Chapter 32 · You’re staying right there

He tried to step past her. His knees dipped.

Mara shoved him against the nearest pillar.

"You’re staying right there."

Rhys’s hand closed around her waist before she could turn away. Not hard enough to hurt. Hard enough to stop her from leaving.

"The archive is thirty feet ahead," he said. "The vault opens for three minutes."

"And you’re bleeding on the floor."

"Then don’t waste time staring at it."

"I’m going to pull the bolt out."

"No."

"You keep saying that like it has ever worked."

She dragged the compact cutter from her belt.

Rhys caught her other wrist. His face had gone pale beneath the sharp lines of it, but his eyes were still fixed on hers.

"If you pull it, the charge discharges through the link."

Mara’s fingers tightened around the cutter. "You knew?"

"I read the model."

"You didn’t tell me."

"You would’ve tried to cut it out anyway."

"I’m trying to save you."

"That’s the problem."

His grip loosened, just a little.

Mara heard the words under the words. He wasn’t worried about the bolt.