Page 171 of BounBound By Scars

Bingo!

I kept my posture loose, but my pulse had narrowed to a sharp point. Every nerve wired for control.

“Texas makes sense,” I murmured. “Neutral ground. Politically messy. Tech scene strong enough to blend in.”

Romano smirked. “You always did know how to think ten steps ahead. Shame your old squad couldn’t keep up.”

I smiled, but it didn’t reach my eyes.

Inside, I was calculating every second of this conversation—every word he’d slipped, every bit of intel I could use. I wasn’t just learning where the Doom Switch wasn’t.

I was learning exactly where to strike next.

I was extracting it.

And he didn’t even know he was bleeding.

“Ling runs the actual grid?” I asked, casually. “Hardware and software?”

“Hell if I know. Probably. Whatever he’s cooked up, it’s leagues ahead of whatever your friends are still playing with. But Sentrix was close.”

“Not my friends,” I let a quiet beat pass. “And you trust him?”

Romano’s smirk flattened just a hair. Just a flicker.

I noted that too.

“He gets results,” Romano muttered. “That’s all I care about.”

And just like that, the air shifted.

He tossed back another drink like we hadn’t just discussed global-scale manipulation and digital genocide.

But I wasn’t listening anymore.

Not really.

Because I already had everything I needed. The plan. The infrastructure. The location.

All of it—recorded, live-fed to my Sentrix v5.4.

Proof.

But then Romano said one more thing.

And it changed everything.

He chuckled, eyes glassy with victory. “I should just kill the rest of Blackthorn. Tie off the loose ends.”

He tilted his head slightly, voice turning colder. “They’re a smart team—don’t get me wrong. But they’ll build something worse than Sentrix. Better to end it now.”

Oh, Romano… youreallyshouldn’t have said that.

It had taken me the entire past week in bed—recovering, hacking, purging—to erase the open hits and detainment orders on Squad Six.

He didn’t have leverage anymore. Not real leverage.

So for him to get this cocky? This careless?

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