Page 4 of Alien Assassin's Heir

My heart stops.

Her voice is muffled in my side. “Other kids at crèche talk about theirs. They say their daddies take them flying, or read them sciencey books, or build stuff. Like tools and machines. Did I have one?”

I force myself to breathe. Slowly. Deliberately.

My throat closes up like it’s wrapped in wire.

I brush her hair back, buying time, buying breath. “You did, baby,” I whisper.

“Where is he?”

I stare at the wall. The crack above the heater vent. The chipped paint that looks like a star chart if you squint.

“Some daddies…” I begin, my voice cracking. “Some daddies go away before they know they’re needed.”

She’s quiet.

I glance down, terrified of what I’ll see in her face. But she just nods once, sleepy eyes drifting closed.

“He’d like me, right?” she mumbles.

My chest caves in.

“More than anything,” I whisper. “He’d love you to the moons and back.”

She smiles. And then she’s out, snoring gently against my side.

I sit there, unable to move, staring at nothing while my heart bleeds quietly behind my ribs.

It’s wellpast midnight when I finally get her tucked into bed. She curls around her plushie like it’s her only lifeline, murmuring nonsense in her sleep. I sit on the edge of the mattress for a long time, just watching her breathe.

When I finally shuffle back into the main room, I collapse on the couch and run my fingers through my hair until it stands up in tangled waves.

I reach for the holophoto tucked under the couch cushion.

I always say I’m going to throw it away.

I never do.

I turn it face-up.

The photo’s faded. Just a flash still frozen in time. Me and him. Kraj. Tall. Shoulders like a tank. His arm draped around me, grin sharp and bright. I’m laughing, my head tilted back, caught mid-smile.

We look… real. We look happy.

But it was all built on a lie.

He used me. Slept in my bed. Ate my food. Held my hand.

And then disappeared the moment I saw behind the curtain.

I lost everything. My clearance. My reputation. My home.

And he?

He just vanished.

But the worst part? The part that haunts me in the dead of night?