Reese’s shadows tighten around Malcolm again, making him wince, before they shove him roughly in Sebastian’s direction.
“Find somewhere to put this soulless bastard,” Reese tells him.
Sebastian peers down at my uncle, slow amusement spreading across his face. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”
Malcolm glares at him weakly.
Sebastian grins wider. Then he grabs Malcolm by the arm and starts dragging him away. “Come on, you miserable fuck. Let’s go find you a cage.”
I watch them go, making their way across the devastated lobby that’s been all but smashed to pieces.
I’m inheriting a crime scene. A very expensive crime scene, but still.
It’s a fucking battlefield and generational trauma.
How very Bellrose.
Around the atrium, the remaining Institute Ascended slowly surrender their weapons and stand down as Reese’s people move through the wreckage securing the lobby. Rory and Delilah start rounding people up near the shattered front entrance while Mia helps restrain the ones still trying to look dangerous despite clearly losing.
The fight’s over. The head of the snake finally bowed.
For so long, Bellrose Institute felt untouchable. Too big, too powerful. Too woven into every horrible thing that happened to Reese and the resistance and me.
And now?
It’s quiet. Broken.
Shattered glass crunches under my shoes as I take a slow step forward, staring up at the remains of the kinetic installation hanging crooked from the ceiling. My dad loved it. He loved this entire place. I’m angry at him for leaving me and my mom the way he did because now I know he didn’thaveto fucking die. But I’m going to choose to believe what Malcolm said is true, that my dad wanted to protect us. He didn’t care about the power that came with Ascension, not in the way I did.
I think for the first time, I truly believe he loved us more than he did the Institute.
Reese moves beside me, close enough that his shadows brush against my ankles like restless cats.
“You alright?” he asks softly.
I let out a short laugh. “Define alright.”
My gaze drifts across the atrium, across the ruined Institute. Across the people now looking tomefor direction.
Well.
Fuck.
Reese follows my line of sight. “Are you going to take it?”
The question hangs heavy in the air between us as we stare out at it. Bellrose Institute. The laboratories, the resources, the research, the power. My father’s legacy. Malcolm’s too.
Not intimidating at all…
I swallow hard and answer, “Yes.”
Reese turns his gaze on me, studying me. “You sure?”
“No,” I answer honestly. “But I think I have to.”
Because if I walk away from this place, someone else becomes Malcolm eventually. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not next year. But power like this doesn’t stay empty for long. And despite everything, thereisgood here too. Scientists who have good intentions, who only want to help. Research that could actually save lives instead of destroying them.
And maybe even Ascended who deserve better than cages.
