Chapter 1038
She glanced at Alistair. He had his gun raised, but there was no clear shot—Bastian was using Liam as a human shield.
Skye looked down at the water. Floating near her foot was the heavy brass base of a lamp from the lab display. She hooked her toe under it.
“Bastian!” she shouted. “Beatrice hated you!”
Bastian flinched. “What?”
𝘑𝘰𝘪𝗻 𝘵h𝗼𝘂𝗌а𝗇dѕ 𝗈f 𝘧𝖺𝗻ѕ 𝗼ո g𝖺𝘭𝗇𝘰𝘃𝘦𝘭𝘴.с𝘰𝗆
“She told me! Before she died! She said you were small and weak. And she loved the Administrator—not you!”
It was a lie. Or half a truth. But it hit the mark.
Bastian roared, his focus breaking for a split second.
Skye pressed the butt of her pistol against the lamp base, using it like a lever to launch it forward. She couldn’t kick—her balance was shot—but the makeshift catapult worked. The brass base flew through the air, trailing a arc of water, and struck Bastian square in the knee.
Bone cracked.
Bastian buckled.
Liam spun around and seized the knife hand with his good arm. He twisted. The knife fell.
Liam shoved his father backward. Bastian tripped over the submerged debris and went down hard, the back of his head connecting with the jagged edge of the broken glass tank.
He went under.
He didn’t come up.
Liam stood there, chest heaving, staring at the spot where his father had vanished beneath the murky blue water. A cloud of red began to bloom in the stillness.
“Liam!” Skye grabbed his arm. “We have to go! Now!”
The lights flickered and died, replaced by emergency red strobes. The air was thick and impossible to breathe.
Liam looked at her, dazed. “He’s…”
“He’s gone,” Alistair said, grabbing Liam’s other arm. “And we’re next if we don’t move.”
They dragged Liam to the hole.
“Ladies first,” Alistair said, pushing Skye toward the chute.
Skye slid down—a terrifying plunge through the dark, scraping her elbows raw—until she splashed into a pool of cold, dirty water below. Ethan was there, helping Julian onto a dry ledge.
“Got you,” Ethan said, pulling Skye up.
Alistair came down next. Then Liam.
They were in the old storm drains. The air smelled of rot and mold, but it was breathable.
“Is everyone okay?” Skye asked, coughing.
“Alive,” Alistair said, checking his gun. “That’s enough.”
“We need to keep moving,” Julian said. “We have to destroy the evidence. If the authorities find the vault intact, they’ll find the fake lab, the bodies, everything.”
“I’m on it,” Alistair said. He pulled a remote detonator from his pocket. “I planted charges on the support columns in the library before I came down. It won’t destroy the whole house, but it will collapse the entrance to the vault and bury this mess.”
“Do it,” Julian commanded.
Alistair pressed the button. A dull thump shook the earth above them, followed by the grinding groan of collapsing masonry.
They began to trudge through the sludge. Liam walked at the back, silent. Skye fell behind to walk beside him.
She took his hand. It was ice cold.
“You saved me,” she said softly.
Liam didn’t look at her. “I killed him.”