Chapter 13
797 Words
Lyra’s POV
> “One day. That’s all you get. Give me the key… or she dies.”
Malcov’s voice echoes like poison in my head.
The 24-hour timer blinks from the table.
And Damien hasn’t moved.
Neither have I.
Because neither of us knows what the hell he’s talking about.
The key?
What key?
I look at Damien.
His jaw’s clenched.
But there’s something else in his eyes.
Recognition.
Fear.
Not of Malcov.
Of me.
---
“You know what he means,” I whisper.
Damien doesn’t speak.
Malcov just grins.
“Oh, he knows. He’s known for years.”
I step forward. “What is it? What’s the key?”
Malcov raises his gun a little.
“Don’t be so eager to die for him, Lyra. You might not survive it this time.”
Damien finally speaks.
“You said 24 hours.”
“I did.”
“Then get out.”
Malcov hesitates.
Then… smirks.
“Tick-tock,” he says, tapping the timer.
And walks out like he owns the world.
---
Damien’s POV
I can feel her eyes on me.
Sharp. Burning.
I don’t blame her.
I deserve worse.
“You gonna tell me now?” she says.
I nod.
Sit down.
And feel every part of me breaking as I finally say it.
---
“The key,” I begin, “is you.”
She flinches.
“What?”
“Not literally. Not… your body. But your bloodline.”
She blinks fast.
“What are you talking about?”
I run a hand through my hair.
Then I tell her.
Everything.
---
Flashback – 6 Years Ago
Jade wasn’t my only assignment.
Her father wasn’t just a traitor.
He was a courier.
He carried one thing Malcov valued above all else.
Not money.
Not tech.
But a code.
Encrypted.
Hidden inside a biological sequence.
His own daughter’s DNA.
Lyra’s.
---
They made her the key.
To what?
To a drive locked by blood-based encryption — the only one of its kind.
Inside it? Every file Elias Malcov ever touched.
Blackmail. Power. Control.
Things that could bring down governments.
And kill people if it got in the wrong hands.
Which is why they never told Lyra.
Which is why they assigned me to erase her.
But I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
---
Lyra’s POV
I stand there, frozen.
My own body feels foreign.
“You mean… they used me?”
He nods. “Your DNA is the only thing that can open it.”
“So Malcov doesn’t just want to kill me…”
“He wants to use you first. Then erase you. Clean.”
I step back.
Everything spins.
“So the moment he gets what he wants—”
“You’re gone,” Damien says.
“And you knew?”
“I didn’t know the how at first,” he says. “Just the why.”
I hate him for it.
And I love him for it.
And I don’t know which is worse.
---
Later That Night
I can’t sleep.
Neither can he.
We sit across from each other at the table, the timer ticking between us.
18 hours left.
I reach for his hand.
“Tell me something true,” I say.
He lifts his eyes.
“I never stopped loving you after that first night.”
“I was angry.”
“You were fire.”
I smile. Barely.
“Tell me something else.”
He hesitates.
Then says:
“I’m dying.”
---
I go still.
“What?”
He pulls down his shirt collar.
Shows me the bruise.
Too dark. Spreading.
And not from the bullet wound.
“I was poisoned,” he says. “Back at the house. The first time we were attacked.”
“You never said—”
“I didn’t know for sure until the shaking started yesterday.”
My hands grip the edge of the table.
“How long?”
He shakes his head.
“A week. Maybe less.”
“No,” I whisper.
“I’m still functional. But soon, I won’t be.”
“You think Malcov knows?”
“Of course he does. That’s why the countdown’s real. I’m not his endgame anymore. You are.”
---
Hours Later
We drive.
To a place Jade once mentioned in a note.
A vault.
Hidden beneath an old church outside the city.
Inside?
A scanner.
For a palm.
A drop of blood.
A match.
Damien slices my fingertip.
I press it to the reader.
The vault opens.
And inside?
A single metal suitcase.
I grab it.
Damien breathes out slowly.
But then—
He stumbles.
I catch him before he hits the ground.
His skin is cold.
His eyes unfocused.
He whispers one word.
> “Run.”
---
- Writer
