"Will you? Eventually?"
"When I understand it myself."
He exhales. Not quite a sigh. "Be careful, Jagger. Whatever you're digging into, if it involves Omega, it involves the Custodians. They won't hesitate to bury you alongside whatever you find."
"I know."
"And the asset? Can you trust him?"
Can I truly trust Jonah? Even though I tortured and stripped him of who he was?
"I don't know," I admit. "But I'mgoing to find out."
"Call me if you need extraction. Elliot's been itching for something to do besides teach me how to make risotto. Somehow he thinks he has the capability to be an action hero, despite the fact he screams every time he sees a spider."
Despite everything, I almost smile. "Risotto?"
"Don't start. It's actually good."
"I'll take your word for it."
"Jagger." His voice drops. Serious again. "Whatever this is, whatever you're becoming—I'm on your side. Jinx too. We're still brothers. That hasn't changed."
"I know."
"Good. Don't forget it."
He hangs up before I can respond.
I stand in the hallway for a moment, phone in hand, thinking about the word "becoming." Like he can sense the shift in me from a thousand miles away. Like he knows I'm not the same Architect who watched him fall for an asset and thought it was weakness.
Maybe it is weakness.
Maybe I don't care anymore.
I'm about to go back into the office when my work phone buzzes. I check the screen and feel the familiar cold settle over me like a second skin.
Custodian summons. Holloway residence. Immediate.
I pocket both phones and open the office door. Jonah looks up from his piles of documents, pen cap between his teeth.
"Everything okay?"
"I have to go out."
His expression flickers. Concern, quickly masked. "Work stuff?"
"Something like that." I grab my jacket from the back of the chair. "Keep working on the timeline discrepancies. I want a full list of every date that doesn't match when I get back."
"How long will you be?"
"A few hours. Maybe longer."
He stands, crosses to me, and I know what he's going to do before he does it. His hand comes up to straighten my collar, fingers brushing the skin of my neck, just like yesterday morning.
"Don't do anything stupid," he says.
"I don't do stupid."
