Dante's POV
I watch the van disappear into the night, carrying Lily away.
Every instinct screams at me to chase them. To tear that van apart with my telekinesis. To rip through every person who dares to touch her.
But Ethan is sobbing in my arms. Emma is bleeding. Sterling is barely conscious, the compulsion still wearing off.
I have to choose.
And I hate myself for it.
"Uncle Dante?" Ethan's small voice breaks through my rage. "Are you okay?"
No. I'm not okay. The woman who just saved my nephew's life is being taken to her death, and I can't stop it.
"I'm fine, buddy." I force my voice to stay calm. "Let's get you somewhere safe."
My security team arrives within minutes. Medical personnel check the kids over—Emma's arm is sprained but not broken. Ethan has minor burns. Both are dehydrated and traumatized but alive.
Sterling sits in the ambulance, his head in his hands.
"I remember everything," he says quietly. "Everything she made me do. The explosion. Almost killing you both." He looks up, his eyes hollow. "I'm so sorry."
"You were compelled," I tell him. "It wasn't your fault."
"I should have been stronger. Should have fought it—"
"No one can fight that kind of magic." I sit beside him. "What matters now is finding Lily before Marcus Hale kills her."
Sterling straightens. "Then let's go get her."
"You need medical attention—"
"My daughter almost died because of me." His voice is steel. "I'm not sitting on the sidelines while Lily suffers the same fate. I'm going with you."
I study him for a moment, then nod. "Get yourself bandaged up. We leave in ten minutes."
Victoria arrives as they're loading the kids into a secure transport. Her face is pale, her usual composure shattered.
"Ethan," she breathes, reaching for him.
My nephew shrinks back. "Grandma? The lady said you wanted me hurt."
Victoria's face crumbles. "No, sweetheart. Never. I would never hurt you."
"She's telling the truth," I say, though it kills me to defend her. "Natasha was impersonating Victoria. Using her credentials."
"Who is Natasha Volkov?" Sterling asks.
Victoria's jaw tightens. "Someone I fired three years ago. She was too violent, too unstable. I had her removed from all Cross operations."
"And now she's back for revenge." I turn to Victoria. "I need everything you have on her. Known associates, locations she might use, weaknesses."
"I'll get you the files." Victoria touches Ethan's face gently. "I'm so sorry, little one."
As they take the children away to safety, I pull up tracking data on my tablet. My team tagged Natasha's van with a microscopic GPS before it left.
"They're heading to the docks," I tell Sterling. "Warehouse district."
"That's Marcus Hale's territory. He's been using those warehouses to store accelerants." Sterling checks his weapon. "It's going to be heavily guarded."
"I don't care if there's an army there." My power crackles around me. "I'm getting Lily back."
We load into vehicles and speed toward the docks. Every second that passes, my rage builds. Lily risked everything to save Ethan. She disabled those dampeners with broken ribs, in excruciating pain, knowing she might die.
And I let her get taken.
"You care about her," Sterling says quietly as we drive.
"She's useful. Her truth-sensing—"
"Don't." Sterling cuts me off. "I saw your face when they took her. That wasn't concern for a useful asset. That was fear of losing someone you care about."
I don't answer. Can't answer.
Because he's right.
Somewhere between her defying me in her tiny office and her refusing to leave me in that collapsing building, Lily Chase became more than just a tool.
She became someone I'd burn the world down to protect.
We arrive at the docks within twenty minutes. The warehouse the GPS points to sits isolated at the end of a pier, surrounded by water on three sides.
"Smart," Sterling mutters. "Limited approach vectors."
"I don't need approach vectors." I step out of the vehicle. "I have telekinesis."
But before I can move, my phone rings.
Unknown number.
I answer. "Cross."
"Hello, Dante." Marcus Hale's voice is mocking. "I have something of yours. Want to see?"
The phone switches to video.
Lily stands in the middle of a circle of fire, her face pale but defiant. Burns cover her arms. She's swaying on her feet.
"Let her go," I say, my voice deadly calm.
"Oh, I will. Eventually. In pieces." Marcus laughs. "But first, I want to play a game. You see, I've been wondering—just how powerful is the great Dante Cross? Can you really do everything they say?"
