CHAPTER 89

CHAPTER 90
Chapter 90:
Kane’s POV
We stepped out of the mirrored chamber and into a wide, open hallway. No more illusions. No mind tricks. Just steel walls, humming lights, and silence that pressed like a loaded gun against your back.
Gina walked beside me, quiet. Caroline’s hand was warm in mine, grounding.
Kelly took the lead.
The door at the end of the corridor opened before we touched it.
And there he stood.
Reynolds.
In a black suit, gloves on, his silver hair gleaming under fluorescent lights. Calm. Regal. Smiling like a proud father.
“Welcome,” he said.
Caroline stiffened. Gina hissed. My hand reached instinctively for my gun.
“Don’t,” Kelly warned suddenly, his voice cutting through the moment.
I paused, but only just.
Reynolds didn’t blink. “You made it through the split. Good. Very good. Not many do.”
“You always did enjoy watching people suffer in your experiments,” I growled, stepping forward. “You sick bastard.”
“Now, now,” Reynolds chided. “Is that any way to speak to the man who built your future?”
I pulled my gun.
Reynolds didn’t flinch.
“I should’ve ended you years ago,” I said, jaw clenched.
“Then why didn’t you?” Reynolds asked smoothly.
I was about to pull the trigger when—
Kelly stepped between us.
“What the hell are you doing?” I snapped.
Kelly turned, arms wide. “Not here, Kane.”
“You’re protecting him now?”
“Listen to me—” Kelly’s voice dropped. “This isn’t the time.”
But I saw it then.
The shift in his shoulders. The way he didn’t reach for his own gun. The way his foot slid slightly… subtly… closer to mine.
“You knew,” I whispered. “You’ve known all along.”
Caroline’s gasp broke something in the silence.
Kelly didn’t deny it.
He turned.
And pointed a gun at me.
The world tilted.
“What are you doing?” Gina shouted behind him.
Kelly’s hand didn’t shake. His eyes didn’t waver.
“Kane,” he said quietly, “you always knew I wasn’t built to be your shadow.”
“You son of a—”
“Don’t,” Kelly cut in. “I didn’t come here to kill you. But if you pull that trigger, I will.”
Gina looked at him, horror blooming in her eyes. “Kelly… you said you hated him. You said you wanted Reynolds dead….”
“I do,” Kelly replied without looking at her. “But not yet.”
Reynolds stepped forward, amused. “Ah, the family reunion. Touching, really.”
“You planned this,” I spat. “Letting Raymond die. Luring us in.”
“I simply gave Kelly the opportunity to pick a side,” Reynolds said. “And it seems he has.”
The gun never left my face.
Caroline moved beside me, slow, one hand behind her back. “Kelly,” she said gently. “This isn’t you.”
“I’ve always been this,” he said. “Just… quieter about it.”
“You said you loved me,” Gina said, voice broken now.
Kelly’s expression faltered. Just for a second.
“I do.”
“Then prove it,” she whispered.
His fingers twitched.
And for a second…
Just one….
I saw the boy who’d once followed me into gunfire. The man who’d dragged me out of a collapsing building. The brother I’d almost trusted again.
But then he spoke.
“I’m sorry.”
And his finger curled around the trigger.
Kelly’s POV
The gun was still pointed at Kane.
My finger rested just near the trigger.
And for a second—just a second—I wasn’t standing in front of him in Reynolds’ lair. I wasn’t thirty. I wasn’t trained, brutal, or broken.
I was nine.
Twelve Years Ago
Somewhere in Northern Province
Kelly – Age 9 | Kane – Age 12
It had rained that night.
I still remember the smell. Ash and wet leaves. Our sister, Maylee, had sung herself to sleep beside me, her little hand tangled in mine. Mom was in the kitchen laughing. Dad was watching something on the radio. Kane was outside with a flashlight, pretending to be a spy.
“I’ll protect you,” he’d whispered to me earlier. “Always.”
It was the kind of promise you believed when you were a kid. When your brother was your world.
Then the fire came.
Not the soft flickering kind. The cruel, devouring kind.
It swallowed the windows. The screams came after. Dad yelling. Maylee crying. Mom's voice, garbled, disappearing into smoke.
Kane had gotten to me first. He dragged me out through a window, his arm bleeding from the glass. He told me to wait. He was going back for the others.
I waited.
But he came back alone.
And everything else burned.
I screamed for weeks in the facility.

Two Months Later
The IQ Enhancement Lab – Project Thresh
They called it a gift.
Reynolds called it purpose.
He found us. Told us we were meant for something greater. They called Kane “Aptis,” the one with sharp instincts. They called me “Archo,” the emotional control variable.
I didn’t know what that meant.
Not until they strapped kids to cold chairs and pumped their minds full of lights and noise until their eyes stopped blinking. Kids like me. Kids who looked like Maylee.
They tested us with pain. With puzzles. With needles.
Kane was transferred a month in—moved to a “more advanced unit.” I thought he’d come back.
He didn’t.
They told me he abandoned me.
And I believed them.
So I learned how to scream without sound. How to stare at the white ceiling for hours. How to survive.
Until the night it became too much.
I broke into the storage room. Took the fuel. Poured it down the hall.
I locked the doors so they couldn’t escape.
And I lit the match.
The flames roared like a voice I hadn’t heard in years.
It was the only time I ever felt free.
Now
Back in Reynolds' Lair
“Kane,” I said softly, watching his eyes. “You promised me you’d protect us.”
His jaw twitched.
“But they died anyway,” I whispered. “And when I needed you most… you left.”
His mouth opened slightly—silent. No excuses. No lies. Just pain.
“Do you know what they did to me in that lab?” I continued, voice trembling now. “Do you know how many kids they tore apart trying to copy your brain?”
Reynolds stood in the background, smiling like a puppeteer watching his strings tangle.
“You left me, Kane,” I said, my hand steady. “You saved yourself.”
“I didn’t know,” Kane finally said. “They lied to me, Kelly. They told me you died in the fire.”
My hand flinched.
“Every day,” he added, “I blamed myself.”
My chest ached.
But pain wasn’t enough anymore.
Revenge… it had grown teeth.
Behind me, Gina stirred. I knew she didn’t understand the whole story. She didn’t have to. She saw the broken pieces and tried to hold them.
But this?
This was the crack in the mirror.
“I don’t want to kill you,” I said.
“Then don’t,” Kane whispered.
I lowered the gun an inch.
Then Reynolds spoke. “If you can’t pull the trigger, Kelly… I will.”
My head snapped toward him.
And for the first time, I realized:
He thought he owned me.
Like he owned all of us.
And maybe… just maybe…
It was time we learned what a fire truly felt like.