Chapter 22 · Her Mother's Basement

"Drop the gun, Maya. Now."

Iris didn't sound like a commander anymore. She sounded like a ghost. She was slumped against a rusted server rack, blood soaking through her tactical vest, eyes locked on the weapon in my hand.

I didn't lower it. I didn't even blink. I swung the barrel in a slow, lethal arc, pivoting from Iris’s forehead to Kade’s chest.

Kade was a mess. He was leaned against a concrete pillar, breath coming in ragged, wet hitches. He looked like he was held together by sheer willpower and a few strips of dirty gauze.

"Who did it?" My voice was flat. Cold. Jagged.

"Maya, put it down," Kade rasped. He tried to shift, a hiss of pain escaping his teeth. He didn't even flinch at the muzzle pointed at his heart. "You're not thinking straight."

"I'm thinking perfectly clear," I snapped. I stepped closer, boots crunching on the grit. This hidden vault smelled like ozone and old paper. A sterile grave. My mother's sanctuary. Her secret.

It felt like a trap.

"One of you is lying," I said. "One of you knows how she died. And one of you pulled the trigger.