The med suite door hissed shut behind Liam, but his words clung to the air like poison. "The tracker wasn't for him. It was for us."
Jace's hands shook as he wiped blood from my thigh. "He's lying. He has to be." But his voice lacked conviction.
I stared at the ceiling, my skin still humming from the scanner's invasive sweep. "What does it mean?"
Jace hesitated. Then, with a tap on his tablet, the wall screen lit up—a live feed of the penthouse's security system. Ethan stood in the war room, gripping Liam by the throat, slamming him into a glass display case. Shattered crystal rained down as Liam laughed, blood dripping from his split lip.
"You've been feeding him intel since day one," Ethan snarled.
Liam's grin was all teeth. "And you didn't notice? Pathetic."
Amir moved like a shadow behind them, my knife—the one he'd used to cut the trackers from my flesh—now pressed to Liam's ribs. "Where is he?"
"Closer than you think." Liam's eyes flicked to the camera—to me. "Ask Alex. She knows."
The feed cut to static.
Jace's breath hitched. "They'll kill him."
"Good." The word tore from my throat before I could stop it.
Jace's gaze snapped to me. "You don't mean that."
But I did. Because another memory had surfaced—Liam's hands on me in the dark, his mouth at my ear, whispering, "Victor says you scream prettier when you're scared."
The door burst open. Ethan filled the doorway, his knuckles raw, his shirt splattered with blood—Liam's blood. His storm-gray eyes locked onto me, then Jace's hands still on my bare skin.
"Out," Ethan ordered.
Jace fled.
Ethan didn't speak. He stalked to the med table, his fingers tracing the bandages on my ribs, my thigh, the bruises Liam had left. His touch burned. "He's been manipulating your memories. Your body." His palm slid higher, gripping the curve of my hip. "But you're mine."
I should've pushed him away. Instead, my legs fell open.
Ethan's nostrils flared. "Victor programmed you to respond to him. To want him." His other hand fisted in my hair, wrenching my head back. "But I'll rewrite every fucking nerve in your body if I have to."
Then his mouth was on mine, claiming, his teeth drawing blood. I moaned into the kiss, my hands scrabbling at his belt. He let me undo it, let me shove his pants down just enough to free his cock—thick and already leaking.
"Tell me you remember this," he growled, pushing into me with one brutal thrust.
I screamed, my back arching off the table. Because I did remember—Ethan above me, sweat dripping onto my breasts, his voice rough with possession: "Say my name."
The memory splintered when he bit my shoulder, his hips snapping harder. "Say it now."
"E-Ethan—!"
"Louder."
He fucked me like it was a punishment, like he could purge Victor's touch with his own. My thighs trembled, my nails carving half-moons into his back. Just as the pleasure crested, he stopped, pulling out entirely.
"Look," he ordered, turning my face toward the mirror.
Victor's reflection smirked back.
Ethan's hand clamped over my mouth before I could scream. "Watch," he hissed, sliding home again, his thrusts deliberate, showy. "Watch him realize you're mine."
Victor's image flickered, his smirk fading as Ethan's pace turned ruthless. My moans spilled around Ethan's fingers, my body clenching around him.
Then—a glitch. Victor's face morphed, his features twisting into Ethan's.
The mirror shattered.
Ethan came with a snarl, his teeth sinking into my neck as he spilled inside me. "Mine," he rasped against my pulse. "Mine."
LIAM'S CONFESSION
They dragged Liam into the med suite an hour later, his pretty face swollen, his left arm hanging at a wrong angle. Amir dumped him at the foot of my bed. "Talk."
Liam coughed blood, then grinned. "Victor's not just watching, sweetheart. He's waiting." His gaze dropped to the fresh bite mark Ethan had left on my neck. "He knew you'd run back to them. Knew you'd spread your legs for Ethan like a good little amnesiac."
Amir kicked Liam's ribs. "The point."
"The point," Liam wheezed, "is that the nanotech isn't just for memories. It's a relay." He licked his bloody lips. "Every time you come, Victor feels it."
The room went silent.
Jace's tablet clattered to the floor.
Ethan's fist connected with Liam's jaw again. "You're lying."
Liam spat out a tooth. "Why do you think he let you take her so easily? He wanted you to fuck her. He wanted to experience it through her skin." His laugh was guttural. "And oh, Ethan—he really enjoyed the show."
THE FIRE SCENE
That's when the memory hit—real, this time, not Victor's manipulation:
Fire. Everywhere. The penthouse's east wing engulfed in flames. Me, screaming, trapped under a beam. And Amir—always Amir—charging through the inferno, his hands burning as he lifted the wreckage off me. His scars weren't from my knife. They were from this.
I gasped, clutching my head. "The fire… it wasn't an accident."
Liam's smile vanished.
Amir went very still. "You remember."
Ethan grabbed Liam by the throat. "What did you do?"
Liam's confession came in a whisper: "Victor ordered it. To erase her before she could escape."
Then the real horror struck—I hadn't been the target that night.
They had.