I shake my head. “You don’t get to say that. Not when your past is still dialing in mid-waffle.”
“I didn’t ask for this call?—”
“But you answered it.”
That stops him cold.
We stare at each other across the kitchen. The waffles are getting cold. Ben is humming in the living room, lining up syrup bottles like soldiers.
I lower my voice, trying not to cry. “You can’t have both, Jav. You can’t play house and wear blood on your hands.”
His throat bobs. “I’m trying to change.”
“Try harder.”
I walk past him and open the door.
He hesitates.
“I’ll go,” he says softly.
Then he’s gone.
The door clicks shut, and the air feels hollow.
I return to the kitchen, where Ben looks up with wide eyes.
“Where’d Mr. Kuraken go?”
“He had to leave,” I say gently, ruffling his hair.
“Will he come back?”
I don’t answer.
Because I don’t know.
CHAPTER 16
JAV
The walls of the Redscale safehouse are gray durasteel, windowless, soundproof, and stink faintly of old oil and plasma burns—exactly the kind of place you want when you need to make someone talk.
The foot soldier sitting in front of me is shaking, and for good reason. He’s got a split lip, dried blood on his temple, and the sort of expression that says he’s weighing which kind of death will be faster—mine, or the League cartel’s.
“I’m only gonna ask you once more,” I growl, pacing slow circles around him. My claws are extended, not for show. “Where are they holding Lexit?”
“I swear, boss, I didn’t know they’d hit the depot!” His voice cracks. “I was just—just running pickups!”
“Then you’re useless.”
He flinches. “Wait, wait—wait! Okay! I heard them mention Level-Seven Docks on Tarskine Wharf. Industrial zone. Off-grid. No cams.”
I stop pacing. Turn slowly. Fix him with a stare that could crack ferrocrete.
“Who’s running the operation?”
“Uh… guy named Krex. League of Unaligned Species. Ex-pirate, now calls himself a ‘logistics commander.’”
