“I don’t know what he was or did.” Havoc cut me off. “Neither does he. But when those memories come back, if they come back, are you going to be able to look at him the same way? When you find out what he did before Dresner got his hands on him?”
I opened my mouth. Closed it.
The question I hadn’t let myself think about.
Xavier stood twenty feet away, splitting timber. Silent. Lethal. Gentle with me.
But what had he been before?
“It doesn’t matter.”
I forced the words out steady. Certain.
Havoc’s eyebrow rose. “Doesn’t it?”
“The man he was before is dead. Whoever he was, whatever he did, Dresner killed that person when he put that chip in Xavier’s spine. Erased him. Rebuilt him into something else entirely.”
I watched Xavier pause, wipe sweat from his forehead despite the cold.
“The man standing there now? The one who tried to make me leave to keep me safe? Who was always gentle and protective, trying his best to do the best in the brink of death?” My throat constricted. “That’s who I’m choosing. Not who he might have been. Not who the malfunction might turn him into. Him. Right now. For however long we have.”
Havoc studied me for a long moment. Something shifted in his expression, not quite respect. Not quite resignation. Maybe recognition.
“You really mean that.”
“Yes.”
The pause stretched between us. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
Finally, Havoc nodded. Picked up the carving again. “Fair enough. But don’t say I didn’t warn you when the past comes back to bite your fine ass.”
I smirked. “Careful, Havoc. Love might come back to bite you in the ass too.”
The blade stopped moving. He looked up, expression flat. “Not happening.”
“Never say never.”
“I’m saying it.” He returned to his work with sharp, deliberate strokes. “Love is for people who still think the world gives a damn about their happiness. I’m not one of them.”
“What about Hellhound?”
“What about him?”
“You two seem close.”
“We’re colleagues. Partners in mutual destruction.” The scraping grew more forceful. “That’s not love. That’s strategy.”
Right. And I was Xavier’s nurse.
I studied Havoc’s profile. The hard line of his jaw. The way his shoulders carried tension like armor. Something darker lurked beneath the sarcasm, fury so deep it had calcified into purpose.
“Why do you hate Dresner so much?”
The carving stilled. “You mean besides the obvious?”
“Yeah. Besides the obvious.” I took a drink of cooling coffee. “Hellhound wants to save people, dismantle the organization. You want blood. There’s a difference.”
The pause stretched. The axe bit into timber behind me, sharp, rhythmic, grounding.
