70. Jonah
Jonah
N obody fires.
For one impossible second—
Nobody moves at all.
Kade stands in the ruined doorway like he owns the world.
Like bullets don’t apply to him.
Smoke curls through the corridor behind him.
Emergency lights paint the walls red.
And he just smiles.
Cal’s rifle is up instantly.
Lance’s too.
Vale slowly turns toward him with an expression so cold it barely looks human.
But Kade?
Kade looks straight at Sienna.
Only Sienna.
“Well,” he says softly, “there she is.”
Every instinct in my body screams danger.
Not normal danger.
Not tactical danger.
Something worse.
Predator danger.
I step in front of Sienna automatically.
Kade’s smile widens slightly.
“Protective,” he murmurs. “I can see why she likes you.”
“Funny,” Lance says flatly. “I was just thinking about shooting you in the face.”
Kade ignores him completely.
His eyes remain locked on Sienna.
And for the first time since I met her—
I see genuine fear move through her.
Not panic.
Not weakness.
Recognition.
Like she already knows exactly how dangerous this man truly is.
Kade notices too.
“You remember now, don’t you?”
Sienna’s breathing sharpens.
“Shut up.”
“Ah,” he says softly. “You do.”
My pulse spikes immediately.
“What’s he talking about?”
Kade finally glances at me.
Disinterest flickers across his face instantly.
Like I’m irrelevant.
“I’m talking about the night she begged me not to kill them.”
The room freezes.
Sienna goes pale.
“No—”
“You remember the fire now, don’t you?” Kade continues gently. “The lab. The screaming.”
“STOP TALKING.”
Her voice cracks hard enough my chest tightens.
Kade tilts his head slightly.
“But you were always my favorite part, Sienna. Even then.”
Something inside me turns lethal.
I move before I even realize it.
One second I’m beside her—
The next I’ve got Kade slammed hard against the concrete wall with my forearm crushing his throat.
Weapons snap up instantly around us.
Cal curses.
“Jonah—”
Kade doesn’t fight back.
That’s the terrifying part.
He just looks at me calmly while my hand tightens harder against his neck.
“You should kill me now,” he says quietly.
The words hit wrong immediately.
Too easy.
Too intentional.
My instincts scream trap.
Then—
Sienna shouts.
“JONAH WAIT!”
I look back at her.
And see absolute horror on her face.
Not fear for Kade.
Fear for me.
“The biometric link,” she gasps. “If he dies before we shut down the system—”
Cold crashes through me.
Kade smiles slightly despite my arm crushing his throat.
“There it is.”
Son of a bitch.
He built himself into the trigger architecture.
Lance swears viciously.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
Kade finally looks at Sienna again.
“You always did understand my work better than anyone else.”
“You’re insane.”
“No,” he says softly. “I’m inevitable.”
I slam him harder into the wall.
Concrete cracks behind his head.
Still—
He smiles.
“What do you want?” I snarl.
“For you,” Kade says calmly, “to lose.”
The overhead monitors suddenly flicker again.
Camera feeds explode across every screen.
Seventeen children.
All crying.
All terrified.
And now—
Each one has a visible countdown beside their heartbeat monitor.
00:09:48
Sienna stumbles back a step.
“No…”
Kade watches her carefully.
Studying every reaction.
“You built a remarkable system,” he says softly. “Adaptive. Intelligent. Capable of evolving far beyond its creators.”
“You turned children into bombs!”
“Sacrifices,” Kade corrects calmly. “For progress.”
Rage detonates through the room.
Cal looks one second away from unloading his entire rifle.
Vale’s face twists with disgust.
Even Elizabeth stops crying long enough to stare at Kade like he’s a monster.
And maybe the worst part?
Kade notices none of it.
Because he genuinely believes he’s right.
Then his gaze returns to Sienna again.
“Come back to me,” he says quietly.
The room stills.
My hand tightens harder around his throat.
“What?”
“You can still fix this,” Kade tells her softly. “You and I together. Like before.”
Sienna looks sick.
“I would rather die.”
Something dangerous flickers behind Kade’s eyes then.
Not rage.
Worse.
Disappointment.
And suddenly—
The countdown clocks drop by an entire minute at once.
00:08:31
Cal jerks toward the screens.
“What the hell?!”
Kade smiles.
“You’re running out of time.”