Three hours after the servers burned, Anais sat on the bathroom floor, steam curling around her body, blood swirling down the drain like red ribbons.
Cassian leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, silently waiting.
“You’re not going to leave me alone, are you?” she asked, voice hoarse.
“You just destroyed the most dangerous system in the country and walked out of it bleeding. No,” he said. “I’m not.”
She shut her eyes. “She didn’t even flinch, Cassian. My own mother raised a gun to my face and didn’t blink.”
“She built you like a weapon,” he said. “Now she’s afraid of what she made.”
Anais pushed damp hair from her face. “Do you think she’ll come back?”
“No,” Cassian said. “She’s already planning her next move.”
Silence again.
Then softly: “I wasn’t scared when I pulled the t
