Chapter 17 · Dangerous Resonance

"Stop moving or I'll let the bleed-out finish the job," Kael snapped, his voice like a razor blade against the silence of the safehouse.

He had me pinned against the reinforced steel door, one hand gripping my shoulder hard enough to bruise, the other hovering just inches from the neural-link port at the base of my skull. I could feel the heat radiating off him, a sharp contrast to the sterile chill of the room. My breath was coming in jagged hitches, the metallic tang of blood filling my mouth.

"You're shaking," I spat, trying to jerk away. "Is that the corporate heir's version of a victory lap?"

"I'm analyzing," he murmured, leaning closer. His chest pressed against mine, forcing the air out of my lungs. "The frequency of that trap wasn't random, Vesper. It was tuned to your specific gene-mod. Whoever set that didn't just want us dead. They wanted to see how you'd react to a resonance spike."

I glared up at him, my vision still swimming with static. "And you think I'm the one who gave them the key? Please. I was the one nearly turned into a human tuning fork.