The darkness didn't lift—it pulsed, like the room itself was breathing. Someone's hand clamped over my mouth. Ethan's. His lips brushed my ear: "Don't scream."
A second later, emergency lights flickered on, casting the room in blood-red hues. Jace was already at his tablet, fingers flying. "The feed was internal. He's got access to the penthouse systems." His voice cracked. "He's always had access."
Liam rolled off the bed, his grin gone feral. "Guess that explains how he knew where to find her in the alley." He pulled a knife from his boot—my knife, the one with A.C. on the hilt—and tossed it to Amir. "Time to check her properly."
Ethan didn't move from between my thighs. "Jace. Scan her. Everywhere."
Jace's Adam's apple bobbed. "I-I need her on the metal table in the med suite. For accuracy."
Trey hauled me up before I could protest, his massive hands spanning my waist. "No more games." He carried me down the hall like I weighed nothing, the others following. The med suite was all steel and cold blue light. The table clicked when Trey set me down, restraints sliding over my wrists and ankles.
I thrashed. "Don't—"
"Shhh." Liam leaned over me, his breath sweet with whiskey. "Remember the rules, princess? Hold still, and it won't hurt." His teeth grazed my collarbone. "Much."
Jace approached with a scanner, his glasses reflecting the screen's glow. "This will detect subdermal trackers. Victor favors the rib cage, the inner thigh, and…" He trailed off, cheeks flushing.
Ethan's jaw tightened. "Do it."
The scanner beeped as Jace ran it over my torso. It screamed when it passed my left rib. "There," Jace whispered. A dot of red light pulsed beneath my skin.
Amir didn't hesitate. He pressed the tip of my knife to the spot. "Bite down," he ordered, shoving his leather belt between my teeth.
The blade went in. White-hot pain. I screamed into the belt, back bowing off the table. Ethan pinned my hips down, his grip brutal. "Almost done."
Amir flicked the tiny metal chip onto the tray. "One down."
Jace swallowed hard, moving the scanner lower. It shrieked again near my inner thigh. Liam laughed, his fingers spreading my legs wider. "Knew he'd put one here. Old bastard loved marking his territory."
Ethan backhanded Liam so fast I barely saw it. "Touch her again, and I'll remove your fingers."
Liam licked blood from his lip, unrepentant. "You're the one holding her open for Amir, boss."
It was true. Ethan's hands were splayed on my thighs, his thumbs digging into tender flesh. His gaze locked onto mine as Amir made the second cut. Tears streaked my temples, but Ethan didn't look away. "Breathe," he ordered, and I did, shuddering through the pain.
The scanner beeped a third time.
Jace went pale. "It's… deeper."
No one spoke. The scanner's light hovered over my pubic bone.
Victor's voice slithered through the room's speakers again: "Did you really think I'd let her go so easily?"
Ethan snarled, flipping the scanner off. "We're doing this manually." His fingers hooked into the waistband of my thong. "Last chance to tell us where it is, Alex."
I sobbed, shaking my head. "I don't know!"
Amir's knife glinted. "Then we check everywhere."
THE MIRROR GAME
They didn't find the third tracker.
They found something else.
After the cuts, the blood, the humiliating spread of my legs under clinical lights, Jace finally detected the anomaly—not metal, but nanotech, threaded through my nervous system. "It's how he's manipulating her memories," Jace breathed. "And her… arousal."
Liam's eyebrows shot up. "Wait. You're saying Victor wired her to get wet on command?"
Ethan's fist shattered a monitor.
That's when I saw it—in the broken screen's reflection, just for a second: Victor's face, smirking behind Ethan's shoulder. His lips moved, but the words came from my mouth:
"He made me like this."
Ethan whirled, gun drawn, but the reflection was gone.
LIAM'S SECRET
They left me alone in the med suite, half-naked and trembling, with only Jace to monitor my vitals. He wouldn't look at me, his fingers typing furiously. "I'll deactivate the neural interference," he muttered. "Just… try to sleep."
The door hissed open. Liam.
He leaned against the wall, rolling my knife between his fingers. "You're wondering why I'm not afraid of Ethan." His smile didn't reach his eyes. "It's because Victor promised me something better."
Jace froze. "Liam—"
"Shhh, genius." Liam pressed the knife's tip to Jace's throat. "I'm not here for you." He turned to me, his free hand sliding up my bare leg. "Victor wants you to remember one thing tonight." His mouth brushed my ear.
"The tracker in your thigh? It wasn't for him. It was for us."
Then he was gone, leaving the scent of whiskey and betrayal behind.