Chapter 37

THIRTY-SEVEN

Dimitri nods at me, and I step closer, kissing him soundly. “Be ready.”

“Always. I’ve got you,” he tells me.

“I’m coming out!” I call. “It’s Nova, Dr. Davis’s daughter. Don’t shoot.”

I wait and hear murmuring. “Step out unarmed or we will.”

“Coming!” I look back and grin, blowing them a kiss.

Trusting my guys, I step out with my hands up, no weapons on display. I stop halfway down the corridor, far enough away not to die but also close enough to do what I need to.

“See? Not armed. Where is my father?” I demand.

“We will search you,” someone else yells. “The others with you will reveal themselves, also unarmed, or we will shoot you.”

“That’s rude.” I frown, stepping closer. “Where is my father?”

“Step out!” he orders, ignoring me.

“Is he with the kids? Are they okay?”

“For now.” He smirks. “If your friends want you and the kids alive, do as I order.”

“Here’s the thing.” I grin. “They really don’t like following orders unless they are mine and in the bedroom.” Winking, I close my fist and drop.

Bullets whiz over me as the lights cut out, thanks to Dimitri. There’s a crash and I peer up through the door, seeing Louis and Jonas drop from the vents in the ceiling and onto the waiting mass. It turns the guards’ focus inwards. I leap to my feet as Nico and Dimitri race past me, and then we leap into the fray.

Grabbing the gun taped to my back, I spray bullets at those closest to me before putting the gun away and using the knife I stole from Jonas. Screams ring out as the guns go off. I duck under a punch and keep moving until there is no one else but the darkness I’m fighting against.

Twenty men against five. They didn’t even stand a chance. We are super soldiers for a reason, and the crazy plan worked. After all, they couldn’t even imagine we would use one of our own as a distraction.

Morons.

The lights come back on. We are all panting as we stand in the mess of dead soldiers and guards. Smirking, I step over them and bang a bloodied hand on the window that looks into the glass of the children’s room.

“Come out, Father. Your guards are dead. There is no one else to hide behind.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” He steps out, holding a knife to a little boy’s throat.

Snarling, I hit the button to open the door and descend the stairs, stopping before him, my men spreading out.

“Ah, that’s close enough, Novaleen,” he snaps, tightening his hold on the child.

Grinding my teeth, I scan the room, seeing the others hiding.

“Isaac.” I nod and without a word, he and Dimitri head off to protect the kids. Jonas moves left, and Nico goes right, trying to circle my father, while Louis stands with me, side by side. My father cannot take us all, and his eyes flicker around as he realises that.

He wanted a super soldier unit, and he got one.

Shame it will be his death.

“Impressive unit,” he remarks. “I guess I was wrong about them being failures. Maybe I was too harsh. We can sit down and talk about this—”

“Let the kid go.” I ignore his silver tongue. His words mean nothing.

“No. You want me dead, Novaleen? Fine, but this kid will die with me, and you will have to live with more innocent blood on your hands. Just like Ana’s.”

“Do not!” I snarl. “You killed her! You are the one with blood on your hands,” I yell. Anger flares inside me, along with guilt.

“No, Novaleen. I might have pulled the trigger, but you put her in the crosshairs. She was there for you. She trusted you to protect her. How foolish was that? You couldn’t save her. All that training, all that money and time, and you couldn’t even save the one person you wanted to. Maybe you were never what I needed. Never mind, I can start again.”

“Shut up,” I hiss.

“Don’t listen to him, Nova,” Louis mutters. “He’s trying to make you react irrationally so he can get free.”

I know he is, but it’s working. Any mention of Ana and I become an unthinking, open, raw wound, and he knows it. He knows she is my weakness, alongside the kids.

“Let me go. Let me walk out of here, and I’ll release the child,” he offers, invading my conflicting mind. “Your choice, Nova. You can kill me now, but you’ll be killing this innocent child, or you can let me go and save him.”

“Nova,” Louis snaps as I met the child’s eyes.

All this time, blood, and pain got me here, but can I live with the stain on my soul if I do this?

It’s a choice between life and death.

