“Holy shit,” Cal breathes, staring at the screen. “Parker, this is...I couldn’t have done this. Not this fast. Not this well.”
I close the laptop. Stand up. Turn to face them all.
Charles, Jace, Cal. Marcus and the team leads. All of them are staring at me like they’re seeing me for the first time.
“I’m going back for Silas,” I say.
“Parker—” Charles starts.
“I’m going back for him,” I repeat, my voice harder. “And you’re going to help me. Or you’re going to get the hell out of my way. Choose.”
“It’s not that simple,” Charles says. “Aria has leverage. She has the cloned systems?—”
“Not anymore,” I interrupt. “I just dismantled everything she built. Turned her access into a trap. If she tries to use what she stole, we’ll know immediately. We’ll trace her location. We’ll have everything we need to find her.”
“Even if we find her, we don’t know where she’s keeping Silas,” Jace points out, “she’s smart and would have moved him by now.”
“Don’t worry about that,” I say, “she’ll tell us where she is, and that will tell us where Silas is.”
“How?”
“She’s on a high, right now. She’ll want to exploit that high, exploit that power. She thinks she can pull the floor out from under us with a push of a button, especially me. She hated that I came back. Hated that Silas couldn’t feel shit for her after four years, but couldn’t let me go after I ran away for six. This is revenge against you and the Carter Organization, yes, but this is ultimately a woman who was hurt and envious of another woman. An envy that deep that it’d drive her to do all of this…an envy like that won’t let her let me walk away on just her word. She’s going to access her system, she’s going to try to exert her fantastical power, and she’s going to lead us to her. And wherever she is, Silas is. She’d keep him near her practically on display like a fucking prize.”
“Parker, you’re not thinking clearly,” Charles says. “You’re emotional. You need to step back, let us?—”
“Let you what?” I snap. “Let you sit here and plan and strategize while Silas is with that psychotic bitch? While she’s doing God knows what to him? No. I’m done sitting back. I’m done letting other people make decisions about my life, about the people I love.”
“This isn’t about your feelings,” Charles says, his voice going harder. “This is about the organization. About keeping everyone safe. We can’t just rush in without a plan.”
“I have a plan, you just don’t like it because it’s not your plan, Charles,” I say.
“Parker—”
“You’re not stopping me!” My voice rises, all the grief and rage I’ve been holding back breaking through. “If you can’t put your life on the line for the man who has always,alwaystaken every execution order for you unto himself, then sit the fuck down and be the Dominic clone you’re pretending not to be!”
The words hit like a slap and my brother goes rigid.
“That’s not fair,” he says quietly.
“Isn’t it?” I step closer. “Silas has killed for you. Bled for you. Done things that would break most people, all in service to this family. And now he’s with Aria because he traded himself to save us. To save you.”
“I’m trying to be smart about this?—”
“Smart would have been seeing Aria for what she was before she even thought about defecting,” I’m yelling now, can’t stop myself. “Smart would have been giving her a real role in the organization instead of dismissing her like furniture! Smart would have been preventing this entire situation instead of reacting to it!”
“Parker, that’s enough,” Charles says, his voice firm.
“No, it’s not enough!” I turn to him. “It’s not enough until we get Silas back. Until he’s safe. Until this is over.”
Tears are streaming down my face now. I don’t care. Don’t try to hide them.
“He saved us,” I say, my voice breaking. “He traded himself for us. And I’m not leaving him there. It’s not about emotion. Yes, I love him, and I will always love him, but I’m going back for him because he would always go back for any one of us. He’s given too much for us to let this happen to him. If the cost for us to live, for all of us to move on is him, that cost is too high, and I’ll be damned if I pay it or let any of you place a bet.”
I’m shaking. All the adrenaline. All the fear. All the grief I’ve been holding back since they pulled me away from Silas is coursing through me like a mosh pit.
It crashes over me like wave after wave, but I keep my knees locked because I have to. Because he needs me to.
“She’s right,” Jace finally says with a nod. “Silas would go in half cocked…”
