Chapter 19 - The Girl Who Chose June

Clara jumped after her.

The water was cold enough to steal her breath. It shoved her through a broken service opening and spun her against a wall. For one sickening second she couldn't see anything but bubbles and blue emergency lights.

Then she saw June's red bracelet snagged on a pipe.

Clara grabbed her wrist. June was conscious, struggling against the current. Marcus reached down from a ladder above. Together they pulled her into the maintenance passage while firefighters closed the flooding route behind them.

On the concrete floor, June coughed, rolled over, and started to laugh.

“What?” Clara gasped.

“I just went swimming.” June's teeth chattered. “I didn't know people could do that.”

Clara hugged her until a medic gently separated them.

By sunrise, the first medical evacuation buses had arrived. The sleeping girls were transferred under specialist care, not left to wake alone in the damaged lab. Investigators sealed the remaining equipment, seized Asterion's records, and sent teams to the other facilities named in Victoria's ledger.

Elena watched as June and Clara stepped out into morning light. Her eyes were wet. Marcus stood beside her, one arm in a sling.

“I owe both of you an apology,” he said. “And maybe one day you'll let me earn a place in your lives.”

“Maybe,” Clara answered. It was the most truthful promise she could make.

Evelyn was led past them in handcuffs. She stopped before Clara, unable to meet her eyes.

“I loved you,” she whispered.

“I know,” Clara said. “That doesn't erase what you did.”

Evelyn nodded, crying, and let the officers take her away.

A reporter approached June. “One question. What's your designation?”

June straightened. The sun made the red bracelet glow against her wrist.

“My name is June,” she said. “I chose it myself.”

The reporter's pen stopped moving. “Is that your legal name?”

May you like

THEY FORBID ME FROM OPENING MY SISTER’S COFFIN—BUT I HEARD HER CRYING IN...

I SMASHED OPEN MY SISTER’S COFFIN AT HER FUNERAL… AND WHAT I FOUND INSIDE MADE EVERYONE SCREAM. 😱💔My sister was only 27 when my...

THE MAFIA BOSS CAUGHT HIS FIANCÉE FORCING A PREGNANT MAID DOWN THE MARBL...

The suitcase ripped my hand from the railing, and the first thing Vanessa Sterling screamed was, "Don't break the lock!"Not, Are y...

**Just 2 Hours After Their Wedding, a Billionaire Saw His Bride Push His...

Just 2 Hours After Their Wedding, a Billionaire Saw His Bride Push His 70-Year-Old Mother Off a 70-Story Rooftop—Then a Young Wait...

June looked at Clara. For the first time since leaving the lab, she seemed afraid.

“I don't know,” she whispered.