Chapter 25 The Traitor's Truth
ARIA'S POV
I pressed my back against a tree near the old boathouse, watching for any sign of a trap.
Luna had been gone for an hour. Cross had Kael. I was alone with evidence that meant nothing if everyone I cared about died.
Marcus's text had been simple: I can help. Please give me a chance to explain. Boathouse. Midnight. Come alone.
Perfect place for an ambush. But I was out of options.
I checked my phone. 11:58 PM. Two minutes.
Taking a deep breath, I walked toward the boathouse. The door creaked as I pushed it open. "Marcus? I'm here."
"Aria." Marcus stepped from the shadows, hands raised. "Thank you for coming. I know you have no reason to trust me—"
"You're right. I don't." I kept my hand on the knife hidden in my jacket. "You betrayed us to Cross. People died because of you."
"I know." Marcus's voice broke. "But I need you to understand why." He pulled out his phone. "Look at this. Please."
I snatched it from him, ready to bolt if this was a trick.
The screen showed a photo. Two kids—maybe twelve and fourteen years old—in a cell with concrete walls. Both looked terrified.
"My siblings," Marcus said quietly. "Eli and Sarah. Cross kidnapped them three years ago."
I looked up sharply. "What?"
"Cross called me to his office my freshman year. Showed me live video of my brother and sister locked in a cell. Said if I didn't cooperate—if I didn't feed him information—he'd kill them."
My anger wavered. "You're lying."
"I wish I was." Marcus swiped to the next photo. More recent. The boy taller. The girl thinner, more scared. "He sends proof they're alive once a month. As long as I obey, he keeps them breathing."
"Why didn't you tell someone? The police?"
"Cross has connections everywhere. The police chief is on his payroll. And Cross made it clear—if I told anyone, my siblings would die before I got within a mile of them."
I wanted to believe he was lying. But the pain in his eyes looked real.
"What do you want from me?" I asked.
"Help." Marcus stepped closer. "Cross texted me an hour ago. Said if I bring you to him within six hours, he'll release Eli and Sarah. But I don't believe him. I think he'll kill them anyway."
"So what's your plan?"
"We take Cross down together." Marcus's eyes burned with determination. "We expose everything. Force him to tell us where he's keeping my siblings. Then we free everyone—Kael, Luna, my brother and sister, all the enhanced subjects."
"That's suicide. We're two people against his entire army."
"Maybe. But it's better than surrendering." Marcus pulled out a flash drive. "I've been secretly recording Cross for three years. Every meeting. Every order. Every crime. I couldn't use it because he had my siblings. But now, together we might actually destroy him."
I stared at the flash drive. "Why should I trust you?"
"Because I'm trusting you." Marcus set it on the table between us. "I'm giving you three years of recordings. Evidence that could save everyone or get me killed. That's how serious I am."
Against every logical thought, I believed him.
"Show me what's on these recordings," I said.
Marcus pulled out his laptop. We watched video after video of Cross's crimes. But one video made my blood run cold.
Cross was talking to someone off-camera two weeks ago.
"The Sinclair twins are the key," Cross said. "Once we have them both, we can create an entire generation of enhanced subjects with their DNA."
"And if they refuse?" a woman's voice asked.
"We don't need their cooperation. Just their genetic material." Cross smiled. "Aria will provide eggs. Asher will provide samples. We can create fifty embryos. Maybe more."
I felt sick. "He wants to use me as breeding stock."
"It gets worse," Marcus said. He fast-forwarded to another video from yesterday.
Cross was on the phone. "Once we have Aria and complete Kael's enhancement, we activate the signal. Every enhanced subject worldwide comes under our direct control. They'll eliminate anyone who opposes us."
"When?" the person asked.
"Seventy-two hours. The Genetic Purity Summit. We demonstrate our enhanced army. Those who don't join us... our army will handle them."
I looked at Marcus in horror. "He's planning mass murder."
"Not just murder. A coup." Marcus closed the laptop. "He wants to use enhanced subjects as soldiers to force governments to accept the Legacy Program."
"We have to stop him," I said.
Before Marcus could answer, my phone buzzed. A video message from Cross.
The video showed enhancement tables. Kael unconscious on one, machines attached to his body. Luna on another, struggling. Dr. Park on a third, defeated.
Cross stood in the center.
"Hello, Aria. As you can see, I have everyone you care about. Kael's enhancement is sixty percent complete. Luna's begins in one hour. But I'm reasonable. Surrender yourself in four hours, and I'll stop all three procedures. Your friends keep their minds."
He smiled coldly.
"Or refuse. Stay hidden. And I'll complete all three enhancements with full behavioral modification. Kael will forget he ever loved you. They'll become my loyal soldiers and hunt you down."
Cross checked his watch.
"Four hours, Aria. Everyone you love, or your freedom. Choose wisely."
The video ended.
Marcus and I stared at each other.
"What are you going to do?" he asked.
I looked at the flash drive. At the laptop. At my phone showing people I loved strapped to tables.
"We're going to save them," I said. "All of them. And destroy Cross in the process."
"How?"
I pulled up schematics Luna had stolen. "The medical facility has one weakness. The power grid. If we cut power, enhancement machines stop. Security fails. Everything goes dark."
"Enhanced subjects don't need lights," Marcus pointed out.
"But they're programmed to follow Cross's orders. If we separate him from them during the blackout, they'll be confused. We use that chaos to rescue our people."
Marcus studied the plans. "It's risky. We'll probably die trying."
"I know." I looked at him. "But I'd rather die fighting than live knowing I abandoned everyone."
Marcus smiled—a real smile. "Kael was right about you. You're completely insane and absolutely fearless."
"Is that a yes?"
"Hell yes." Marcus stood, offering his hand. "Let's save our family and burn Cross's empire to the ground."
I shook his hand.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number: Aria, this is Dr. Park. Cross thinks I'm unconscious but I'm faking. There's a kill switch. A way to free all enhanced subjects simultaneously. But it requires—
The message cut off.
Thirty seconds later, another video from Cross.
Dr. Park being injected. His eyes rolled back. Body went limp.
"Dr. Park tried to message you. Unwise. Now his enhancement begins immediately. Three hours and fifty-four minutes left, Aria."
The video ended.
"A kill switch," Marcus breathed. "That could free all enhanced subjects. They'd turn against Cross."
"But we don't know where it is."
"Then we find it." Marcus grabbed his laptop. "In three hours and fifty-three minutes."
We had less than four hours to plan an impossible rescue and stop a madman from starting a war.
The odds were terrible.
But I wasn't alone anymore.
Marcus and I were going to war.
And Cross had no idea what was coming.