Chapter 31 · Mom Left a Monster

Kade's mom was alive.

Inside the core.

Mira watched him go still, the kind of still that meant his brain was catching up to something his body already knew was going to hurt. The message from her father was still glowing on the cracked display in front of them, three lines of code that had taken him everything he had left to send out.

*Subject V-17 / pre-integration host / sealed lower chamber.*

Kade's hand was on the edge of the table. His knuckles were white.

"Kade."

He didn't look at her. His voice came out flat. "How long."

"I don't know."

"Guess."

Mira pulled the display closer, scanning the timestamp embedded in the header. Her stomach dropped. "Four years. Maybe five."

"Five years." He said it like he was testing the weight. "They had her for five years and I thought she just—" He stopped. His jaw worked. "I thought she left."

Mira wanted to reach for him. She didn't. He looked like one wrong touch would crack him open, and she wasn't sure either of them could afford that right now.

The air in the room shifted.

Kade's head snapped up.

Mira felt it too.