Chapter 23 · The Debt Was a Lie

"Step away from the terminal." Cade's voice cut through the hum of the server room, flat and final.

I didn't move. My hand stayed on the keyboard, the screen still glowing with my brother's last known location. Twenty-three months of searching, and the file was right here. Right in front of me.

"Mara." Closer now. I could feel the heat of him at my back, the way the air shifted when he moved. "I said step away."

"No."

"You don't know what you're looking at."

"I know exactly what I'm looking at." I tapped the screen. "Ethan Quinn. Last seen leaving a corporate facility in Shanghai. The same facility that built this reset tech. The same one that's been scrubbing his records for two years."

Cade's hand closed over my wrist. Not hard. Just enough to stop me from hitting Enter. His fingers were cold, controlled. "You hit that key, you'll trigger a cascade that wipes half the core. Including the part that's keeping me stable."

I turned my head. He was close enough that I could see the tension in his jaw, the way his pupils had contracted to pinpoints. "You're lying."

"I'm not.