Page 5 of Rupture

A photograph.

A serious faced woman, her hands deep in the pockets of her white coat, long wavy hair pulled back in a style too severe for her face. A face that Rose knew only too well.

Thea.

Theworld swayed and tingles rushed down Rose’s back. She cleared her throat, fighting to appear calm. “What does my sister Thea have to do with any of this?”

“Your sister is Io’s science lead.”

“She’s down there?”

“Yes.”

“I haven’t seen her for years.”

Margaret regarded her intently but remained silent.

Memories rushed Rose, fierce and caustic, as if Thea were still in the room with her. Except if her sister was here, would they even be able to speak to each other after the betrayal between them? Her tongue was thick in her mouth.

Margaret’s mouth compressed and for an instant there was a spark of something in her emotionless eyes. Sympathy? “Everything’s been arranged and time is of the essence. My assistant sent a list of everything you require.” She swept past Rose in a cloud of exotic perfume. “Nineteen hundred hours. Be ready.”

The men parted, and she exited the changing room, her designer heels clicking a sharp staccato. The men followed, and the doors shushed closed behind them.

Rose dropped her gaze to the photograph in her hand.

Thea.

Just when her life was finally back on track after the carnage that Thea had wreaked oneverything, Thea was doing it all over again. Ripping herfrom the life she’d rebuilt to some clandestine research lab in the bowels of the earth in the middle of the Kalahari desert.

Rose crushed the photograph.

She had fought so hard, but the past had returned to claim her.

3

Date: December 6th 2036

Location: Reinsvoll airfield, Norway

Height: 1381 feet above sea level

Finn Jones waited patientlywhile his team mate said goodbye to his woman. The December air bit at his exposed skin with arctic ferocity laden with pine from the surrounding forest. Kathrine Sorland’s arms were wrapped around Nikolas Borostovlo’s neck, her diamond engagement ring flashing in the winter sun.

Finn cleared his throat, but his chest tightened. He was happy for Kathrine and Nik—damn right he was. After everything they’d been through, they deserved this. Kathrine had almost lost her life because of Triton Core.

But the kissing. The way Kathrine clung to Nik’s forearms, holding him there like he was the only thing that mattered.

Finn dragged in a slow breath, but it didn’t settle right. His fingers curled at his sides, an old tension tightening through his hands.

Memory pulled him under.

Not the soft hold of love. The iron grasp of terror. Nails biting into his skin. Bruises blooming beneath torn fabric. Blood on her cheek. The sharp edge of her breathing as she clutched at him, shaking. His voice, rough, saying her name, trying to preserve her modesty, pulling the tattered blouse across her chest.

But he’d been too late.

So he’d done the only thing he could—sent the bastard who assaulted her to the hospital.

His pulse spiked, his teeth meeting hard. In the end, the system hadn’t cared about right or wrong. Just about who threw the first punch.

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