“Nobody moves,” Aria says, and I realize she’s moved back to the laptop. Her gun is still trained on us but her other hand is on the keyboard. “Nobody fucking moves or I trigger the kill switch.”
Parker grabs my .45 from where I dropped it. Raises it with blood-slick hands, aims at Aria.
“Parker, no,” Cal says. “If you shoot her, she might hit the kill switch by reflex. Her hand’s on the keyboard.”
“I don’t care,” Parker says, her voice raw. Her hands are shaking but her aim is steady. “She can blow up the whole organization. I don’t care. She doesn’t get to do this.”
“What about your kids?” Aria asks, her finger hovering over the touchpad. “If I take this finger off without typing the right command, everything goes. The Carter organization ceases to exist. All the money. All the protection. All the security that keeps Noah and Liam safe. You want to explain to them why mommy destroyed everything?”
Parker’s hands tighten on the gun. “You’re using my children as leverage?”
“I’m using reality as leverage,” Aria says. “You shoot me, I destroy everything. Your boys lose the protection of the Carter name. They become targets. Every enemy your family ever made will come for them. Can you live with that?”
Jace is moving slowly, trying to flank. Cal is at his tablet, fingers flying. Charles has his weapon up but he’s not shooting, waiting for an opening.
And I’m bleeding out on the floor while Parker kneels beside me, one hand pressing on my wound, the other holding a gun on the woman who’s threatening everything we love.
“Parker,” I say, my voice rough. “Listen to me.”
“Don’t you dare,” she says, not looking at me. “Don’t you dare tell me to let her go. Don’t you dare tell me it’s okay.”
“It’s not okay,” I agree. Blood loss is making me cold. Making everything feel distant. “But the boys. They need you. They need the family.”
“They need you too,” Parker says, and tears are streaming down her face now. “They need all of us. I’m not losing you. I’m not.”
“Cal,” Charles says quietly. “Tell me you’re close.”
“Two minutes,” Cal responds. “Maybe less. I’m uploading a counter-virus through the local network. If I can corrupt her protocol before she triggers the kill switch.”
“You don’t have two minutes,” Aria says. She’s figured out what Cal’s doing. “I can see your intrusion attempt. It’s not going to work.”
Her finger moves closer to the touchpad.
“Final offer,” Aria says. “You all leave. Silas stays. I keep the systems I’ve cloned, I walk away with him, and nobody triggers anything. Or we all die here. Choose.”
The words hit like a second bullet.
“What?” Parker’s voice is hollow.
“Silas stays with me,” Aria repeats, her finger still hovering over the touchpad. “You all leave. Get out of this building, get back toyour lives, keep your organization. But Silas is mine. That’s the trade.”
“Fuck you,” Parker says, her voice shaking with rage. “Fuck you, you don’t get to do this.”
“I do, actually,” Aria says. “Because I have all the leverage. I have the kill switch. I have the systems. I have the choice between destroying everything you’ve built or walking away with the one thing I actually want.”
“Silas is not a thing,” Jace says, his voice dangerous.
“No, he’s the Reaper,” Aria corrects. “He’s the best enforcer the Carter organization has. He’s the one everyone fears. And he’s going to work for me now. Build my organization instead of yours.”
“He’ll never do that,” Charles says.
“Won’t he?” Aria looks down at me, at the blood pooling around my leg, at Parker’s hands still pressed to the wound. “He’ll do whatever I tell him to if it means Parker and those boys stay safe. If it means you all keep your empire. Isn’t that right, Silas?”
She knows me too well. Knows exactly what I’ll sacrifice. What I’ve always been willing to sacrifice.
“No,” Parker says, reading my expression. “No, don’t you dare. Don’t you fucking dare agree to this.”
“Parker,” I start.
