Page 168 - DivineSparkRisingFinal

Divine Spark Rising
Inside, a service elevator that shouldn’t exist.
It carried her down into steel corridors
humming with ozone.
Logos of old sponsors still scarred the walls.
The same corporations Serpa had once sworn to
expose.
Behind closed doors, screens glowed.
One door stood ajar.
Carolina stepped in.
A man in a white suit sat before a wall of
monitors, data streams collapsing like smoke. He
removed his glasses with the same precise care she
remembered from the Palace archives.
Her chest squeezed.
Her breath caught.
“Joaquim?”
Ten years since she’d last spoken the name. Ten
years since he vanished without warning, leaving
her only silence.
She had taught herself he was dead. Grieved
him. Buried him. And here he was. Breathing.
Watching her as if she were another entry in his
ledger.
“You found me,” he said. Calm. Measured. Like
an audit, not a reunion.
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