Between right and wrong.

Revenge and letting go.

I know what Ana would want me to do, and in the end, that’s what I go with. I can live with him going free. I found him once, so I can do it again despite how angry I’ll be. I cannot live with this child’s innocent blood on my hands. I just can’t.

I turn away from revenge and choose life instead.

I drop my gun to the floor, and he grins triumphantly. “Good, now I’m going to walk past you. Once up top, I will release the child and leave. Do not follow me.”

He moves closer, and I turn with him as he starts to walk to the door, but when he’s almost level with me, the kid drops to the floor and manages to slip his grip.

His only leverage is gone.

He quickly realises that and looks at me as I reach for another weapon to end this. Something settles in his eyes, and he rushes towards me.

Maybe he realises he’s never getting out of this, or maybe he genuinely thinks killing me will distract them long enough for him to escape, but I see the knife rise, and then he drives it into my stomach, ramming it home. I let him, but I grab his hand as he tries to run, holding him to me as I snarl in his face. Using his hand, I yank the knife out, gritting my teeth at the agony.

His eyes flare as I pull the blade free and turn it. His hand resists and he struggles, but he’s no match for me. I slowly drive it towards his own stomach, aiming for the kill shot.

He struggles in my grip. He’s so weak.

“Nova, wait, Nova,” he says, but I ignore his pleading as, inch by inch, I drive the knife closer until it starts to pierce his skin. His voice turns into a wail, and I slam it all the way home and let go. He stumbles back, covering the wound with his hands.

Even if at one time, he seemed like a god to me, now he is nothing but a weak, bleeding mess at my feet.

Isaac rushes over, putting pressure on my wound as I stare at my father. He peers down at the blade and then back to me in shock before falling to his knees. Despite knowing better, he pulls it free and drops it with clumsy, shaking hands before he falls back. Ignoring Isaac, I move to my father’s side and kneel. My own blood mixes with his in a puddle beneath him.

Matching wounds.

Killing blows.

The only thing that saves me is my own healing ability and adrenaline as Isaac starts to inject me with something as I watch my father. His eyes blink rapidly, and his mouth opens and shuts as he covers the wound.

His hand lifts, reaching out, and I grip it. He thought he was unstoppable, but he was wrong.

“You thought you were unstoppable, but look at you now. You are weak and mortal. You are dying.”

“Novaleen, please,” he begs, coughing.

“You are just a weak old man surrounded by enemies. I’ll leave your body here in the rubble to be burned and forgotten. No one will ever know what you did. I will make sure of it. All your research will be destroyed, and everything you did, everything you sacrificed, will be for nothing. Your life will be for nothing.”

“Not nothing,” he says. “You are alive.”

“And I will never be anything but a normal person after this. Your research will die with us.”

“No.” He shakes his head.

Whatever Isaac injected me with is working. I feel nothing, and he’s packing the wound and bandaging it as I squeeze my dad’s hand to the point of pain to keep his eyes on me as he dies. I need to see it.

Leaning in, I press a kiss to his forehead.

“This is for Ana, Sam, Bas, and for every single person you have hurt and killed. They will be avenged here, and you? You will be nothing but a liar for all your bold claims and half-truths. Was it worth it? Was all the death and pain worth it, old man?”

He squeaks, losing too much blood.

“Was it?” I scream.

“Yes,” he says. “You’re alive and so is my research. It was worth it. I would do it all again.”

Dropping his hand in anger, I sit back and watch as he dies scared, alone, and in agony. It isn’t quick, and when his lungs rattle, I smile. When he takes his last breath, I almost laugh.

It’s over.

It’s done.

I check his pulse to be sure. “There’s no coming back for you this time, Dr. Davis. It is over. It is done.” Standing carefully, I lean into Isaac as weakness spreads through me. They are all watching me worriedly, the kids sheltered behind them.

“Let’s go home,” I demand. “Take me home, let me die, and then place me at her side.”

I fall, my own wound getting the better of me.

It’s too deep, and I lost too much blood.

The sacrifice was worth it, though,I think as my eyes close.

I am ready to be reunited with my sister.