Chapter 3

"Ronan!"

Sienna hurried after me, clutching her stained skirt. She finally caught up and stopped in front of me, panting.

Her face was flushed from running. I stopped.

For a moment, I thought she'd realized what she'd done and come to apologize. Maybe she even wanted me to stay.

But the moment she caught her breath, she snapped, "Are you done? Come back inside and apologize to Declan in front of everyone!"

I stared at her. Had I heard her right?

"Why would I?"

"Because you humiliated him in public!" Her voice rose.

"If you won't admit you were wrong and apologize, I'll have my father pull every string he has to get your K-7 appointment revoked!"

My fists clenched.

Her father, General Mercer, had always thought highly of me. He'd even supported my nomination for chief of staff at K-7 before I turned it down.

But the threat itself wasn't what shocked me. It was the fact that Sienna had made it.

The Sienna I knew hated people who threw their family influence around.

When I first started at the academy, older cadets from powerful families had picked on me for having no connections. Sienna had stepped in without hesitation.

Back then, she was proud and honorable. She was everything I admired.

Now, just to protect Declan's pride, she was using the same privilege she'd once despised to threaten my future.

I looked at her, deeply disappointed. "If my future costs me my dignity, I don't want it."

I walked around her and left without looking back.

I had barely made it back to my apartment when my terminal blared a top-priority alarm.

"Mr. Cross, your grandmother's genetic degeneration has suddenly worsened. Her vital signs are dropping fast! Please pay immediately to activate an S-class deep regeneration pod, or she won't survive the night!"

My face went pale. With shaking hands, I opened the cross-system payment channel and hit Confirm.

Beep.

A cold mechanical voice broke the silence.

"Payment failed. Insufficient funds. Current balance: 0."

I froze.

That was the joint account Sienna and I shared. It held 500,000 credits I'd saved from part-time work and lab projects.

I'd thought threatening my future outside the hotel was the cruelest thing she could do out of anger.

No matter how much she favored Declan, I'd still believed she had some basic decency left.

I was wrong.

My eyes burned as I called her.

"Ronan, have you come to your senses? Ready to apologize?"

"Where did the credits go?" I demanded through gritted teeth, fighting to keep my voice steady.

There was a brief pause before she answered casually.

"You wouldn't apologize, so I bought Declan a top-of-the-line Guardian combat suit to make it up to him. You don't need that much money anyway. What's wrong with helping him out?"

I started shaking.

"That money was my grandmother's lifeline! What right did you have to touch it?"

My grandmother was my only living relative on my mother's side and the only person in the world who truly loved me. Sienna knew that better than anyone.

I expected at least some guilt.

Instead, she grew impatient.

"Stop using your grandmother as an excuse. She's been ill for ages. What difference would it make if you paid for the pod a few days late? Declan ships out any day now. Without decent equipment, he could die out there! His life is at stake! Could you be a little less selfish?"

"Selfish?" I closed my eyes and forced myself to calm down. "Sienna, give me the money back! Now!"

She sighed like I was being unreasonable.

"You know my parents' accounts are monitored by the military. A transfer that large has to be approved. Once the transfer from my father's account is approved, I'll pay you back double, all right? Stop bothering me over something this small. Goodbye."

The line went dead. I sank onto the couch, completely drained.

A little while later, a new post popped up on my terminal.

It was from Declan.

The photo showed him and Sienna in each other's arms, smiling brightly.

The caption read, "True love wins. Thank you for everything you've done for me."

The post was flooded with likes and congratulatory comments from people at the academy.

As I read through them, a message from an unknown number popped up.

It was a photo of Declan's hand. He was wearing a familiar watch.

The message read, "Sienna says the quantum watch you gave her is too basic and doesn't suit her status, so she passed it on to me. You don't mind, do you?"

I'd bought that watch with the bonus from my first genetics experiment. It had been my gift to Sienna for her eighteenth birthday.

Our initials were engraved on the back.

Of course I didn't mind.

By then, I didn't want Sienna anymore.