Page 37 of Rupture

Over cautious.Some things never changed. Her sister was still a smooth liar. Muscles bunched in Rose’s jaw at the flimsy excuse.

“This isn’t over-cautious, Thea. Something is seriously wrong. We found your team unconscious and sealed into the biome. Do you remember anything?” Rose’s tone sliced through the air sharper than she intended, but the frustration of years of unresolved conflict bubbled to the surface.

Thea pressed her head deeper into the pillow. Cold anger gleamed in the blue depths of her eyes.

“This isn’t about me,” Thea snapped, her voice taking on a sanctimonious tone that set Rose’s teeth on edge. “My team is what matters. If they were scared enough to lock themselves away in the biome, then perhaps you should work out what happened there rather than sitting here interrogating me.”

Blood thudded across the backs of Rose’s eyes. “Thea?—”

Finn’s firm hand on her forearm stopped her short. “We’re just trying to get an idea of what happened. There are a lot of things that make little sense right now.” Finn’stone was measured, his gaze locked on Thea. Was he trying to gain Thea’s trust, or was he annoyed at Rose for letting emotion cloud their fact-finding mission? Uncertainty gnawed at her.

“I’m sorry. I don’t remember.” Thea wiped her eyes, her voice suddenly vulnerable.

A show or something more genuine?

“Well, can you tell us what you were working on?” Finn asked.

“I told you I can’t remember. Everything is a horrible gray storm in my head.” Thea’s face crumpled. “Can you not appreciate how difficult this is for me?”

The shift was microscopic—blink, and you’d miss it. But Rose read her sister like a book, years of navigating sibling manipulation paying off. Thea was lying. She remembered her research but forreasons, didn’t want to talk about it. Whatever she and her team had been working on, it was dangerous enough for her to feign amnesia.

Rose’s nails bit into her palms. The urge to shake the truth out of Thea was unbearable. But as she opened her mouth to speak, she caught Finn’s warning glance.

His tone was diplomatic. “We appreciate the difficulties?—”

“I’d like to rest now.” Thea pressed her cheek into the pillow and closed her eyes.Like a door just slammed shut.

“Of course.” Rose pushed up from the uncomfortable confines of the plastic chair, its legs jarring against the floor with a screech. “Get some sleep. I’m sure you’ll feel better after some rest.”

The words tasted like ash in her mouth. She yanked back the screen surrounding the bed, the metallic rattle of hooks echoing her frustration.

Duke approached, concern denting his forehead. “Everything good?”

Rose’s nod was mechanical. The privacy provided by the screen was little more than a sham. Thea would hear every word she said. She chose her response carefully. “We’re finished, she’s resting now.”

She headed for the door, needing to be anywhere but here.

As the med bay door whooshed shut behind her, Rose sagged against the metal wall of the corridor, the cold seeping through her clothes and into her bones. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the world to stop spinning.

She didn’t need this crap right now, not while they were trying to piece together what had happened. The familiar anger at Thea’s betrayal years ago mingled with fresh frustration and a gnawing fear of what secrets lay buried beneath Thea’s convenient amnesia.

The door huffed again.

Get it together, Rose.

She pushed off the wall and turned.

Finn.

He caught her elbow and pulled her to him. Momentum carried her forward too fast, and she bumped against his chiseled body, her hands splayed across the packed muscle of his chest. He towered above her, dwarfing her with his bulk and stature. His gaze landed on her lips, the heat of his stare stealing the air from her lungs. Her mind reeled with forbidden thoughts.What would it feel like to kiss him?

“Hey. Where are you going?” His voice, infused with kindness, threatened to unravel the tight control she was desperately clinging to. Understanding too. Perhaps he understood how hard it was for her to be in the room with Thea.

Rose swallowed hard. ”To get some answers.”

She cast a last glance at the med bay door.Thea’s lying.“If Thea won’t give us a straight answer, we have to examine the research ourselves and figure out why she’s being so evasive.”

21

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