Chapter 20

3rd person Pov

The room was silent except for the soft hum of medical equipment. Amiriah lay sedated on the bed, her cheeks still damp with tears. Beside her, the small form of Lani rested peacefully, her tiny hand unconsciously reaching toward her mother even in sleep. The child's earlier fear had been primal—she had bitten Catanila's arm hard enough to leave marks that would bruise by morning.

Catanila stood by the bedside, her eyes filled with a complex mixture of emotions as she gazed down at the sleeping pair. The raw pain in Amiriah's voice when she had cried out for Kai still echoed in the room.

"Who would have thought..." she whispered, gently adjusting the blanket over Lani's shoulders.

Jackson gestured toward the door, and the group filed out silently. Once in the hallway, Briyah leaned against the wall, running her hands through her hair.

"What just happened in there?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Mikeal shook his head. "I've never seen her like that. Not even during the worst missions."

"Tech room," Jackson said firmly. "Now."

The decision formed without debate. Whatever had broken Amiriah so completely—whatever had made her call out for someone named Kai with such devastation—needed to be understood. And eliminated.

Jackson's fingers moved across the keyboard with practiced precision. The tech room's blue-tinted lights cast harsh shadows across their faces as they gathered around the main console. He inserted a black flash drive into the port, and multiple windows began populating the screen.

"What the hell is this?" Catanila's voice cut through the silence, sharp with betrayal. She gestured at the hospital logos adorning the files. "You kept our medical records? Our personal information? After everything we've been through together?"

Briyah's eyes widened, darting between Jackson and Mikeal. "You had this the whole time?"

Mikeal raised his hands defensively. "We didn't look at anyone's files except our own, I swear."

"It was insurance," Jackson said without looking up from the screen. "In case something went wrong. In case we needed leverage."

"Leverage against your own team?" Catanila's voice rose dangerously.

Jackson finally turned to face them, his expression unapologetic but earnest. "We need to know what we're dealing with. Amiriah is breaking apart from the inside, and now we have a child involved—a child so terrified she's biting people." He gestured to the bite marks on Catanila's arm. "I don't like this any more than you do, but whoever this Kai is, he's haunting her. And to protect her and Lani, we need to know exactly what we're up against."

The silence that followed was heavy with unspoken accusations.

"Find him," Briyah finally said, her voice low and dangerous. "Find this Kai. And when we do..."

She didn't need to finish the thought. The determination in their eyes said everything. Whoever had hurt Amiriah so deeply would answer for it—one way or another.

Jackson turned back to the screen and began the search, pulling up classified files that would reveal the past Amiriah had fought so hard to keep buried.