I shook my head, tears spilling hot across my face and causing what may have been the last thing ever given to me by Father to sting from the saltiness. “No, I just… I have to go back. I need to go—I need to see Father, I need to—”
My chest tightened, unbearably so. The beeping spiked, getting louder and faster again. My chin trembled as the room blurred at the edges.
Too loud, too loud.“Please, make it stop!” I begged, holding my hands to my ears. “No, no—please—”
I swayed where I sat, the world tipping sideways. The woman stepped closer, saying something I couldn’t make out—her words stretched and warped like they were underwater. My ears rang. My heart pounded so fast it felt like it couldn’t keep up.
I reached for breath, but foundnone.
And then it was dark once more.
I surfaced slowly sometime later. Not waking—just surfacing, like something heavy still pinned me down somewhere deep. My limbs felt thick, my thoughts cottony, and my eyelids glued together. Voices floated nearby, muffled around the edges.
“…obviously overstimulated,” a man hissed, sounding frustrated. “You’re supposed to be trained on these things, aren’t you?”
The woman replied, curt but also tired, “I assure you, I am. He wouldn’t be this reactive if he hadn’t trauma-bonded with one ofyouragents. You all put him in this position. I will do my best for him, but it’s not going to be easy.”
“He’s notmyagent, Elena. You can’t blame the entire FBI for the reckless mistakes of one man.”
I shifted slightly, a pathetic movement, but it sent a wave of dizziness crashing through me. Something tugged at my arm again—the needle, still there. I whimpered without meaning to.
Their whispering cut off.
The man from the raid, the one who’d known Daddy, stepped into view in the doorway as if summoned. I couldn’t remember his name. His dark, soulful eyes found mine instantly. Something like guilt flickered across his face before he turned back to the woman.
“Stay out,” he told her, low but firm. “Let me handle this.”
She opened her mouth as if to argue, then pressed her lips together and stepped back out of sight. I heard the faint scuff of her boots as she moved away, though she didn’t go far.
The man came into the room slowly, pulling a chair up beside the bed. He sat, elbows resting loosely on his knees,palms open like he was trying to show me he wasn’t hiding anything.
I still curled tighter around myself.
“Elior,” he said carefully, voice lowered. “I want to apologize for the way we met. I was a bit stressed, if you can imagine.” He paused, frowning. “I’d like to reintroduce myself. My name’s Aarev Patel.”
My head swam again—a fog of utter exhaustion rolling in waves—but I forced myself to look at him. Patel. Daddy had been arguing with him.
“You…” My voice was a rasp. “You know Jace.”
He ran his hand over his short beard, eyes shutting in a grimace. When he opened them, he sighed and looked at me. “I do.”
“Where is he?” I asked immediately. Panic flickered, even through the fog. “Is he… is he okay? Is he here?”
Patel exhaled through his nose, controlled and slow, like he’d practiced this kind of thing before. “He’s just… talking to some people,” he said.
Something in the way he said it—too careful, too measured—made the room feel unstable again.
“Is he—”
Patel lifted a steadying hand. “He’s fine,” he added quickly.
My eyes flicked around the room, searching for something—anything—I recognized. But everything I saw was strange. Still… it wasn’t as blinding as before.
The lights weren’t hurting me anymore.
My gaze drifted upward to the ceiling panels. The harsh glow from earlier was gone, replaced by a softer, warmer hue that didn’t stab into my skull.
Patel must’ve noticed me squinting around, because he saidquietly, “The lights were too bright for you when you woke up the first time. I dimmed them.”
