Page 136 of The Code of You

"How many of you are there?” Neo tightened his grip. A gurgling scream tore out of the man.

"Just . . . just us three . . . please . . .”

Neo pressed harder, bending the man’s arm past where it was meant to go. "How does that feel?” he asked quietly.

A shiver moved down my spine. I’d watched him kill before. Fast and precise. This was different. This was personal.

Neo stood and looked at what he’d done. The man’s arm hung limp, completely destroyed.

"So,” he said again. "Who sent you?”

"Don’t know. I . . . I only get messages . . . anonymous . . .” A wet, rattling sound came from the man.

Neo looked at him. "A liar. A coward. Worthless.”

He lifted the man as if he weighed nothing. God. That inhuman strength. I bit my lip, felt heat stir low in me. Damn it. It turned me on.

"This is for the pain you gave her,” Neo said, and hurled him into the concrete wall. His body hit with a deafening crack. Then went slack and fell.

I felt free. For the first time in hours, completely free.

Neo stood and wiped his hands on his pants. Then he turned to Nathan, who was still crouched on the floor, shaking.

Neo’s eyes narrowed. "You’re the one from the café.”

Nathan lifted his head. His glasses sat crooked on his nose. Naked fear filled his eyes.

"I knew it,” Neo said quietly. "I felt something was wrong with you. The way you stared at us for 4.5 milliseconds too long. The way your pupils dilated 0.2 millimeters when she looked at you. You were watching us. You wanted to know what you were dealing with, and then you identified my only weakness.” He paused. "Her.”

Nathan tried to speak. Only an incoherent murmur came out. Neo’s interference in his brain had caused damage.

"Your friend got his punishment. But what did you do to her?” He placed a hand on the man’s forehead. His eyes flickered rapidly, as if reading something invisible. "This is . . .” he said quietly, almost to himself, "new.” His fingers spread slightly against Nathan’s temple. "I can receive you. Every impulse. Every memory you tried to bury.”

Then a shadow moved across his face. His jaw locked. The muscles in the rest of his body followed. He trembled with rage. "Blows.” His voice shook. "Electric shocks.” Pain contorted his features. He looked like something that had never been human. For a moment he closed his eyes, as if he needed to process what he’d seen. As if his mind couldn’t hold it.

God. He could read thoughts. How was that possible? He was suffering. My heart seized. He couldn’t bear that someone had hurt me. Tears burned in my eyes. My throat tightened. Warmth spread through my chest despite all the pain. He loved me so much that my suffering had become his.

My broken finger twitched and my lips trembled. I wanted to tell him it was over, that I was here, that he’d found me. But all I could do was watch him break under the weight of what I’d felt.

Neo’s eyes lit up again. The air around him vibrated. A lamp exploded behind him, and the sparks surrounded him like a halo. His beauty stole the air from my lungs.

"I have something special planned for you.” His voice wasn’t human anymore. It sounded like the hum of a thousand servers. Like digital rage made flesh. "You’re going to die slowly. And you’re going to watch your own body betray you.”

My heart beat faster. It was wrong, cruel, and part of me screamed that I had to stop him, that no one deserved this. But the other part drank it in like a forbidden secret.

Neo placed both hands around Nathan’s throat. His fingers rested exactly where the pulse was. "I don’t even need to use force,” he murmured. "Your nervous system will do it for me.”

Nathan’s eyes went wide. Then his body collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

"Feel that?” Neo’s voice was almost tender. "Your heart is beating at half the speed it was ten seconds ago.”

Nathan took in thick, labored breaths, as the air couldn’t reach his lungs anymore. Sweat broke out on his forehead. His skin went ash-gray, then blue.

"That’s the beauty of biology,” Neo said quietly. "Pull one thread, and everything follows. Your blood pressure drops. Your organs starve. Your body surrenders.” His jaw tightened, eyes glowing like liquid metal.

I couldn’t look away. The sight of Nathan trembling, gasping for air . . . it should have horrified me. Instead, my heartbeat steadied, went even, as if Neo had healed my wounds by tearing open someone else’s.

Nathan’s eyes stared at nothing. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. His body was still fighting, but his mind had already broken. Neo’s fingers rested on his throat, motionless. Almost tender.