Page 54 of Rupture

Rose’s fingers trembled as she eased it from its spot. The cover was worn smooth at the corners, just as she remembered. She opened it, the spine crackling. Her father’s precise handwriting looped across the inside cover.William Lancaster Wyndham.She closed her eyes and held the bookagainst her nose, breathing deep the faded scent of the cedar shelves from their childhood home. God, she missed him.

Paper rustled. Something had fallen from between the pages. Her throat constricted as she bent to retrieve it. A photograph, its corners soft, and white lines creasing the image where it had been folded and refolded. Two sisters grinned at the camera, their hair plastered to their faces by spray. Their parents’ kayaks rested on the rocky shore behind them, the last summer before the crash that had shattered their family.

Rose pressed her fingertips against the glossy surface. She had sent this to Thea shortly after Thea published their data as her own.

She’d intended it as a peace offering.

When no response came, she’d imagined this cherished memory tossed in the trash along with their relationship. But here it was, carefully preserved between the pages of their father’s book.

The constant thrum of the habitat’s systems seemed to grow louder in the claustrophobic room. Rose sank into the chair, the photograph still in her hands, while water and indifferent rock pressed down on the metal shell around her.

Thea had kept the photo. Had looked at it enough times to wear those creases into the paper. Something warm bloomed in Rose’s chest. Whatever had happened between them, whatever dark work lurked in the labs below, Thea hadn’t thrown away this piece of their shared past.

She made her way to the narrow bed and lay down, still clutching their father’s book to her chest, the photograph safely tucked inside. A small smile touched her lips. Thea wasn’t lost to her. Not completely. Not while she kept thismemory close, hidden in the pages of their father’s book. In this simple act of preservation lay the possibility of redemption, of finding their way back to each other.

It was a tenuous thread of hope. But maybe there was a way through this.

Thea had kept the photograph, and in that single choice lay all the proof she needed her sister was still in there—somewhere beneath the secrets and lies—waiting to be found.

30

Finn jerked awake,his grip instinctively tightening on the pulse rifle in his lap. A strident alarm raked at his ears.

What now?

He checked his watch. 0530. Four hours of dozing in the hard office chair. A toss-up whether he felt better from the rest or worse.

Shit.

Light shifted as the door behind him opened.

Rose’s foot caught on his outstretched leg. He caught her mid-stumble with his free hand, his pulse rifle never wavering from the corridor as he swung her against his chest. The movement brought her face inches from his. Sleep-tousled hair framed features that hit him hard. Even now, heart hammering from the alarm and adrenaline flooding his system, he registered the soft warmth of her.

“Rose.”

Her eyes widened as she took in the chair wedged against the wall beside her door. “Were you...” She raised her voice over the alarm’s screech. “Were you sleeping out here?”

“Making sure you were safe.” He shrugged and took a sweep of both directions again, the alarm’s strobing light making his assessment harder. “Anything coming for you had to go through me first.”

“Any idea what the hell is going on?” She was fully awake now, tension replacing confusion.

“No.” He relaxed his grip on her, but kept her close.

He jerked his head toward the main command room. “But you can bet your bottom dollar it’s not good. Come on.”

She matched his pace without resistance, her fingers slotted through his. The simple trust sent a wave of fierce protectiveness through his chest.

Two minutes of flat-out running and blaring alarms brought them to the command room, where Luca almost collided with them as he bolted out the doorway.

“What the fuck?” Luca’s eyes were wide, hair standing up in tufts like electrified wire. He spotted their joined hands and his mouth twitched, but for once, he swallowed whatever smart-ass comment was brewing.

“Sit rep?” Finn demanded.

“We’re locked out of all operating systems up here. Liev and Ethan have headed down to the spooky lab with the tiny fucked up robots.” Luca leveled a glare at Rose. “You know, your sister’s lab. The one with all the possibly-world-ending experiments?” His voice dripped sarcasm, but the usual humor underlying his snark was missing.

Finn squeezed Rose’s hand. “Let’s get down there. No time to waste talking.”

Luca jerked his head in agreement, already turning on his heel. “Yeah. The last thing we need is more out of control multiplying robots deciding to throw a party.” His tone was flippant but the tension in his shoulders told a different story.

---