The slap echoed louder than the music ever could—and in that single second, the entire wedding stopped breathing.

The world tilted.

Elara stared at the photo.

Lila’s face was bruised.

Her mouth was taped shut.

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Elara?” Julian said, noticing her face. “What is it?”

She showed him the phone.

Julian went pale.

“Lila,” he breathed. “How? The cops were supposed to be watching her!”

Detective Miller ran into the room.

He saw their faces.

“What’s wrong?”

Elara showed him the text.

He swore.

Pulled out his radio.

“Team Three, status on the witness at the hotel! Over!”

Static.

Then a panicked voice came through.

“Detective, she’s gone! The room was empty when we got back! There’s a note! Says ‘Tell Elara to play by the rules next time.’ Over!”

Miller swore again.

“Cole had a partner,” he said. “Someone we didn’t know about. Someone who grabbed Lila while we were all here.”

Elara looked at the text again.

Old Bennett lab.

Her mom’s lab.

The place where she’d died.

The place where Cole had locked her in the closet and lit the match.

“I have to go,” she said.

“Like hell you do,” Miller said. “That place is a death trap. We’ll send in SWAT. We’ll—”

“If SWAT goes in, he kills her,” Elara said. “You read the note. Come alone. No cops. No backup. If he sees anyone else, Lila dies. I can’t risk that. She’s my best friend. She’s the only person who was ever nice to me before I knew about any of this. I’m not gonna let her die because of me.”

Julian stood up.

Wincing from his ribs.

“Then I’m going with you,” he said.

“No,” Elara said. “He said come alone. If he sees you, he’ll kill her. I have to do this by myself.”

“Elara, no,” Julian said. “He’ll kill you too! You can’t go in there alone against a guy like that!”

“I have to,” Elara said. “It’s the only way. I’ve got a plan. Okay? I’m not gonna be stupid about it. But I have to go. Lila’s life depends on it.”

She looked at Miller.

“Track my phone,” she said. “But stay back. At least two blocks. If I text you the word ‘firefly’, move in. Fast. But not before. Promise me.”

Miller hesitated.

Then nodded.

“Promise,” he said. “But if you don’t text that word in two hours? We’re coming in. Guns blazing. No matter what.”

“Fair enough.”

Elara turned to Julian.

“Stay here,” she said. “Help the cops. I need you to be my backup out here. Okay? If something goes wrong, you’re the only one who knows Mom’s lab well enough to find a way in. Can you do that for me?”

Julian nodded.

His eyes were wet.

“Be careful,” he said.

“Always.”

Elara drove to the lab alone.

The sun was starting to come up.

Dawn.

Just like the text said.

The old Bennett lab was on the edge of the city, in an industrial park that had been abandoned for years.

The building was charred black on the outside.

Boarded up.

Graffiti covered the walls.

But Elara knew the inside.

She’d spent every weekend here as a kid.

Playing under her mom’s desk while she worked.

Drawing on the back of lab notebooks.

Eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the break table.

This was the last place she’d seen her mom alive.

She parked the car two blocks away.

Walked the rest of the way.

The laptop was in her backpack.

The knife was strapped to her ankle.

A tiny GPS tracker Jesse had given her was sewn into the lining of her jacket.

She walked up to the front door.

It was unlocked.

She pushed it open.

The smell hit her first.

Burned wood.

Chemicals.

And something else.

Fresh blood.

“Lila?” she called out.

No answer.

She walked deeper into the lab.

The main room was still blackened from the fire.

Broken glass crunched under her boots.

Her mom’s old desk was still in the corner.

Burned almost beyond recognition.

“Elara.”

The voice came from the back of the lab.

From the supply closet.

The one where her mom had died.

Elara walked toward it.

Her hand on the knife in her pocket.

The supply closet door was open.

Light spilled out.

She stepped inside.

It wasn’t a closet anymore.

Someone had fixed it up.

Painted the walls.

Wired it for electricity.

In the middle of the room, tied to a chair, was Lila.

Her face was bruised.

Her lip was split.

But she was alive.

Standing behind her, holding a gun to her head, was a woman.

A woman Elara had never seen before.

She was in her late thirties.

Long red hair.

Cold green eyes.

She looked familiar.

But Elara couldn’t place her.

