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“That's...” I can barely form the words. “That could be Luca.”

“That's what I thought, too,” Talon says grimly. “Age is right.

“Look at the starting bid.”

“Five million? That's?—"

“Three times higher than any other lot,” Talon finishes. “Just like Vesper.”

“This is our chance.” I stare at the screen, possibilities racing through my mind. “If we can access this auction…”

“We can find Luca,” Talon finishes, his expression hardening. “And maybe The Collector himself.”

I'm already typing, fingers flying across the keyboard as I pull up multiple windows. “I'll need to create a secure pathway. These auctions are heavily monitored. One wrong move and they'll know we're not legitimate buyers.”

“Can you get us in?” Talon asks, leaning closer to watch my screens.

“Give me three hours and enough caffeine, and I could hack into the Pentagon's most secure server,” I mutter, already deep in code. “But this is trickier. The Collector's tech guy will be good.”

“Better than you?” There's a hint of challenge in Talon's voice.

I shoot him a look. “Nobody's better than me.”

“Good because we’re counting on you.”

Talon nods. “We'll need to tell the others.”

“Not yet,” I say, my fingers already building the architecture for our digital infiltration. “Let me confirm it's viable first. No point getting Vesper's hopes up if we hit a dead end.”

“She deserves to know,” Talon counters, but there's hesitation in his voice.

“And she will. Once I've verified we can actually access the auction without getting flagged.” I glance at him, my expression hardening. “You want to explain to her why her brother slipped through our fingers because we rushed in unprepared?”

He exhales slowly, conceding the point. “Fine. How much time do you need?”

“I won’t know until I get into it and see what they’re working with. Hours, maybe half a day.”

“Deal. Then we bring everyone in.” Talon straightens, moving toward the door.

“Wait.” I hesitate, guilt gnawing at me again. “About what you saw...”

Talon pauses. “We all have our demons, Alex. Just make sure yours don't fuck this up for all of us. Especially for her. Take the fucking cameras down.”

“I will,” I promise, and Talon gives me one last hard look before he slips out of my room, closing the door behind him.

The moment he's gone, I drop my head into my hands, shame burning through me like acid. What the fuck is wrong with me? I've done some questionable shit in my life, but this...this is a new low.

“Fucking idiot,” I mutter, pushing away from my desk.

The code can wait fifteen minutes. I need to wash the shame off of me.

TALON

I still seeit every time I close my eyes. Alex, hunched forward, one arm buried beneath the waistband of his sweatpants, eyes glued to the monitor as Z and Oz took their turns with Vesper. Fuck. Some things burn themselves into your brain. You don’t come back from that.

The basement gym is pitch black when I flip the switch, fluorescent lights humming to life and revealing the sparse equipment we've managed to cram into the small space adjacent to Alex's medical setup. The smell of antiseptic from his little’operating room’ mingles with the scent of sweat and metal. It's 4:30 in the morning, and sleep is officially a lost cause.

I drop my water bottle and towel on the bench and jam my earbuds in, scrolling through my playlist until I find something angry enough to match my mood. The haunted melody of ‘Dangerous’ by Sleep Token thunders through my skull as I approach the punching bag hanging in the corner.