Of course she was fucking right. We needed this data. For all we knew, the glyphs on the walls were just some fucking prank. I needed everything I could get if we were going to close this on time. I held her gaze, sparks lit in those violet eyes, and I knew she was just as greedy as me.
“I’m not agreeing. We’ve got to prep this evening, and you can come.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you back at POM Headquarters.”
“Oh, we’re not meeting at HQ, doll.”
CHAPTER 32
EON
The hallway smelled clean, which was a rarity in Neo Stellaris. I stood outside Maddox’s apartment door, my fingers flexing at my sides, trying to shake the nerves like they were something I could flick off. Stupid. I’d been in worse places, with worse people, and I’d survived. Cy and Maddox weren’t about to slit my throat and dump me in the canal. Not yet, at least. They still needed me.
I exhaled and knocked twice—firm, but not desperate. Footsteps, a pause, then the door slid open. Cy answered, leaning against the frame like he had all the time in the world to be unimpressed with me.
“You get lost on the way?” he drawled, eyes flicking down like he expected me to have already run off.
I folded my arms. “You’d love that, wouldn’t you?”
“Would’ve saved me the massive headache.”
I didn’t dignify that with a response, just shouldered past him into the apartment. It was tidy, but felt more like a home than Cy’s place had. Maddox clearly spent time here—random half-finished projects were scattered across various surfaces, and the overstuffed furniture looked well used. Schematics fordifferent robotics projects hung on the walls. Maddox was at the table, screens and schematics spread out in front of him, his eyes flicking up just long enough to acknowledge me before returning to whatever he was working on. No hello. No bullshit small talk. Fine by me.
Cy shut the door behind me, locking me in with them. I squared my shoulders, forcing myself to act like I belonged there, even if every instinct screamed otherwise.
Cy dropped onto the worn-out couch, a rifle laid across his lap. He picked up a rag and started wiping it down—slow and methodical—like he wasn’t just cleaning a weapon, like he was making a point. Metal clicked as he checked the chamber, rolling his shoulders in a way that made the whole thing seem casual. It wasn’t. He wanted me to see it. Wanted me to know exactly whose turf I was on.
I ground my teeth, refusing to react. The last thing I was going to do was let Cy think he was getting under my skin. He wasn’t—even if I couldn’t take my eyes off the metal gleaming in his hands.
“You always do this?” I asked, arms crossed. “Or is the performance just for me?”
Cy barely glanced up. “Gotta make sure she’s ready.” He ran a hand down the rifle’s barrel with something that almost looked like reverence. “Unlike some people, I don’t enjoy walking into a job unprepared.”
Fuck him.Blood pooling on the server room floor, dead kids beneath smoking stacks. No matter how good he felt, he was a monster. I couldn’t forget that.
I turned to Maddox, who was ignoring the whole thing. He was tinkering with a device the size of a suitcase. I leaned around his shoulder for a better look.
“Is that an RX-578? Those are pretty hard to get in such good condition.”
“Yeah, Maddox ‘commandeered’ this one from a POM disposal unit,” Cy interjected from the couch as he stood and headed for the kitchen.
Maddox’s dark cheeks flushed a lovely shade of auburn, and it was honestly adorable. I saw why Mercy had such a crush. “Stealing from the corporation? And I thought you were the one on the straight and narrow.” I winked at him, and he grunted, crossing his arms. He turned away, so I walked around to his other side to see the robot on his bench.
“Damn, did you modify the IMU? That’s sensitive work. Did it help with the balance issues?” I saw his head barely incline toward me, and I knew I had him close to cracking.
“Don’t get him started. He won’t shut up about it all night if you do,” Cy said, returning with a beer can tucked under his arm and a to-go container of noodles in hand. He shoved them into his mouth with chopsticks like a starving urchin.
“That’s rich coming from the master of never shutting the fuck up.” I leaned a little closer to Maddox and gave him a soft smile.
He held that stern face for a few seconds longer, then reached out and flipped on the bot. It rose on its four canine-like legs. He gave it a hard shove, and it recovered quickly.
“Nice!”
He couldn’t hide the pleased grin. Good. One step forward.
“We using this for the Kitsune job?”
“Told you—there is no—we—” Cy grumbled around a mouthful of noodles.
