Page 393 of Scars of Fate

“Wynn.”

“Minser wants you angry.”

“He has Roth’s sister.”

“He wants you desperate.”

“He has a biological weapon.”

“And he knows exactly which threat will make you stop thinking.”

Lucas stared at me.

I touched the pocket beneath his vest.

The encrypted drive and Ghost’s one-use wafer rested inside it.

“He doesn’t need you inside that facility. He needs what you’re carrying.”

“I know.”

“Then you understand why you can’t go alone.”

“No. I understand why you can’t come.”

I stepped closer.

“I understand why I have to.”

His expression hardened.

“This isn’t an argument you’re going to win.”

“You said that once before.”

“When?”

“The morning I gave you the divorce papers.”

Pain moved through his eyes.

I hated using that memory against him.

But I needed him to hear me.

“You decided what was safest for me. You let Ghost’s warning control every choice you made. You left me alone, and you called it protection.”

“I was trying to keep you alive.”

“And I was trying to understand why my husband had stopped trusting me.”

“I trusted you.”

“Not with the truth.”

The words landed between us.

Lucas looked away.