Chapter 178
Chapter 178
The compound shuddered under Siena’s boots—an ominous, pulsing vibration, as if something buried deep in the infrastructure had awakened.
Red warning lights bled along the rooftop’s perimeter, painting Siena, Isla’s crumpled body, and the entire skyline in a hellish glow. For a heartbeat Siena couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. The hum grew louder, deepening into a mechanical growl beneath the concrete.
Leona’s voice still echoed in her mind.
Tick, tick, Siena… you’re already out of time.
“No,” Siena whispered, backing away from the ledge. “No, no, no—”
A crackle burst through her earpiece.
Damien’s voice—ragged, strained, furious.
“Siena. Answer me. What happened?”
Relief punched through her so sharply she almost dropped to her knees. “Damien—the failsafe—Leona triggered it. Or she’s about to. Isla—Damien, she’s been controlled this whole time.”
“I know,” Damien said. “Alec found her comm logs. We’re running scans, but—dammit—Siena, get off that roof. There’s something powering up beneath you.”
The vibrations intensified. Siena staggered.
“I’m not leaving Isla,” she shot back.
Alec’s voice cut in, breathless. “Siena, if you stay on that roof, you’ll be vaporized.”
“I’m not leaving her,” Siena repeated, lowering herself beside Isla’s limp form.
Blood seeped from Isla’s shoulder where the sniper’s bullet had ripped through. Her breathing was shallow but present.
Alive.
Barely.
Siena pressed her hand to the wound, fingers shaking. “Isla. Isla, stay with me.”
Isla’s lashes fluttered. A faint, broken sound escaped her. “She… she made me choose.”
“I know,” Siena whispered, voice breaking. “I know, but you’re not alone anymore. We’re going to stop it. You just have to hold on.”
The rooftop trembled again—so violently dust showered from the ventilation pipes.
A deep metallic roar rose from the floor beneath her, a sound that vibrated through Siena’s bones, ancient and mechanical and deadly.
Damien’s voice tore through comms again.
“Siena—MOVE.”
She looked over her shoulder—
and froze as thin lines of red light began to trace along the rooftop in geometric patterns, like a circuit grid activating underfoot.
The detonator had fallen.
But the system it synced to was still alive.
Isla coughed, body trembling. “It’s… automated. She doesn’t have to press anything. If the device doesn’t send a confirmation pulse… the system assumes she’s compromised.”
“And detonates the entire compound,” Siena breathed.
Isla nodded weakly. “There’s—no override.”
Siena swallowed the rising panic. “There’s always an override. Leona built this place with too much control. She always has a way out.”
“Siena—” Isla’s eyes filled with tears. “It’s not the compound she wants to erase.”
“What?” Siena whispered.
Isla’s lips parted, trembling.
“She wants to erase him.”
Siena’s heart froze.
Damien.
She surged to her feet. “Damien, Leona designed the failsafe to kill—”
“I know,” Damien said darkly. “Alec just confirmed it. The energy signature is concentrated beneath the primary command deck. She embedded a fusion cell into the foundation.”
“A fusion—Damien, that’ll level the entire district—”
“And I’ll stop it,” Damien snapped. “But you need to get out. Now.”
Siena shook her head. “I’m not leaving Isla.”
“You have sixty seconds before the charge hits critical mass.”
“Siena,” Alec added urgently, “the blast radius—”
But their voices blurred.
Because Isla grabbed Siena’s wrist with sudden, desperate strength.
“Go,” Isla gasped. “Please. If you stay, she wins twice.”
“No,” Siena whispered. “I’m not losing you.”
“You already lost me,” Isla breathed. “It’s too late.”
Siena’s throat tightened. “It’s never too late.”
The rooftop trembled again—hard enough that cracks spidered through the concrete.
Damien roared through the comm, “SIENA MOVE!”
And it wasn’t the command that made her obey.
It was fear.
She scooped Isla into her arms—ignoring the blood, the dead weight, the sting of pain lancing through her muscles—and staggered toward the rooftop entrance.