"What do you want?"
"Simple. I want you to choose." The camera pans to show two rooms. In one, Lily stands surrounded by fire. In the other, Sterling's wife sits tied to a chair, unconscious.
My blood runs cold.
"I took Mrs. Sterling an hour ago, just as insurance," Marcus says. "Now here's the game—both rooms are rigged to explode. You can use your telekinesis to save one person. But only one. The other burns."
Sterling grabs my arm. "My wife—oh God, Emily—"
"Choose, Cross," Marcus demands. "The woman who's helping you? Or the wife of the man standing beside you? Who's more valuable? Whose life matters more?"
"This is insane," I snarl.
"This is justice! You've been choosing who lives and dies for years. In Westfield, you chose to kill two hundred civilians to complete your mission. Now I'm making you choose again."
The camera zooms in on Lily's face. She's trying to stay strong, but I can see her terror.
"Don't do it, Dante," she calls out. "Save Emily. Save Sterling's wife."
"Lily—"
"I mean it! I'm already hurt. She has kids to go home to. Choose her!"
My truth-sense—the one I've developed from working with Lily—tells me she means every word. She's willing to die so Sterling's wife can live.
And that makes me want to kill Marcus Hale even more.
"You have thirty seconds," Marcus says. "Choose."
Sterling is shaking beside me. "Cross, please. Emily—our kids need their mother."
I look at the screen. At Lily standing in that circle of fire. At Emily Sterling unconscious and helpless.
Two lives. I can only save one.
This is exactly what Lily feared when she didn't want to work with me. That she'd be forced to make impossible choices. That people would die because of her decisions.
Now I'm the one making that choice.
Twenty seconds.
I close my eyes and reach out with my telekinesis, feeling the warehouse's structure. The fire in both rooms. The bombs.
Marcus is right—I can only save one.
Unless...
"Sterling," I say quietly. "Do you trust me?"
"What?"
"Do you trust me?" I meet his eyes. "Because I have a plan. But it's risky. And if I'm wrong, both of them die."
Sterling's face is anguished. But after a moment, he nods. "Do it. Whatever it is."
"Ten seconds!" Marcus announces gleefully.
I reach out with my power, but not to save either woman.
Instead, I grab the entire warehouse.
And I rip it apart.
The building explodes—not from the bombs, but from my telekinesis tearing through every support beam simultaneously. Water from the dock rushes in as walls collapse.
I focus all my power on finding Lily and Emily in the chaos. There—two heat signatures. I grab them both telekinetically and pull them toward me through the falling debris.
But something's wrong.
I can only hold onto one. The other is slipping from my mental grip.
Marcus was right. My power has limits.
I have to choose.
Lily or Emily.
Right now.
In a split second, I make my decision.
I pull with everything I have.
A body flies out of the collapsing warehouse, across the water, landing on the dock at my feet.
It's Lily.
Burned. Unconscious. But breathing.
Sterling rushes to the warehouse edge, screaming his wife's name.
But the building collapses completely, sinking into the water.
Emily Sterling is gone.
"No!" Sterling drops to his knees. "Emily! EMILY!"
I kneel beside Lily, checking her pulse. She's alive. Barely.
I chose her.
I saved Lily and let Emily Sterling die.
Sterling turns to me, his face twisted with grief and rage.
"You chose wrong," he whispers. "You saved her instead of my wife. You monster. You absolute monster."
Before I can respond, gunfire erupts from the warehouse ruins.
Marcus Hale rises from the water, surrounded by steam and fire, very much alive.
"Wrong choice, Cross!" he screams. "You chose the woman you want instead of the woman who deserved to live! Now everyone sees what you really are!"
He launches a fireball directly at me.
I throw up a telekinetic shield, but I'm weakened from the massive power I just used.
The fireball breaks through.
And hits Lily instead of me.
She screams as flames engulf her.
Sterling is still on his knees, destroyed by grief.
Marcus is advancing, more fireballs forming in his hands.
And the woman I just saved is burning alive in my arms.
I've lost. Everything. Everyone.
The monster won after all.