Horror rose within me.
"I see you now, boy, and I can’t wait to meet your Tiger.”
I closed my eyes for one heartbeat.
“Be patient, son. We're on our way—"
Opening my eyes, I ended the call, dropped the phone on the tile and stomped on it. The screen cracked under my heel. I ground my boot down until the casing splintered and the battery popped loose and skittered across the floor.
Kiko sobbed in the corner. Her shoulders were shaking. Her hands were now pressed flat to her belly, fingers splayed wide, as if she were holding the twins inside her by pure will.
I raised my gun and pointed it at her forehead. My finger settled on the trigger. “How long was the phone call to my father?”
“That bitch calledhim?” Hiro sneered. “Are you fucking kidding me?!!”
Kiko screamed as snot dripped from her nose. “You g-gave me no choice!”
I rushed her way and pressed the tip of the gun to her head. “How long was the fucking phone call?!”
“I-I don’t know.” She cried. “I t-think it was eight minutes.”
Eight minutes.
Horror hollowed my chest.
Dr. Goda was one of the few people on the island authorized to place outside calls during lockdown conditions. Reo would have granted him unrestricted satellite access for medical emergencies—heart attacks, supply failures, premature births, storms, evacuation requests. The clinic needed a direct line to the mainland in case people were dying faster than we could save them.
Which meant the phone Kiko stole wasn’t routed through our protected network.
It pinged towers.
Satellites.
Coordinates.
Eight minutes was not just enough time for my father to hear her voice.
It was enough time for his tech people to triangulate the island, confirm the signal pattern, lock onto the route lines over the water, and start preparing an assault before I had even stepped into this bathroom.
Reo had trusted the doctor because saving lives required trust.
Kiko had weaponized that trust against all of us.
“Fuck!!” My hand shook. I wanted to pull that trigger so fucking bad it hurt my soul. Nothing would be better than spraying this wall with her blood.
Reo got to my side. “Kenji, give me the gun.”
“You sold the island to him. Huh?” I pressed the gun harder into her forehead.
She groaned in horror. “P-please. . .”
“How much did you get?”
“Oh, please!” She tried to push it away, but couldn’t. “Kenji!”
“You sold my Tiger. You just sold every man, woman, and child on this rock, you fucking bitch.”
Reo tried to take the gun. “Kenji—”