The door blew outward before she reached it.
Damien tore through the smoke, limping, blood still streaking his cheek, chest rising in ragged heaves. He took one look at the red lines glowing across the rooftop and lunged toward her.
“Siena!”
“Damien!” she cried.
He reached her, grabbing Isla from her arms with a protective, brutal efficiency she had never before seen from him. His jaw was tight with pain and fury, but his arms were steady.
“Go,” he ordered. “Stairwell. Now.”
She sprinted beside him, shoulder brushing his arm, matches his pace down the narrow concrete steps as the entire building vibrated with the awakening charge.
“Damien—how much time?” she panted.
“Thirty seconds.”
“Damien—”
“I know,” he growled.
They hit the next landing—only for the corridor ahead to explode inward as a shockwave burst through the wall.
Damien shoved Siena behind him, taking the brunt of falling debris on his back. He grunted—pain slicing his voice—but didn’t falter. His hand grabbed hers, squeezing hard enough to anchor her to the moment.
“Stay with me,” he rasped.
“I am,” she whispered.
His eyes burned into hers.
Not just with fear.
With something else.
Something raw.
Something she felt echoing in her own chest.
They stumbled forward, emerging into a lower hallway thick with smoke. Alarms shrieked from every direction. The lights flickered violently.
Alec’s voice crackled through comms, distant but frantic.
“I’m almost at the core! Damien—Siena—get the hell out!”
Damien lifted Isla in his arms, muscles trembling. Siena placed her hands under Isla’s legs, taking some of the weight.
Together they ran.
The corridor buckled behind them with a deep thunderous boom. Heat scorched their backs. Siena screamed as the blast nearly knocked her off her feet—but Damien caught her around the waist, arms locking around her instinctively.
They collided against a wall, bodies pressed flush, his breath hot at her neck.
“Siena—” His voice was a broken rasp. “Don’t stop. Don’t you dare stop.”
She looked up at him—
really looked—
and something snapped deep inside her.
She grabbed his face and kissed him.
Not gently.
Not gratefully.
But with the devastating, hungry kind of need that only comes when death is beating down the door.
Damien groaned into her mouth, his hand gripping the back of her neck, pulling her closer. His body pinned hers to the wall, his breath ragged, lips fierce and desperate. The world vibrated, dust raining down, alarms screaming—none of it mattered.
His mouth devoured hers, slow at first, then hard enough she felt his teeth graze her lip. Siena gasped, and he swallowed the sound, deepening the kiss until her legs went weak.
“Siena,” he breathed against her mouth, “I thought… I thought I lost you.”
“You’ll never lose me,” she whispered, fingers fisting in his scorched shirt, dragging him closer, wanting more, needing more—
He kissed her again, slower this time—
a vow,
a warning,
a surrender.
Another boom ripped through the building.
Damien tore his mouth from hers. “Move.”
And then—they were running again.
The exit was in sight.
Just a few more steps.
Alec’s voice screamed through comms, “Damien I CAN’T STOP IT—”
The hallway lit up in blinding red.
Damien stopped so abruptly Siena crashed into him.
“Damien—?”
He set Isla down gently against the wall and turned to Siena, gripping her face in both hands, eyes burning with something that ripped through her.
“Siena. Listen to me.”
“Damien—”
“If this goes—if I don’t make it—”
“No,” she hissed. “Don’t you say it.”
He leaned his forehead against hers, trembling. “If I don’t make it—run. Don’t come back for me.”
She choked on a sob. “I’m not leaving you.”
“You are,” Damien breathed. “Because I love you too damn much to let you die because of me.”
Her heart cracked open.
But before she could answer—
before she could say the words she had swallowed for too long—
The world erupted in white light beneath them.
A deafening rumble tore through the compound.
The floor buckled.
The walls split.
Heat roared upward like a dragon awakening from the earth.
Damien shoved Siena behind him, shielding her with his entire body—
As the blast surged toward them like a tidal wave of fire.