Chapter 687
On the surveillance feed.
Sienna was injecting a vial of pale blue liquid into Silas’s vein.
Jarred stared at the screen, his fingernails digging so hard into his palms they nearly broke the skin.
He never interfered with Sienna’s lab.
Until this afternoon, when his subordinates delivered a risk assessment report.
The words ‘live-subject testing’ seared into his eyes.
When Jarred appeared in the corridor, no one dared to stop him at first.
But when he forced his way forward, three security guards immediately flanked him.
Jarred easily locked the first man’s wrist and slammed him into the wall.
He drove his knee into the second man’s stomach, and planted a brutal kick square in the chest of the third.
The guards didn’t dare fight back with lethal force, their low murmurs of protest bleeding through the walls.
A second later, the lab doors were violently shoved open from the outside.
The overpowering scent of sterile antiseptics rushed out.
Jarred stood in the doorway, a terrifying aura of violence radiating from his rigid frame.
There was no outright fury in his eyes, only a suffocating, heavy silence.
His dark shirt collar was perfectly crisp, his sharp features as cold as ever.
But his face was lined with days of relentless exhaustion, masking a tension no one else could see.
The second he breached the lab, he didn’t even glance at Silas lying on the bed.
His eyes locked onto one person, and one person only: Sienna.
Sienna had her back to him, her head bowed as she recorded data.
She heard the commotion outside, but remained completely unbothered, radiating an intense focus that commanded absolute silence.
Silas lay on the hospital bed, his face as pale as a sheet.
His eyelashes were half-lowered, his breathing so shallow it was almost imperceptible.
From Jarred’s angle, he couldn’t see Silas’s exact condition.
All he knew was that Silas looked like he was fading fast.
A dark shadow fell over Jarred’s eyes, his face turning an icy, ashen hue.
Every inch of him radiated the oppressive calm before a devastating storm.
Luna and Thea stood up almost simultaneously.
Both women instantly sensed the explosive anger rolling off Jarred.
Instinctively, they stepped forward to block the door behind them.
To them, Jarred’s violent entrance meant he was here to take his rage out on Sienna.
Luna’s eyes were full of blatant caution as she spoke first.
“Captain Sterling, this is Sienna’s private lab. No unauthorized personnel allowed. Get out, right now p>
Thea’s presence was razor-sharp, meeting his furious gaze without yielding an inch.
“We are at a critical stage in the trials If you truly care about the bigger picture, Jarred, whatever you. have to say can wait until we’re done p>
The two stood shoulder to shoulder, fully prepared for a confrontation.
But the man in the doorway remained dead silent.
Jarred’s thin lips were pressed into a grim line, his pitch-black eyes sweeping heavily over them.
His gaze bypassed their shoulders, piercing straight through the glass partition to lock onto the slender silhouette working tirelessly inside.
After a long moment, he finally spoke, his voice vibrating with barely restrained fire.
“Silas is a lunatic, and you’re all playing along with him p>
Luna flared up instantly, firing back without hesitation.
“What else are we supposed to do? Conventional treatments are completely useless against the poison in Maloney’s body
Aside from live-subject testing, there is no plan B.
If there were even a fraction of another option, Sienna would never have agreed to this p>
Thea’s eyes turned even colder. “I’d like to ask you, Jarred—whose brother is Maloney?
Who is Sienna trying to save? Who is shouldering the risks no one else dares to take p>
The room plunged into a dead silence.
Jarred’s handsome face hardened, the anger freezing on his features.
His dark eyes narrowed dangerously, a tempest raging in their depths.
He wasn’t here to blame Sienna, nor was he here to pick a fight.
He had already bypassed all the protocols and investigated every move made in this lab.
He knew exactly what experiment was taking place, and he fully understood the lethal stakes involved.