“Put the backpack down,” the woman said. “Slowly. Kick it over here.”

Elara did as she said.

“Where’s Cole?” Elara said.

The woman smiled.

“Cole is… busy,” she said. “He had to take care of some loose ends at the police station. But he told me to make sure you got the message. No more tricks. No more cops. Just you. Me. And the laptop.”

“Who are you?” Elara said.

The woman’s smile widened.

She reached into her pocket.

Pulled out an old photo.

Held it up.

It was a photo of Elara’s mom.

Clara.

Standing next to another woman.

The same red hair.

The same green eyes.

They were both wearing lab coats.

Smiling.

Best friends.

“I’m Sarah,” the woman said. “Sarah Bennett. Clara’s little sister. Your aunt.”

Elara froze.

Her mom had talked about Sarah.

Said she’d died in a car crash when Elara was a baby.

“You’re dead,” Elara whispered.

“Fake death,” Sarah said. “Margaret tried to kill me too. When I found out what she was planning to do to Clara. I ran. Hid in Europe for ten years. Watched from afar as Margaret destroyed everything Clara built. Watched you grow up in foster homes. Watched Julian be raised by a monster. I waited for the right time to come back. To make them pay.”

“Then why are you doing this?” Elara said, gesturing to Lila. “Why kidnap my friend? Why work with Cole?”

“Because you’re weak,” Sarah spat. “Just like Clara. You had Margaret dead to rights. And you let the cops take her. You should’ve killed her when you had the chance. You should’ve burned her alive like she burned Clara. Justice isn’t done in a courtroom, Elara. It’s done with blood.”

She pressed the gun harder into Lila’s temple.

Lila whimpered.

“I’m here to finish what Clara should’ve done ten years ago,” Sarah said. “I’m gonna take the laptop. I’m gonna release the full trial data. I’m gonna destroy the Viraflu name. Then I’m gonna kill Margaret in her cell. Kill Cole when he’s no longer useful. And then I’m gonna rebuild the company the way Clara wanted it. Clean. Honest. No lies. No secrets.”

“You’ll kill thousands of innocent kids to do it,” Elara said.

“Collateral damage,” Sarah said. “Clara would’ve understood. She always said the greater good—”

“Don’t you dare speak for her!” Elara shouted. “My mom spent her whole life saving kids! She would’ve rather died than let one child get hurt! You’re not doing this for her! You’re doing this for yourself! Because you’re angry! Because you’re weak! Because you couldn’t save her then so now you’re gonna destroy everything she loved to make yourself feel better!”

Sarah’s face twisted.

“Shut up!” she screamed. “You don’t know anything! You were a baby! You don’t know what it was like! To watch your sister be destroyed by that monster! To be too scared to do anything about it!”

She cocked the gun.

“Hand over the encryption key for the laptop,” she said. “Now. Or I blow her brains all over this wall.”

Elara’s mind raced.

Think.

She looked at Lila.

Lila was staring at her.

Her eyes darted down.

To Sarah’s foot.

Then back up.

Elara followed her gaze.

Sarah was standing in a puddle of water.

The water was running from a broken pipe in the ceiling.

It ran all the way across the floor.

To the old breaker panel on the wall behind Elara.

The same breaker panel her mom had shown her how to use when she was eight years old.

Elara looked back at Lila.

Lila gave a tiny nod.

Elara took a step back.

“Okay,” she said. “The key is in my pocket. Let me get it.”

She reached into her pocket.

Not for the key.

For the taser Jesse had given her.

She pulled it out.

Didn’t aim at Sarah.

Aimed at the breaker panel.

Fired.

The taser barbs hit the main switch.

Sparks flew.

The power surged.

Sarah screamed.

The electricity ran through the water.

Through her body.

She dropped the gun.

Collapsed.

Unconscious.

Elara ran to Lila.

Untied her.

“Are you okay?” she said, ripping the tape off her mouth.

“Took you long enough,” Lila gasped, then smiled through her tears. “I knew you’d figure it out. Your mom always did say you were the smartest kid she ever knew.”

Elara hugged her.

Then she heard footsteps.

Running.

From the hallway.

Cole.

He was back.

Elara grabbed the gun off the floor.

Pulled Lila behind her.

“Stay down,” she whispered.

The door burst open.

It wasn’t Cole.

It was Julian.