Page 142 of BounBound By Scars

Sebastian leaned forward, his tone grim. “I’ve got something… unrelated. But also not. I don’t really know how to categorize it.”

I frowned.

“Brenda Carson,” he said. “She and her two sons—twenty-three and twenty—were found murdered last night.”

I blinked. “Who the hell is that?”

“Garret Tyson’s ex-mistress,” Seb replied. “For fourteen years. The kids weren’t his.”

Beside me, Kaylan let out a sharp breath—something between a hiss and a gasp. Her whole body stiffened. I saw Logan reach over silently and take her hand. My lips twitched—almost. There was something grounding in the way they leaned on each other.

“Maybe Romlinson’s cleaning house,” Zarek said. “Tying off loose ends?”

“Could be,” Sebastian replied with a shrug. “Or we’re looking at a pattern. Serial hits, maybe. No way to know yet.”

He turned to me and Zane. “Anything new from the Pentagon files?”

I shook my head. “Nothing since the RLM discovery.”

Zane nodded. “We’ll dig deeper. I found some redacted files referencing something called Project Ruby. The title’s vague, but it’s flagged under internal control initiatives. Could be connected.”

“All right…” Sebastian leaned forward, bracing his palms on the table. “Let’s get to it.”

As the team began to disperse, Zane and I headed over to the workstations. My gaze drifted, one by one, across the tech team.

Could one of them be the leak?

It would make sense. If Kabir mentionedsystemsandloyalties, it wasn’t random. He was pointing me here. And if the rat had access to our core systems—Sentrix, ops tracking, comms—it had to be someone in this room.

“You’re glaring at them,” Zane muttered as he dropped into the chair beside my wheelchair.

I didn’t stop. “I’ll keep looking. Whether or not you believe me.”

He surprised me—reaching out, giving my hand a quick squeeze. “I do believe you,” he said quietly. “At least… I think I do. I’m just pissed he cloned the entire Sentrix system.”

I looked at him. “He had to go all in. If it wasn’t airtight, they would’ve known.”

He nodded, thoughtful. “Watch everyone. Carefully.”

Then, without another word, he spun in his chair and addressed the room.

“Listen up,” he called, glancing at his watch. “Effective immediately, as of 07:48 today, Kabir ‘Cipher’ Gill has been terminated from Blackthorn Security.”

A wave of gasps followed.

I didn’t look away. I watched—just like he told me to.

Harshita’s brows drew together in confusion.

Spencer glanced between Zane and me, blank as a loading screen.

Zane continued, voice firm. “He’s been marked a rogue asset.”

“What?” Abigail whispered under her breath.

Cody and Maverick looked equally perplexed, eyes wide.

And then—there it was.

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