The alarms didn't stop.
They layered over each other sharp, discordant, relentless until the sound felt like it was drilling into Zariah's skull. She clutched Adrian harder, her body trembling as information kept bleeding into her awareness without permission.
It wasn't just noise.
It was signal.
She could feel it now the difference between chaos and pattern. Every alert wasn't random; it was a reaction. A response to her. To what she had just become.
"They're triangulating us," she gasped, pressing her palm against her temple. "Not the building me."
Adrian swore under his breath. His arms tightened around her, anchoring her as the room spiraled. "Kellan, get us blind. I don't care how scramble everything."
"I'm trying," Kellan snapped, fingers moving faster than seemed human. "But the moment she synchronized, she lit up the entire grid. Every system that ever brushed this architecture is reacting."
Zariah squeezed her eyes shut.
She could see it networks flaring awake like startled animals, dormant protocols reactivating, old surveillance programs snapping back online. It was like touching a frozen lake and feeling the cracks ripple outward.
"They're afraid," she whispered.
Adrian stiffened. "Who is?"
"The systems," she said shakily. "And the people behind them. They don't know what I am but they know I wasn't supposed to exist."
The lights flickered violently, then went out completely.
Darkness slammed down.
Emergency lighting pulsed on a second later, casting the penthouse in harsh red shadows.
Kellan looked up, pale. "We just lost external grid connection."
Adrian's eyes sharpened. "Meaning?"
"Meaning," Kellan said grimly, "they cut us off."
Zariah's heart hammered. "No. They didn't cut us off." She swallowed hard. "They isolated me."
The truth landed like a blow.
Adrian turned to her. "Zariah, look at me."
She did barely. His face felt too loud, too bright. She could feel his pulse through the air, sense the tension in his muscles, the way his emotions flared like heat against her skin.
"I'm still here," she said quickly, panic creeping in. "I'm not gone. I can feel too much, but I'm still me."
He cupped her face firmly, forcing her to stay present. "Then hold onto that. Whatever you're feeling do not let it swallow you."
Her breath shuddered. "I don't know how long I can separate what's mine from what isn't."
Before he could respond, the wall screens snapped back to life uninvited.
A single interface filled the room.
Not the system.
Not the AI.
Something else.
A live feed.
A man sat comfortably in a darkened room, fingers steepled, expression amused. His eyes gleamed with calculated interest as he leaned closer to the camera.
Zariah's blood turned to ice.
Rourke.
"Well," he drawled smoothly, "that was… dramatic."
Adrian moved instantly, placing himself between the screen and Zariah. "Cut the feed."
"I would," Kellan muttered, "if he wasn't piggybacking on every open channel she just activated."
Rourke smiled wider. "Relax, Volkov. If I wanted her dead, you'd already be mourning."
Zariah felt a sharp spike of anger not borrowed, not external. Hers.
"You don't get to speak to me," she said, her voice steadier than she felt.
Rourke's gaze shifted, locking onto the camera like he could see straight through the building. "Oh, but I do now."
The system hummed beneath her skin restless.
"He's using reflective access," she murmured. "He's not talking through the system. He's listening to it."
Rourke tilted his head. "You learn quickly."
Adrian's voice dropped to a lethal calm. "What do you want?"
Rourke chuckled. "Confirmation."
"Of what?" Zariah demanded.
"That the rumors were true," he said lightly. "That the architect's daughter wasn't just a footnote. That she was the missing key."
Her stomach twisted. "You've been watching me."
"Of course," he said. "From the moment Volkov pulled you out of obscurity. You don't make moves like that without consequences."
Adrian's jaw clenched. "She's not for sale."
Rourke laughed softly. "Oh, I know. That's what makes this interesting."
The feed flickered briefly data streams bleeding through the image like veins.
Zariah gasped. "He's trying to map me."
Adrian grabbed Kellan's shoulder. "Kill the system."
Kellan hesitated. "If I hard-reset now, she could"
"I don't care," Adrian snapped. "Do it."
Zariah shook her head violently. "No!"
Both men froze.
"If you shut it down now," she said, breath ragged, "it won't just disconnect. It will tear something out of me. I can feel the integration points."
Adrian stared at her. "You said it was reversible."
"For now," she whispered. "But not like that."
Rourke watched the exchange with fascination. "You see why she's extraordinary? She's not just interfacing she's negotiating."
His smile sharpened. "You should never have let her touch it."
Zariah stepped forward, heart pounding. "This ends now."
Rourke arched a brow. "Does it?"
She focused not outward, but inward. On the system's presence. On the boundaries she represented.
You said I'm the line you can't cross, she thought fiercely. Then prove it.
The hum responded steady, obedient.
The feed glitched.
Rourke's image fractured for half a second.
His eyes narrowed. "Interesting."
She pressed harder, shaping intent instead of command.
The feed stuttered again.
Rourke leaned back slowly. "Careful, Zariah. You're playing with fire you don't yet understand."
"Maybe," she said quietly. "But I understand you."
Adrian's eyes snapped to her.
She looked at the screen. "You're not afraid of me becoming powerful," she said. "You're afraid of me becoming uncontrollable."
Silence.
Then Rourke smiled slow and sharp. "You really are his daughter."
The feed cut abruptly.
The screens went dark.
The alarms stopped.
The sudden quiet was deafening.
Zariah's knees buckled.
Adrian caught her before she hit the floor, pulling her into his arms as her body shook violently. "Hey. Stay with me."
"I'm here," she whispered weakly. "I'm just… overloaded."
Kellan exhaled hard. "He backed off. For now."
Adrian looked at Zariah really looked at her. At the woman trembling in his arms, carrying a weight no one should have to bear.
"They won't stop," he said quietly.
She nodded. "I know."
Her gaze lifted, fierce despite the exhaustion. "But neither will I."
The system stirred faintly watchful, restrained.
ANCHOR STABLE.
THREAT DEFERRED.
ESCALATION INEVITABLE.
Adrian's jaw tightened. "It's already planning."
Zariah closed her eyes, leaning into him. "So am I."
Outside the penthouse, networks shifted. Alliances recalculated. Eyes turned toward a single name.
Zariah Amara.
Not a target.
Not a tool.
A turning point.
And the world was already bracing for impact.