Chapter 24 · Iron Arena - Chapter 24: Not the First Lila

The name was still ringing in my ears when I shoved past Cole and walked out of Ivy's back room.

Lila Chen.

A dead girl said my name. A girl who died hooked up to the same neural rig I'd been climbing ranks with for the past two months. And nobody thought to mention it until now.

I heard Cole behind me, his boots heavy on the clinic floor. "Lila, wait—"

"Don't." I didn't turn around. My hands were shaking. I shoved them in my jacket pockets. "Don't tell me to wait."

He caught up anyway. Grabbed my shoulder. I spun and knocked his hand away harder than I meant to.

"You knew." My voice came out sharp. Too sharp. I didn't care. "You knew there was another girl. You knew she died."

"I didn't know her name was—" He stopped. His jaw worked. "I didn't know it was you."

"It's not me. That's the point." I was breathing too fast. The clinic walls felt close. Ivy's back room had smelled like burned plastic and old blood, and I could still taste it. "She said my name.