Chapter 1
Parker
My life had somehow turned into a colossal shitshow, starring my twin.
“You’re not even listening, Parker.” He beat a track through my living room, all the way from the front window to the edge of my coffee table and back again. His boots trailed dirt across my new rug, but I gritted my teeth and didn’t say anything. “I’m trying to explain how bad it is.”
“You said they’ll kill you.” I clicked my tongue and let my gaze slide from Axel’s pointy jaw to the barely touched cup of coffee in his hand. “You’ve said it ten times tonight.”
He huffed and set the mug down too hard. Liquid slopped over the rim, spattering the tabletop with oily crescents. I twitched, but didn’t bother cleaning it up. “You’re being a bitch. You know that?”
I did. I was. I reached down and picked up the tiny bundle of fur that was resting on top of my feet. My little rescued doggie with a face only a mother could love. His tongue hung slightly beyond his under-bite, those blue eyes begging for the bowl of cereal I’d abandoned on the same coffee table.
“What do you think, Rocket? Am I being a bitch?” One ear flopped up.
“Rocket disagrees. He wants to know howI’mthe asshole whenyougot me into this mess with the Greenbriar freak-show?”
He spun around, arms out. “I can’t believe you got a fucking dog, Parker! Now? You have people who might actually come after you! They said—fuck, Parker, I don’t know what they said, I was drunk—just that they needed someone with skills. Like hacker skills or something. I told ‘em I knew someone, okay? That’s all.”
A pause, heavy with the implication that “knew someone” was something I should be proud of.
I scratched behind Rocket’s ears and waited. Axel could never outlast silence; I’d weaponized it since we were kids.
Finally: “I’m dead if you don’t do this. You know Silas. He’ll make it hurt.”
“Cry me a river.” My voice came out flat, but inside, something hot and sour burned holes through my guts. “You act likeI’mnot dead if Ido. Anyway, I found this little guy lying next to a dumpster, Axel. Just because nobody gives two shits about me doesn’t mean I should treat other living things the same way! Besides, he fucking makes me happy!”
Axel collapsed into the armchair like someone had unplugged him. He pressed his palm to his forehead and sat there, quiet for once, soaking in my bright house with all the resentment of a man allergic to nice things.
He started up again after a minute. “You don’t get it. You think you’re so fucking smart, with your fancy computer job, but you don’t get the world at all. Everything is a trade.Youjust pay up with numbers and code instead of cash or blood.”
There it was, the old twin spite. I shook my head. “That’s bullshit. I fucking work for what I get.” I was getting agitated, causing Rocket to squirm.
“It’s okay, buddy. He’s just jealous.”
He leaned forward. “Really? You think I’m jealous ofyou? You really think Iron Valor would give a shit if you died? You were always the tag-along. Only reason they ever acknowledged you was out of pity after Mom and Dad croaked.”
That one hit. Maybe it was true. At least I was still living my life. It might be a small life, but it was on my terms. At least, it had been until now.
I looked down, running my fingers through fur. The first time I’d ever been caught hacking I was seventeen, cocky, wanting to get a boy to notice me. I’d hacked into our high school’s grading system and changed his AP history grade. Wrecker had been called in for IT support, and he found me in the back corner of the library where I was still at it. I wanted to see what other parts of the server I could get into. I’ll never forget seeing his shadow fall over me as I sat in the carrel in the corner. He was impressed with my work, and that’s what saved me. He just told my parents I needed some direction. They died the following week.
I never told Axel about that. He’d just have been pissed I’d gotten away with it.
He still sat there, waiting. I gave him nothing.
Axel’s next words crawled up my spine like centipedes. “Just do the job. You’re almost done, right?”
“Almost.” I let the lie hang between us, let it thicken the air. In truth, I’d finished two days ago. I’d written the exploit, siphoned off the funds, cracked Iron Valor’s accounts wide open and left them bleeding credits into an offshore shell that would take even Silas’s best forensics team months to follow. And then, because I had no sense of self-preservation, I’d written a backdoor that let Iron Valor trace it all back to me and from me to Greenbriar. Iron Valor was my pack, even if they’d never forgive me for this betrayal.
He ran his hands through his hair, and for a moment, the desperation on his face made him look twelve years old again. “You said you’d help me, Parker.”
“You’re my brother.” I shrugged. “That’s what family does. Even if the family sucks.”
He snorted. “You always did think you were the only good one.”
I stood, holding Rocket closer to my chest.
“I’ve spent every hour of the last week crawling through code laced with traps designed byIron Valor’s enforcer. You think they won’t trace it back to me? You think Wrecker won’t burn this whole place down with you inside if he figures out what I’m doing? You want me to move faster?” I said, voice sharp. “Fine. But don’t pretend I’m doing this for you. I’m doing it so I don’t have to watch them carve you up and feed you to their dogs while you scream my name.”
