Chapter 76 · The Truth in His Gun

The emergency lights snapped on, bathing Lucas's face in red.

His hand still covered my stomach. My back was pinned to his chest, every hard line of him trapped against me by the stalled lift.

I could feel his heartbeat through his coat.

Too fast for a man pretending he had everything under control.

"If you wanted me dead," I said, "you would've let the field take me."

"I didn't want you dead before I knew who you were."

I went still.

His eyes met mine in the red light.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means I'm done pretending your file makes sense."

"My file says Evelyn Voss died twelve years ago."

"Your file says a lot of convenient things."

"And you believed it."

"I believed what my father put in front of me."

"That's not better."

"I didn't say it was."

The lift groaned around us. Hot metal pressed against my back. His breath brushed my temple every time he inhaled.

I shoved at his arm. "You believed I was a dead woman, then dragged me into your tower because you needed my bloodline."

"I needed the only person who could open the core."

"There it is."