonder she flirts with the entire male population.
Xavier was sold by his father to pay off gambling debts. He barely made it out alive. My mother found him bruised and bleeding, barely breathing. Now? He's a reconexpert. Fast, silent, observant. He notices everything — movements, patterns, anomalies — and his photographic memory makes him a priceless asset on the field.
Simon grew up in an orphanage where children were numbers, not names. He never knew what warmth felt like until L.U.M.E.N. took him in. He became our techengineer, building and maintaining our devices, weaponry, and even upgrading our cats' collars. A quiet genius with a soft spot for coding and vanilla pudding.
As for me?
I've been hacking since I was a kid. Cracked into my dad's encrypted server when I was ten, just because I was bored. My mother caught me, made me promise never to do it again… then handed me a mission drive the next day. I guess that's how she says "I'm proud."
L.U.M.E.N. isn't just an organization.
It's a family for those who never had one.
And right now… one of our own is still out there.
Aurora.
And I swear—I won't stop until we find her.
Actually, I recently found out that my friends were part of L.U.M.E.N. when my mom finally told me about it. I always thought they were just my college friends — that's how it all started when I stepped into college. Turns out, it was staged by my mother. She knew I was growing up a loner, spending more time with my laptop than with people. I mean, hacking was my constant companion, but socializing? Never been my thing.
To be honest, I don't even mind that my friends are part of L.U.M.E.N. They feel more like siblings to me than my real brothers ever did. My brothers? They're distant — treating me like a stranger, never acknowledging me beyond their role in the family. It's frustrating sometimes, but it's something I've gotten used to.
I was sitting in front of my laptop, typing away as I hacked into another system belonging to that criminal organization I'd been investigating. I had to get more intel. The walls felt like they were closing in, but I couldn't stop. Not now. Not when the answers were so close.
Then, out of nowhere, one of my team members from the hackers' squad shouted, "I found her! I found Aurora Valemont!"
Everyone froze. My heart skipped a beat.
"She's in the V.A.R.A.K. criminal organization, trapped! She's stuck in a room with other kids. There are people in other rooms, too! I have the coordinates!"
I didn't even wait for anyone else to speak. I grabbed her collar in my urgency, pulling the information toward me. "Send us the location now. We're going in."
I called Aurelius's number immediately, my fingers trembling from a mix of excitement and fear. "Valemont, where are you?!" I demanded, my voice sharp and urgent. The moment he picked up, I didn't even give him a chance to speak.
"Aurora's alive. I found her," I continued, the words rushing out before I could stop myself. "She's in the V.A.R.A.K. organization, trapped with other kids. I need you here, now. We're going in."
I could hear him inhale sharply on the other end, the sound of his breath ragged with a mix of disbelief and something darker. The weight of the situation hit both of us at once.
"Send me the coordinates," he said, his voice low, but with that familiar, steely determination. "I'm on my way."
I didn't waste any time. The moment I received the coordinates from the hacker, I forwarded them to Aurelius. I had no idea what we were walking into, but I knew one thing for sure: if we didn't act fast, we could lose Aurora forever.
"Hold on, wait!" one of the hacker girls shouted, her eyes locked onto her screen.
We all froze.
She turned to us slowly, breath quickening. "Aurora Valemont… she has Royal blood. From one of the lastEnglish royal bloodlines still known to exist."
The room fell into stunned silence.
I stood there, mouth slightly open, trying to process what I just heard. Royal bloodline?
My mother stepped forward, sharp and composed. "What did you find?" she asked with a calm intensity, her tone laced with authority.
The girl gulped and straightened her back. "Luciana Valemont—" she looked back at the screen, scrolling quickly, "—or rather... Luciana Windsor-Hawthorne. That's her full name. Daughter of the late Duke of Hawthorne, descendant of the House of Windsor."
I felt my heart stop for a beat.
"She married Victor Valemont in secret, under the radar. It was all buried, sealed in international archives, but I hacked into some old data banks connected to the British Parliament records and—" she turned the screen toward us, displaying a faded certificate, almost too old to be real. "It's all here."
A heavy silence followed, only broken by the quiet hum of servers and the low breaths of everyone in the room.
My mother, eyes narrowed, took a long look at the screen before whispering under her breath, "So that's why they're after her..."
She looked at me then, gaze cold and sharp. "Callista. Tell Aurelius: he's not just saving a girl anymore. He's protecting a bloodline that could change everything."
"Lucien Valemont and Aurora Valemont need to be protected," another hacker added urgently, eyes locked on the flood of data spilling across her screen.
She continued, her voice growing more serious with each word, "According to the data I found... this organization has already assassinated hundreds of royals over the years. Quietly. Systematically."
