Chapter 76

Chapter 76
One day prior.
The dim light of the bunker flickered overhead, casting long shadows along the cold concrete walls. Seamus sat across from Mika, his hands clasped together, his expression unreadable. The air between them was heavy, thick with unspoken tension. He had just told her—laid it all out, the escape plan, the money, the accounts he had set up in her name. The way out he had carved for her, away from him, away from all of this.
She shut him down before he could finish.
“No.”
His brows furrowed, a flicker of something dangerous passing through his blue eyes. “No?”
Mika leaned forward, pressing her palms against the table between them. “You think we can just walk away? That they’ll let us go?”
Seamus’ jaw clenched, but he didn’t respond. He knew the answer as well as she did.
“They would hunt us to the ends of the earth.” Her voice was steady, firm, the finality of it ringing through the room. “You. Me. There is no version of this where we live unless we do it on our terms.”
He exhaled through his nose, leaning back in the chair, his gaze never leaving hers. “What are you suggesting?”
Mika’s lips curled into something sharp, something dark and determined.
“We fake our deaths.”
Silence stretched between them. The hum of the old generator was the only sound in the room, the weight of her words sinking deep.
Seamus’ fingers tapped against the table, slow and measured, his thoughts turning behind his cold expression. “You realize what you’re saying?”
“Better than you do.” Mika sat back, crossing her arms over her chest. “If we run, they’ll chase us. If we disappear, they’ll find us. But if we die—if we make it convincing enough—they’ll have no reason to look.”
His mouth pressed into a firm line. He hated it. Hated that she was right. Hated that this was the only way.
“They’ll never buy it unless it’s flawless,” he muttered, rubbing a hand over his face.
Mika nodded. “We have to be careful. Every detail has to be airtight. The Syndicate doesn’t believe in coincidences. We need bodies. Identifiable remains. A trail that leads exactly where we want it to lead.”
Seamus stared at her, something unreadable flickering behind his eyes. “You already thought this through.”
She didn’t flinch. “Of course I did.”
That was what made them different. What made them the same. While he had been trying to give her an escape, she had already been planning the impossible.
His tongue clicked against his teeth. “Bodies, evidence, and a reason for them to stop looking.”
Mika’s gaze was unwavering. “And no mistakes.”
He leaned forward, his voice low and even. “We have one shot at this.”
She smirked. “Then let’s make it count.”
Mika leaned forward, her fingers tracing slow, deliberate circles on the tabletop. The plan was already fully formed in her mind, each detail sharpened to a deadly edge.
Seamus watched her, his face unreadable, but she could feel the tension in his body. He was waiting. Waiting for her to lay it out, to see if this impossible escape was even possible.
She exhaled through her nose, steadying herself before she spoke. "Kiernan is the key."
Seamus arched a brow. "How?"
"He wants you dead more than anyone else. He wants to be the one to do it. We let him."
His expression darkened, but he didn’t interrupt. He was listening.
Mika continued, her voice low and deliberate. "You get stabbed. Badly. It has to be real enough that anyone watching—anyone tracking this—believes you’re not walking out of that bunker."
Seamus’ jaw flexed, his fingers drumming once against the table. "And you?"
Mika’s lips curled slightly, though there was no humor in it. "I do exactly what they expect me to do. I lose it. I break down, I make it messy. I make it loud. And then... I blow the place to hell."
A slow breath passed through Seamus’ lips. "And the bodies?"
"We find them." Mika’s voice was calm, certain. "People no one will miss, but people who look enough like us that once they’re burned beyond recognition, the Syndicate won’t question it."
Seamus leaned back, studying her. "You make it sound easy."
"It won’t be," she admitted. "But it’s the only way. The Syndicate doesn’t just let people walk away. They’ll chase us to the ends of the earth unless they have a reason not to. And dead people don’t run."
For a long time, he said nothing. He just watched her, eyes burning with something unreadable, something primal. Then, finally, he nodded once.
"Then we go hunting."
Mika smiled. But it wasn’t warm. It was sharp, lethal.
"We go hunting."