EVERYTHING BREAKS
1331 Words
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For three unbearable seconds, all Emberly could hear was the thunder of her own heartbeat.
Aiden stood in the doorway—jaw tight, shoulders tense, eyes locked on her like she was both salvation and disaster. Liam stood beside him, expression cold, unreadable, carved from something sharper than memory.
Silas moved in front of her, a protective barrier of tension and calculation.
The air snapped like a wire pulled too tight.
Aiden took a step forward. “Emberly, we need to talk.”
Silas stepped directly into his path. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”
Aiden’s eyes hardened. “Move.”
Silas didn’t.
And that was all it took for everything to ignite.
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“Where is it, Emberly?”
Liam’s voice cut through the room like a blade. Not gentle. Not curious.
Demanding.
Emberly flinched. “Where is what?”
Aiden shot Liam a warning glare. “Don’t start.”
Liam ignored him, eyes pinned on Emberly. “The fragment. He knows you have it.”
Silas’s hand moved subtly toward his side—toward a concealed weapon.
Aiden noticed. “Don’t even think about it.”
“You came armed,” Silas said coolly. “Don’t pretend this is diplomacy.”
Aiden’s jaw flexed. “I came ready. There’s a difference.”
Emberly took a shaky breath. “Stop. All of you.”
But none of them did.
Liam took a step forward—danger in every line of his body. “Emberly, if you want to survive tonight, you need to give it to me. Now.”
Silas moved sharply, blocking her fully. “She’s not giving you anything.”
Liam’s laugh was humorless. “You think I won’t go through you?”
Aiden grabbed Liam’s arm. “Back off—”
“Don’t touch me,” Liam snapped, shoving him off.
The two men squared off, fury radiating between them.
Silas spoke, voice low. “She’s done being used by people who claim to protect her.”
Aiden’s eyes snapped toward Emberly. “Is that what he told you? That I’m using you?”
Silas didn’t blink. “Aren’t you?”
Aiden’s anger deepened—cold this time. Devastated. “I’ve done everything to keep her alive.”
Silas stepped closer, expression cutting. “You hid evidence. Lied to her. Stole a fragment. That’s not protection—”
“That fragment,” Aiden exploded, “was taken because I knew they’d kill her if they found it.”
Silas froze.
Emberly stared. “Kill me?”
Aiden raked a hand through his hair. “Yes. Emberly, listen—your mother didn’t just create the fragments. She created a list. A list of everyone capable of carrying the genetic pattern required to activate them.”
Emberly’s blood ran cold.
Liam finished the sentence quietly.
“You’re number one on that list.”
Silas’s eyes darkened. “That list was classified.”
Aiden glared at him. “You think I don’t know that? I found it when I was sixteen. My father buried it. I dug it back up after Emberly’s apartment was attacked.”
Emberly stumbled back. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Aiden’s voice cracked. “Because you were already breaking. I didn’t want to hand you another weight to drown under.”
Silas scoffed. “Spare me the drama.”
Aiden’s expression snapped from hurt to lethal in an instant. “You don’t get to comment on how I protect her. You’ve known her for what—two months? I’ve been in this since I was a kid.”
Silas stepped forward, ready to strike. “You’re the reason she’s falling apart.”
“Oh?” Aiden snarled. “And you’re saving her? With what? Brain shock devices and mind training? You’re turning her into a weapon.”
Silas’s jaw tensed. “I’m teaching her to survive.”
“You’re teaching her to depend on you,” Aiden said, voice shaking with fury.
That hit deep.
Silas didn’t deny it.
Liam finally snapped, slamming his fist onto a table. “Enough. Emberly is the only person who matters here.”
His voice dropped to gravel.
“Where. Is. The fragment.”
Emberly’s hands shook. “Why are you both after it?”
Aiden swallowed. “Because the second fragment completes the map of your memories.”
Liam added, “And without it, you won’t know who killed your father.”
The room went still.
Silas’s head turned sharply. “That information isn’t in the fragment.”
Liam smirked. “You sure about that? Because I’ve seen things neither of you have.”
Silas stepped toward him. “Explain.”
Liam’s eyes flicked to Emberly. For one fragile second, his cold facade cracked into something like regret.
“I left,” he said quietly, “because your mother made me.”
Emberly’s lungs froze. “What?”
Aiden shot Liam a confused glare, but Liam held his eyes on Emberly.
“She told me you’d be hunted. That staying near you would paint a target on your back. That you needed a clean break to stay hidden.” His face twisted. “I hated her. But I listened. Because I loved you.”
Emberly’s breath broke. “Liam…”
But then his face hardened again.
“She lied to me,” he said. “Your mother was using us both. She needed you isolated. Alone. So the fragments would activate faster.”
Silas stiffened. “That’s impossible. The activation depends on emotional trauma—”
“Yes,” Liam said sharply. “Exactly.”
Silas’s expression shifted—realization dawning.
Emberly whispered, “She wanted me traumatized.”
Aiden ran a hand over his face. “God… Emberly, I’m sorry.”
Liam stepped forward. “There’s more. Before she disappeared, your mother recorded something. A final message.”
Silas snapped his head toward him. “Where is it?”
Liam’s gaze locked with Emberly’s.
“It’s locked inside the fragment Aiden stole.”
Silas turned to Aiden, expression lethal. “Give it to her.”
Aiden hesitated.
That hesitation was all Emberly needed.
“You have it,” she whispered.
Aiden clenched his jaw. “Emberly—”
“Give it to me.”
Aiden’s throat bobbed. “I can’t.”
Liam lunged at him. “You selfish—”
Aiden shoved him back. “You don’t get to accuse me. I kept it safe because her mother said the final message would destroy her if she saw it too soon.”
Silas moved forward. “Give it. Now.”
Aiden lifted his chin stubbornly. “Not while he’s here.”
Liam grabbed Aiden’s shirt. “Try me.”
Silas stepped forward. “Let go of him or I’ll—”
“STOP!”
Emberly’s voice ripped through the air, raw and powerful.
All three men froze.
Emberly’s hands were glowing.
Silas inhaled sharply. “Emberly—your stabilizer—”
Smoke rose from the device. It was short-circuiting.
Her mind was too overwhelmed, too charged, too fractured.
Aiden reached for her. “Em—”
“Don’t touch me!” she cried, stumbling back.
Liam stepped forward. “Emberly—”
“Stay away!”
Her pulse thrashed like a trapped animal. Memories crashed through her vision—her mother’s voice, flashes of Liam leaving, Aiden crying in the hallway two months ago, Silas’s hands adjusting the stabilizer, the list, the warnings, the lies, the truth—
All of it slammed into her at once.
The stabilizer sparked violently and exploded off her head.
Silas swore. “Emberly, breathe—”
But she couldn’t.
Her power surged wildly.
A shockwave burst outward, knocking all three men back.
The walls shook.
Papers scattered.
Glass shattered.
Emberly collapsed to her knees, gasping.
Silas reached her first—but Aiden shoved him away.
Liam pulled Aiden back.
And all three men were yelling her name at once—
“EMBERLY!”
Then everything went black.
- Writer
