Chapter 23: Ashes and Aftermath
Smoke curled into the early morning sky.
The explosion had torn through the lower labs, reducing Damon's secrets to rubble. Emergency sirens wailed in the distance as Elara dragged herself from the wreckage, blood trickling from her temple, the drive clutched in her hand.
"Declan… I'm out," she gasped into the comm.
A beat of static. Then his voice came through, thick with relief. "We've got a chopper inbound. ETA three minutes. Hold on."
Elara stumbled toward the rendezvous point. Each step was heavier than the last, her body screaming in protest. But she didn't stop.
Killian was the first to reach her. He caught her as she collapsed into him.
"You did it," he said, cradling her. "You actually did it."
She handed him the drive. "Get this to the world."
Above them, the chopper blades chopped through the air, and the team boarded quickly, vanishing into the sky as the island burned behind them.
Later, in a safe house miles away, Declan decrypted the drive.
"Everything's here," he said. "Proof of the experiments, identities of the victims, connections to global funders… this will bury him."
Elara sat silently, staring out the window.
Killian approached. "He's gone. His empire—ash."
She turned, voice low. "But I still remember what he made me."
Killian knelt beside her. "Then let's make sure the world never forgets what you became instead."