Page 106 of Reckless: Chaos

“The vaccine.” The word tastes like ash as the final files decrypt. “It’s not...”

“A cure?” Alexander’s voice carries perfect timing. “No. It’s an upgrade. An improvement. Everything our father’s been working toward.”

The gun pressed to the back of my head feels almost redundant.

“Hello, sister.” His laugh holds no warmth. “Want to see how it ends?”

“You know,” I keep my fingers moving across the keyboard, letting the sound cover the fact that I’m shaking, “most siblings start with coffee. Maybe lunch. A littlehey, nice to meet youbefore the death threats.”

“Most siblings aren’t breaking into secure facilities.” The gun nudges my skull. “Then again, most siblings aren’t quite as... disappointing as you’ve turned out to be.”

Data scrolls across the screen—the vaccine’s true purpose unfolding in elegant lines of code. Not a cure. Not even close. A delivery system for something much worse.

“Let me guess.” My voice stays steady even as horror builds with each decrypted line. “Daddy’s perfect heir. The alpha son who gets to play with all his favorite toys.”

“And you could have been his perfect beta experiment.” He shifts, and I catch his reflection in the dark screen. Sterling’s face, but something harder. Colder. “Instead, you chose to be... this. Some hacktivist playing at heroics.”

The final file decrypts. My fingers pause over keys that could end everything—both Sterling’s plan and probably my life.

“You won’t pull that trigger.” The words come out calmer than I feel.

“No?” Amusement colors his tone. “And why’s that?”

“Because he wants me alive.” The pieces click together like corrupted code finally compiled. “All this—the tracking program, the virus, the fake vaccine. It was never just about killing betas randomly, was it? It was about systematic extinction.”

His laugh holds genuine pleasure. “See? You do have his mind. His way of seeing patterns.” The gun stays steady. “Which is why this is such a waste. You could be part of it. Part of creating a purer world.”

“By eliminating an entire designation?”

“By cleansing what never should have existed.” He moves into my peripheral vision, every motion precise. Calculated. “Think about it, sister. You’re living proof that betas are a genetic mistake. Sterling blood produced you—his only beta child. His greatest disappointment.”

My fingers hover over the enter key. One press and every news outlet in the city gets proof of what the vaccine really does. How it’s designed not to save betas, but to finish what the virus started.

“You know what’s funny?” I meet his eyes in the screen’s reflection. “For all his genius, all his planning, dear old dad made one huge mistake.”

“And what’s that?”

My smile feels like broken glass. “He let mom raise me to recognize monsters like him.”

I slam the enter key.

The gun fires.

And the world goes dark.

Chapter 24

Ryker

The thing about catastrophe—italways starts with something small. A scent out of place. A pattern disrupted. A silence where there should be sound.

This time, it’s Theo bursting into my office at 5 AM, heat-scent twisted with panic. “She’s gone.”

Two words. Just two words to bring my carefully ordered world crashing down.

“What do you mean, gone?” But I already know. Have known since I slipped that drive back into her room. Since I gave her the choice that wasn’t really a choice at all.

“Her room...” Theo’s voice cracks. “Everything’s perfect. Too perfect. Like a scene staged for maximum impact.”

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