Chapter 13 · The Gas Vault

"You knew the mine had a gas vault, and you still brought me down here?"

My voice cracked across the control room.

Gabriel didn't look away from the dead server rack. His shirt was torn at the shoulder, dark blood soaking through the bandage beneath it. One hand pressed against his ribs. The other held the black mine key between two fingers.

"I brought you because you're the only person who can open it."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the one keeping you alive."

I stepped in front of him and shoved my palm against his chest. He caught my wrist before I could push again.

His grip was hot. Hard. Too familiar after everything we'd survived together.

"Let go."

"Stop touching things you don't understand."

"You mean like my family's mines? The ones you took as collateral?"

His jaw tightened.

"Your family signed those contracts."

"Julian signed them. My father was already missing. And you knew." I twisted against his hold. "You knew seven years ago, didn't you? You knew what happened to my mother, and you let me believe she abandoned us."

Gabriel's fingers tightened around my wrist.

Not enough to hurt. Enough to remind me he could.