The question is asked not when one doesn't know oneself, but when one finally finds oneself: Who am I?
"...and this ceramic shard, dated 500 B.C., clearly demonstrates the societal turmoil between the Early Bronze Age and the Late Bronze Age," Professor Elias concluded. His voice seemed to come not from the lecture hall, but from inside my own mind.
Chairs scraped, students stretched, and the familiar hum of the campus returned. I slung my bag over my shoulder and blended into the crowd. The archaeology department was light-years away from Adam's world—woven with history, dust, and the silent secrets of millennia. This was my sanctuary.
"Jessica! Hey, wait up!"
I recognized the voice instantly. It was Sam, perpetually over-energetic, with Elena beside her, the queen of ancient languages whose brow was always furrowed in thought. Sam was panicking over notes, while Elena patiently organized the stream of his worry.
"You seemed a bit distant in class, are you okay?" Sam asked, trying not to spill his coffee cup.
I smiled. "The ceramic shard caught my attention. It was fascinating how clearly it demonstrated the transitional period."
What truly interested me was how people managed to survive transitional periods—even millennia later.
Elena adjusted her glasses. "Societal structures don't disappear, they just change form. What do you think, Jess?"
I was about to open my mouth when my phone vibrated in my bag. The moment I looked at the screen, my heart jumped into my throat.
Adam: We have something important to discuss. Come now.
Those five words wiped away every archaeological stratum Elias had just described. The sunny campus instantly turned into a gray prison.
"I have to go," I said, hoping my voice sounded nonchalant. "I'll send you the notes tomorrow."
Sam waved sadly. Elena, however, never lifted that scrutinizing gaze from my back.
I walked to the parking lot—my real sanctuary. My matte black Airstream trailer looked ordinary from the outside, but inside was my organized, quiet, controlled world. A world Adam would never understand. I closed the door, drew the blinds. Only then did my breath steady.
But I had to go.
Adam's house was like the neighborhood's fortified castle: high fences, sharp lines, dark windows. I knocked, and the door opened immediately. Adam stood before me.
Twenty-six years old, powerful, handsome, and dangerous… A strength hidden beneath fake simplicity. But his eyes—those eyes—always told the truth. They reminded me of my past, the orphanage, the cold, that night.
He wrapped his arm around my waist. A false tenderness and a predictable claim of ownership.
"You came. Good."
My shoulders involuntarily tensed. This touch wasn't affection. It was a declaration of possession.
Adam ushered me into the living room. Expensive leather, heavy furniture… Everything screamed "power." I sat on the edge of the sofa, maintaining distance.
"Jessica," he said, drawing out my name. "I need your intelligence."
This was what I expected.
"What is it?"
Adam leaned forward. That familiar, hungry glint was in his eyes. "Baron is getting old. His right-hand man, Marcus, is an idiot. He has ambition, but no brains. And I am going to exploit that weakness."
I held my breath. "You want to overthrow Marcus?"
"No. I want to replace him."
His voice was that of the boy who, five years ago, had shown me how to survive. But he wasn't that boy anymore.
"And what does that have to do with me?"
His eyes darkened, then flared with ambition. "Baron values intelligent people. I need to prove to him I'm better than Marcus. The operation's logistics are collapsing. Cash flow, inventory… everything is old-fashioned. I will offer Baron a modern, untraceable, flawless system."
Encryption models, covert data streams, and risk calculations began spinning in my mind. This wasn't a robbery; it was a high-level espionage operation.
"What exactly do you want from me?"
"To be the architect of the system. That mathematical genius you developed in the orphanage, the computer skills you picked up in high school, the social structure analysis you studied in college… all of it. Without you, I only have muscle and ambition. With you—we become invincible."
I stood up and walked to the window. The street was silent, but a storm raged inside me.
"I'll build the system you need," I said. Then I turned back to him. "But don't forget, Adam… If you rise, I rise too. My life won't be stuck in a trailer forever. One day, I'm going to go to the places where those ceramic shards came from."
A flicker of anger crossed Adam's face, but his ambition quickly took over.
"It's a deal, Jessica. We start tonight."
I swallowed. I knew this was the answer he wanted.
But I also felt... a door was opening for me. A new transitional period was beginning.