Too much blood in his throat.
"Betrayal is bittersweet when you think about it." Kai stands, pulling a gun from his waistband. "But revenge is satisfactory. Especially when you get to rid the world of a person who would rather watch his son be unhappy for his own selfish gain."
He aims at his father's head.
Point blank.
"Farewell, Father." His voice is cold. Final. "At least you'll never be privileged to see Mother again."
The gunshot echoes through the warehouse.
Loud.
Definitive.
The end of something terrible.
I watch the body crumple.
Watch the blood spread.
Watch Kai lower the gun with hands that are perfectly steady.
And I realize?—
He didn't betray me.
He SAVED me.
The drugging, the "target secured," all of it?—
It was a plan.
A trap.
Not for me.
For his father.
"Sera!"
A new voice.
Above me.
I twist—again, sending myself swinging—and look up (down?) to see Blaze being lowered toward me on some kind of harness system. His golden hair is wild, his expression caught between terror and exhilaration, and he's descending fast.
"Well," he says as he reaches me, "I love that I can put my expertise to practice."
"You're not bomb squad," I point out.
Because apparently that's important to establish while hanging upside down with four minutes left on the countdown.
"Hell no." He grins—that manic, fire-touched expression that I've learned to associate with imminent chaos. "But Jett is in my ear telling me to shut the fuck up and work, so..."
He examines the device strapped to my chest, hands moving with surprising precision.
"But I need to do this before I get serious."