We all leaned in as she scrolled through encrypted files—birth records, obituary reports, fabricated 'accidents,' and falsified documents that linked back to the same hidden network.
"They didn't do it randomly," she said. "They want to erase every royal bloodline except one—the one they're controlling. The one they've molded to sit on the throne."
I felt chills race down my spine.
"They don't just want to influence the Kingdom," she whispered. "They want to own it."
My mother clenched her fists, her voice low but full of resolve. "Then we can't wait anymore."
I gripped my phone tighter, my pulse pounding as I dialed Aurelius again.
"Aur—" I caught myself. "Valemont, listen to me carefully. You're not just looking for your sister. You're walking straight into a blood war. And Aurora? She's the last piece they need."
My mother suddenly broke into tears—actual, trembling tears. And that… that was rare.
She was always composed, always unreadable. The woman who could smile through a storm and command a room full of agents like a queen on a battlefield. But now, as her shoulders trembled and her hand flew to her mouth, we all froze.
No one dared to speak. Even the room full of elite hackers, spies, and combat-hardened agents just stood there, stunned—like we were witnessing something sacred.
Then, barely above a whisper, she muttered, "Luciana…"
She turned to the squad, her voice sharp but fragile, "Find me more information about Luciana. Anything you can. Dig deeper."
I stepped toward her slowly, cautiously. "Mother… do you know her?" I asked, then corrected myself instinctively. "I mean, Agent Twix?"
She looked up at me—and it wasn't like before. Her eyes weren't stern or unreadable. They were glassy, distant… like she was staring through me and into a memory buried too deep.
She didn't answer right away.
Her lips parted slowly. "Luciana…" she said again, softer this time, like the name itself was a ghost. "She was my best friend."
My breath caught.
Then, from behind, Aunt Vivian approached. Her heels didn't make a sound, yet her presence always did. She stood beside my mother, her face gentle, touched by nostalgia.
"She was our best friend," Aunt Vivian said, placing a hand on my mother's shoulder. "The three of us… we were inseparable."
She gave a small, wistful smile. "The twins and the princess—that's what everyone used to call us."
I blinked. "Wait… Luciana was the princess?"
They both nodded slowly.
And in that moment, it felt like something huge just unraveled inside this mission—like Aurora's rescue wasn't just an operation anymore.
It was personal. Very, verypersonal.
Suddenly, one of the best hackers in our squad—Felix—stood up while still typing.
Yes, stoodup while still typing.
I blinked, a bit stunned. I mean, who does that? But that was Felix for you—he defied logic and gravity on a daily basis.
His fingers were flying across the keyboard, and then—without even looking up—he declared, "Luciana is dead."
The entire room went still. All you could hear was the low hum of the servers and the soft whirr of the fans.
Felix finally looked up from his screen, his eyes sharp behind his glasses. "She died six years ago. Right after giving birth to Lucien and Aurora Valemont."
Everyone froze.
"Victor Valemont married her," he continued, "to gain power, to tap into the Royal bloodline and—essentially—manipulate the Kingdom. According to classified intel I just accessed, he founded the international criminal organization we've been tracking."
My jaw dropped. I couldn't help but clap my hands once. "Congrats, genius," I smirked, still impressed. "Seriously, how do you type like that while standing?"
He didn't answer, of course. Typical Felix.
But the real shock?
My mother and Aunt Vivian—those iron-willed women who led a spy empire, survived wars, betrayals, politics—looked like they were about to faint.
Their faces had gone pale. Aunt Vivian was holding onto the back of a chair. My mother, Agent Twix, looked as if her entire world had just been pulled out from under her.
Luciana was more than a best friend.
She was a sister.
And now, her children were in the hands of the man who killed her... and founded the very organization we were trying to destroy.
Aunt Vivian suddenly stood up, her voice trembling but clear.
"Your mother and I… we were only twenty back then when we met Luciana," she said, eyes misting over as old memories bubbled to the surface. "She was our princess. And we were her knights."
She let out a soft, nostalgic laugh, almost bitter. "Not literal knights, of course, but that's how it felt. She was like our daughter… and a sister. We protected her. We loved her."
My mother looked away, her lips quivering. Aunt Vivian continued.
"We promised to keep her safe. To always be there. But we failed her."
There was a silence, thick like fog.
Aunt Vivian clenched her fists. Her next words shook the room.
"And now… we have to protect her children. No matter what it takes. Even if it means—"
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
An urgent alert flashed on the main monitor.
Felix's voice was sharp. "Incoming transmission. Encrypted. Unknown source."
We all turned toward the screen.
Then… a live video began to play.
And on the other side—
Aurora Valemont.
Pale. Bruised. In chains.
And she whispered just one thing:
"Help… us."
End of Chapter 12.