Chapter 52: Don’t Let Go
992 Words
Bonny’s POV
The floor beneath Adrian cracked wider.
A sharp fracture raced across the concrete like lightning.
Dust exploded into the air.
Someone screamed behind us.
And suddenly the terrifying reality hit me fully—
if the floor gave out, Adrian would fall with me.
“No!” I shouted instantly.
Adrian’s grip only tightened.
“I’m not letting go.”
Concrete crumbled beneath his elbows.
Seth dropped to one knee beside him, gripping Adrian’s jacket with both hands.
Agents rushed forward to help stabilize them.
The entire stairwell groaned again.
Metal screamed somewhere deep below us.
I looked down once—
huge mistake.
Smoke.
Collapsed floors.
Twisted steel disappearing into darkness.
Death waiting patiently underneath.
My stomach lurched violently.
“Bonny, look at me.”
Adrian’s voice cut through panic instantly.
I forced my eyes upward.
He was stretched dangerously far over the broken edge now, muscles trembling with strain.
But his gaze never wavered.
“You hear me?” he said sharply.
“Yes.”
“You are coming back up.”
Not maybe.
Not try.
Certainty.
Absolute certainty.
My chest hurt painfully.
---
“Pull together!” the investigator shouted.
Three agents grabbed Adrian and Seth simultaneously.
For one horrifying second nobody moved.
Then—
the cracked floor shifted again.
Seth cursed sharply.
“It’s collapsing!”
“NOW!” Adrian roared.
Everyone pulled at once.
Pain shot through my shoulder as my body slammed hard against broken concrete.
Then hands grabbed my arms.
Agents.
Vivienne.
Naledi sobbing somewhere nearby.
And suddenly—
I was back on solid ground.
Barely.
The second Adrian rolled away from the edge, the entire broken section collapsed downward into darkness with a deafening crash.
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Shaking.
Alive.
---
Adrian pulled me into him instantly.
So tightly I could barely breathe.
His heart pounded violently against mine.
Not controlled anymore.
Not calm.
Terrified.
“Are you hurt?” he demanded.
I shook my head quickly.
“You?”
“Fine.”
Lie.
His forearm was bleeding where concrete tore through his sleeve.
Seth leaned against the wall nearby breathing hard.
An agent checked his shoulder quickly.
Minor injury.
Still alive.
Everyone still alive.
Somehow.
---
Naledi reached me next.
Her hands shook as she touched my face.
“You almost—”
Her voice broke completely.
I grabbed her hands immediately.
“I’m okay.”
But tears were already running down her face.
Years stolen from us.
And she still almost lost me again.
The realization shattered something inside me.
I hugged her tightly.
“I’m here,” I whispered.
“I’m here.”
---
Mara wiped soot from her face.
“I would like one peaceful day before I die.”
Honestly reasonable.
Vanessa looked pale beside her.
“The east exit route just collapsed.”
Of course it did.
Adrian exhaled sharply.
“Alternative?”
Vanessa checked the tablet again.
Then froze.
“That’s impossible.”
“What?” Vivienne snapped.
“There’s movement above us.”
Everyone went still.
“Board members?” the investigator asked.
Vanessa shook her head slowly.
“No.”
“Then who?”
She stared at the screen.
Then looked up.
“It’s Amelia.”
---
Silence.
Seth pushed away from the wall immediately.
“What?”
“She’s moving upward through private access corridors.”
“Toward what?” Adrian asked.
Vanessa swallowed.
“The archive vault.”
Gabriel’s face changed instantly.
Fear.
Real fear.
“She can’t access that room.”
“Why not?” I asked.
He looked at me sharply.
“Because that vault contains every original file.”
My pulse jumped.
Every file.
Every child.
Every placement.
Every crime.
---
Seth straightened immediately.
“She’s going to destroy it.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
The word came too fast.
Too certain.
Interesting.
Seth noticed too.
“What do you mean no?”
Gabriel hesitated.
Then:
“Amelia was never loyal to the board.”
The room stilled again.
I was getting tired of life-changing revelations every six minutes.
---
Vivienne stared at him.
“You used her too.”
He looked away briefly.
Answer enough.
“She was raised within administrative oversight,” Gabriel admitted carefully.
“Human words,” Mara interrupted. “Use human words.”
Gabriel exhaled.
“She grew up inside the system.”
Like Seth.
Like Vivienne.
Like everyone poisoned by this structure.
Different victims.
Different damage.
---
Another tremor shook the building.
Smoke thickened around us.
The investigator turned sharply.
“We move now or we die here.”
Adrian nodded immediately.
“Route?”
Vanessa zoomed in on the tablet again.
“There’s a maintenance bridge connecting to the adjacent tower on floor sixteen.”
“How stable?”
“…Unclear.”
Excellent.
---
Seth looked toward the upper stairwell.
Then at me.
“I need to stop Amelia.”
Adrian’s expression hardened instantly.
“No.”
“If she reaches that vault—”
“She’s not your responsibility.”
Seth laughed bitterly.
“Everything here became my responsibility the day they raised me inside it.”
That landed hard.
Too hard.
---
I looked at him carefully.
For the first time, I understood something painful:
Seth had hurt me deeply.
But he had also been built inside a machine that taught manipulation before morality.
That didn’t excuse him.
But it explained him.
And explanations were dangerous things.
They softened hatred.
---
Adrian sensed my thoughts immediately.
Of course he did.
His hand found mine again.
Grounding.
Present.
Real.
Not planned.
Not assigned.
Chosen.
Always chosen.
---
Then suddenly—
a loud electronic voice echoed through the stairwell:
“Archive breach detected.”
Everyone froze.
The voice continued.
“Primary vault opening.”
Gabriel went white.
“She did it.”
Vanessa stared at the screen in disbelief.
“No…”
“What now?” I asked.
Vanessa looked up slowly.
“The entire system is going public.”
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