Page 44 of Cara

A gym, combat area, gun range, intelligence room, coding lab. And then he points past me. “Those rooms over there are designated for those who want to learn pain suppression.”

The bolted doors entrap me with a certain kind of dread, unable to shake off the ominous weight in the air, the state of alarm that sounds in my head like warning sirens. “How does that work?”

“Umm, isolation rooms. Torture,” he says, clearly uncomfortable to reveal more. “The acts are first reenacted and then carried out upon them. It’s not a requirement, but those who are advanced usually wind up here. It’s the only way you can be certain.”

For the first time since I stepped through those doors, my chest is in a tight stranglehold, weighing on the dangers lurking here. “Certain about what?”

“Certain they’ll never be caught by surprise. The people who do this… Well, they know what to expect, and some even learn how to suppress the pain.”

It hits me like a ton of bricks.

Knocks the wind right out of me.

The realization.

Thisis what Xavier was put through by his father.

The trauma that made him unstoppable? A fearsome force of nature? It was this kind of trial that shaped him into what he is.

As if fate personally led me here, halfway across the world, whatever fear I had vanishes. “I want to learn.”

“Learn what?”

“All of it.”

His gaze shifts uncertainly to the looming doors I’m fixated on, examining me like a puzzle he can’t solve. “It’s not a decision you make lightly, Cara. This path can—does—ruin a person,” he says, passionately enough that I’m sure he’s speaking from experience. “Victoria said you were passing through.”

“My sister doesn’t speak for me.”

A layered smile spreads across his lips, relishing my defiance. “No, I’m sure she doesn’t. Look, if you really want, I can show you some weapons, teach you how to use them…”

I shake my head. “No, teach me all of it. Everything.”

“Why?”

“Because I won’t ever be caught by surprise again.”

The overwhelming burden of my pain resonates in every syllable I utter. He gazes into my eyes as if he suddenly knows exactly what I’ve been through. And yet, he shakes his head. “No, Cara. You don’t understand what this is.”

“Isaac—”

“Go find your sister.”

Xavier

“Dead?”

My chest inflates, expands like some force is tearing my skin sideways from within.

I couldn’t have heard him right.

“She was a sweet girl, but she always seemed like she knew she’d end up that way, you know?”

My mouth won’t open. Words won’t come out.

“You still there?” he asks. “Hello?”

Dead.