Chapter 27 · The Shot You Owe Me

Charlotte's gun was up before the screen went dark.

Marcus didn't move. He stood three feet from the monitor, hands loose at his sides, watching her like he'd been waiting for this exact moment since they walked into the clinic.

"You put her in that thing," Charlotte said. Her voice came out flat. Dead. "You helped me put my daughter in a machine and then you made me forget."

"I helped you save her." Marcus tilted his head, and the dim red emergency lighting caught the edge of his jaw. "There's a difference."

"Save her from what?"

"From dying in the next six hours." He took half a step forward. The Glock in Charlotte's hand didn't waver. "The toxin in her system was synthetic. Custom job. It was eating her nervous system from the inside out and you had forty minutes before brain death."

Charlotte's finger rested on the trigger guard. Not the trigger. Not yet. "So you shoved her in a box."

"So we shoved her in a stasis pod that cost more than your last five contracts combined." Marcus's jaw tightened. "You begged me to help you find one.