AUTHOR POV
The room was a battlefield of silent tension. I watched the girl shivering under the mountain of blankets I'd piled on her, my jaw set. Stop it, I told myself. She's good. She's so good she's making her own lips turn blue just to get to me. Sienna's warning was a loop in my head.
(Keifer's POV)
The door swung open with a bang. A man walked in—sharp, well-dressed, and looking like he stepped out of a magazine. I didn't recognize him, but something about his face felt like a shadow in the back of my mind. He didn't even look at me first. He sprinted straight to the bed where the enemy lay.
"Jay? Jay Jay!" he choked out, his voice cracking. He ignored me completely, dropping to his knees by her bed. He grabbed her frozen hand, pressing it to his cheek. "Baby sister, please... wake up. Open your eyes."
Author's POV
Keifer stood frozen, his eyes darting from the man to the girl. "Sister?" he rasped, the word sounding like a foreign language.
Percy's POV
I looked up at Keifer, and for a second, I forgot my bone-deep self-obsession. My best friend—the man who usually knew exactly what I was thinking before I said it—was looking at me like I was a stranger. But seeing my sister like this, blue-lipped and shaking, took priority over his amnesia.
"Keifer, what happened to her?" I demanded, my eyes stinging. "Why is she so cold? Jay, please, princess... it's Percy. Wake up. Don't do this to us. Don't do this to him."
I turned back to her, rubbing her ice-cold arm. "Come on, Jay Jay. I'll buy you all the dumplings in the world. I'll let you mess up my hair. Just open your eyes."
Keifer's POV
I watched him—Percy. The name felt right. It felt like a memory trying to break through a brick wall. Best friend. If he was my best friend, and she was his sister... then Sienna lied.
"She's... she won't wake up," I said, my voice sounding hollow. "I put the blankets on her, but she won't stop shivering."
Percy's POV
I glared at Keifer, a flash of the old, protective Percy surfacing. "Blankets aren't enough! She's in shock, Keif! She's spent the last year being your peace, and now you're looking at her like she's a target? Look at her!"
I leaned over her, my forehead against hers.
"Jay, baby sister, please. You're the only one who can handle these idiots. Wake up and tell Keifer he's a gago. Just say it once."
Keifer's POV
I watched a tear fall from Percy's eye onto her cheek. My heart did a violent, agonizing twist.
Fuck.
The sterile silence of the hospital room was broken only by the low hum of the medical monitors. Angelo?? Yes Angelo had already left, his face a mask of cold fury, following the news that the goon leader had been apprehended.
Than doctors arrived in my room.I ignored every one and start doing my office works or you can say remembering the office work I have already done.
I sat by my laptop, the screen a blur of tactical data I couldn't focus on. Across the narrow gap between our beds, she was still out—pale, shivering, and completely vulnerable.
Sienna's warnings about her being an "enemy" felt like a distant, hollow echo compared to the reality of the girl lying there in MY—YES my oversized black T-shirt.
I didn't recognize her face, her voice, or the way she looked at me earlier with such heartbreaking desperation. But my body felt every jagged breath she took.
The door swished open as the doctor returned with a team of nurses. They moved with a clinical detachment that made my jaw clench.
I watched, my chest tightening, as the doctor reached out and grabbed her limp hand to check her pulse. He didn't do it gently,he gripped her wrist, his fingers pressing into her pale skin with a rough efficiency that felt like an insult.
When he was done, he didn't carefully place her hand back. He just let go. I watched as her hand fell, hitting the mattress with a soft, hollow thud, her arm Tangled in the clear tubing of the IV.
Why am I so angry?
I stared at the spot where her hand had landed, my heart hammering against my ribs. I don't know who she is, but seeing her treated like a piece of equipment—like she wasn't a person who was currently fighting for her life—made a dark, protective fire ignite in my gut.
The doctor didn't even look up as he checked the IV bag. "She's in shock. Her autonomic nervous system is failing to regulate her temperature and vascular tone. We have to move her to the stabilization unit immediately."
They began unhooking the monitors, their movements hurried and uncaring. Every time they bumped the bed or adjusted the IV line roughly, I felt a sharp, sympathetic jolt of pain in my own head.
"She's a target," I muttered to the empty air as they wheeled her bed toward the door. "But..She's... she's just a girl."
But as the door clicked shut, leaving me in the freezing 15°C silence, the Beast inside me didn't feel like it was watching an enemy leave. It felt like it was watching its own soul be dragged out of the room.
The nurses and orderlies didn't slow down. They moved with a cold, mechanical speed, bumping the gurney against the doorframe as they pushed her out. I watched as her head lolled to the side, her blue lips parted in a silent, unconscious struggle for air. They were so rough—handling her like she was just another body, just another patient to be processed.
My fingers curled into the edges of my laptop until the plastic creaked. I don't remember her.
I don't remember why she's wearing my shirt or why her pulse is so weak. But watching them toss her hand aside like it was nothing... it made my blood boil. It felt wrong. Incredibly wrong.
The door hadn't even finished closing behind them when Sienna stepped back in. She had that same sharp, knowing look on her face, but this time it made my stomach churn.
"Good," she said, her voice smooth and satisfied. "They finally took her away. You can breathe now, Keifer. That girl... she's not a good person. Don't let that pale face fool you."
I didn't look up at her. I kept my eyes on the empty bed where Jay Jay had been shivering just moments ago.
"She's in shock, Sienna," I said, my voice sounding like it was coming from someone else. "Her nervous system is failing."
"It's a biological stunt," Sienna countered, walking closer and leaning over my shoulder. "High-level operatives can trigger a physical collapse to gain sympathy. She knew you were watching. She knew if she looked close enough to death, you'd start doubting the facts. She's a snake, Keifer. She was sent to destroy the Beast, and she almost did it."
I looked at the thermostat. It was still 15°C. I felt the chill, but I wasn't shivering. Why was she? Why did she look so shattered?
"If she's a snake," I muttered, finally looking at Sienna, "then why do I feel like I just watched someone steal the air out of my own lungs when they took her?"
Sienna's expression hardened, a flash of jealousy crossing her features before she masked it. "That's the manipulation, Keifer. It's a psychological tether. We need to focus on the mission. Angelo and the others are the ones who put that pipe to your head. They used her as the bait."
I looked back at the empty, messy bed. The sheets were still wrinkled from her shivering. I didn't say anything, but for the first time since I woke up, I didn't believe a word Sienna was saying.
BUT WHY??