I held her stare, letting her know without saying a word she was right.
SEVENTEEN
JAMES
Caden’s smirk was infuriatingly self-satisfied, and I hated myself for ever trusting this two-faced bastard. For actually thinking of him as a friend. How the fuck had I been so blind?
“My mission was a bit different from yours,” he said, his voice dripping with smug amusement. “While you were busy tearing down the root of our future problems, I was tasked with finding its solution.”
I glared at him, every muscle coiled tight. “What the hell does that mean?” My attention snapped to my mentor—my so-called father figure. The man who had orchestrated all of this.
Beside me, Emma stiffened, her breath hitching as realization dawned. Her expression hardened despite the turmoil brewing beneath it. “You want to use my untraceable translation to stop the future tracking.”
Caden’s smirk deepened. “That’s right. You, Miss Lawyer, turned out to be the solution we’d been searching for all along.” His words were laced with unnecessary viciousness, as if he enjoyed twisting the knife.
Godsdamnit. I had fought for this mission, bled for it, trusted them. And they had been playing a different game all along.
“How?” My voice was low, dangerous. “How the hell isshethe answer to this bullshit?”
Stephen’s demeanor remained calm. “Because of thewhy, James. Can’t you see? We need to understandwhyher haze is not being picked up by any LiaPrism. If we can figure that out, we canreplicateit. We can protect our people, shield them from ever being tracked—should you fail to destroy every last one of them.”
The irony of them trying to figure out the why of it, hit me like a punch to the gut. All this time, they had been so focused on Emma’s abilities, desperate to unlock the mystery behind her untraceable energy—while I had… I swallowed hard, fighting to keep my composure as feelings ofimmenseguilt surged.
“So let me get this straight. You experimented on me, tortured me, maimed me for life, and bled me out solely to find out thereasonfor my weird-ass magic?” Emma’s disposition was remarkably calm. As if she were inquiring after a job posting, instead of the reasons for her multiple traumas.
Stephen nodded, confirming once and for all his involvement, and I saw fucking red.
Among my own feelings of guilt, betrayal and fury flared again, consuming everything in their path. My pulse roared in my ears, drowning out whatever bullshit justification he was about to give. The room closed in, my chest tightening under his words.
He had hurt Emma.MyEmma.
The rage rising inside me wasn’t just anger—it was bigger, darker, rawer. Overwhelming. Violent. Ugly.I need to?—
“I’m sorry.” Emma’s voice cut through my raging thoughts, low but laced with anguish. “But how the hell did you find me?Am I supposed to believe you just happened upon me and my translation in Boston—right when I crossed the road?”
Stephen shifted uncomfortably. “No,” he admitted. “That’s not exactly what happened.”
Emma tilted her head and studied him. “So you did already know about me? You tracked me down—and then stood there while I got hit by a car?” Her shoulders curled inward, as if bracing against the weight of what would come. “Without doing anything?”
Stephen dropped his gaze, discomfort twisting his features. “Actually,” he muttered, “if we’re being completely honest… I—kind of caused the accident.”
The words landed like a sledgehammer.
My fists clenched; every muscle coiled tight. The idea of killing the only father I had ever known—which had once seemed unthinkable—now felt almost inevitable.
“I needed you to translate,” he continued as if he hadn’t shattered every ounce of trust in the room. “And the only way to ensure you did was to put you in danger. I would never have let anything happen to you, Emma. If you hadn’t jumped over that car, I would’ve intervened.”
Emma stared at him, skepticism etched into every line of her face, and I couldn’t blame her.
“Did you know about this?” she spat, whirling on me, her eyes blazing with barely contained rage.
I shook my head, the urgency of it almost choking me. “Emma, I swear I didn’t. All I knew was that my role as Leader was to destroy the LiaPrisms. If I’d known their plan?—”
“He’s telling you the truth, Emma,” Stephen interjected, too smooth for the torment he’d caused. “I told James I found someone who wasn’t traceable unexpectedly; he had no idea I’d been searching for you specifically during my time in Boston.”
But his words did little to soften the blow. “And what about Bill?” Emma sounded hoarse, raw, like she was struggling to hold herself together. “Did you have him killed too?”
Stephen’s face twisted in genuine confusion. “Bill? I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
