I remembered the private clinic. The endless tests. The way Langston had insisted on a specific doctor, specific treatments. I’d been so desperate for a child, so willing to trust him back then.
“You experimented on our unborn child?” My voice sounded foreign to my own ears, hollow with horror.
“I invested in her future,” Langston countered. “Her genetic profile is worth more than your entire pathetic life. And now Kovacs is trying to steal what’s mine.”
An alarm suddenly blared through the facility, red warning lights pulsing brighter. A computerized voice announced, “Facility self-destruct initiated. Fifteen minutes to detonation. All personnel evacuate immediately.”
“We need to move,” Ethan said, his voice cutting through my shock. “Now.”
I looked down at Langston, at this man who’d seen our daughter as nothing but an investment, a test subject, a possession.
My finger tightened on the trigger. “He’ll never stop coming after me.”
“No, he won’t.” Ethan gently covered my hand on the gun. “But you shouldn’t have to wear his blood on your hands. That’s my job. Let me.”
After a moment’s hesitation, I allowed him to take the gun. “For Maya.” I stared down at the man I once thought I loved, feeling nothing but disgust and contempt. “Goodbye, Langston. The world will be a better place without you in it.”
I turned my back on him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ethan step forward and raise the gun.
The sound of the shot echoed through the tunnel, but I couldn’t bring myself to look back. My daughter needed me. Langston had been an obstacle for too long, but he wasn’t the only threat. This Dr. Kovacs—whoever she was—had my little girl.
“We need to move,” Ethan said, his voice steady again as he tucked the weapon away. “That self-destruct countdown is Rafe’s doing.”
We sprinted through the tunnels, the alarm’s wail pushing us faster. My lungs burned, but fear for Sophia burned hotter. What had they done to her? What were they planning to do? The thought of someone seeing my sweet, brave girl as nothing but an experiment made my blood boil.
We rounded a corner and nearly collided with a figure coming from the opposite direction. I stumbled backward, heart leaping into my throat until I recognized who it was.
“Trent!” I gasped.
His eyes widened in shock, then relief flooded his face. He closed the distance between us in two strides, his hands gripping my shoulders as if to reassure himself I was real.
“Are you hurt?” he demanded, scanning me for injuries.
“I’m fine, but they have Sophia,” I said, the words coming out in a rush. “Someone named Kovacs from Innovixus. They took her from the rally point.”
Trent’s expression hardened. “I know. Alistair was shot trying to protect her.”
“Is he?—“
“Alive, but losing a lot of blood.” Trent’s jaw clenched. “Dutch and the others are holding the perimeter, protecting the civilians.”
Ethan nodded. “Alpha and Bravo teams? We need to get everyone out of here before this place comes down.”
“Already done. What about Langston?” Trent asked.
“No longer our problem,” Ethan replied flatly.
Something passed between them, an understanding that required no words. Then Trent’s focus returned to me.
“We’ll find her, Evelyn,” he said with such conviction that I almost believed him. “I swear to you on my life, we will get Sophia back.”
The facility’s alarm continued its urgent wail, the fifteen-minute countdown already ticking away. Trent nodded once, then took my hand and pulled me toward the exit tunnel, Ethan following close behind us.
CHAPTER 24
TRENT
The explosion rippedthrough the night behind us, a series of concussive thumps that punched the air from my lungs. Heat washed over my back as I shielded Evelyn, both of us stumbling forward toward the waiting vehicles. Flames clawed at the sky where the facility had stood, turning darkness to flickering orange light that caught on the sharp edges of the surrounding rocks.
