Page 306 of Black Reign

“You penetrated private Blackwell systems.”

“Yes.”

I turn.

She shrugs.

“We all know. It seems silly to pretend.”

My father stares at her.

She gives him the same expression she has probably given me through NULL a thousand times.

Sweet.

Polite.

Lethal.

“And for what it's worth,” she adds, “your unhackable systems were never unhackable.”

My father's nostrils flare.

I rub my forehead.

This is going exceptionally well.

“You see?” he says to me. “This.”

Sabine looks at me.

“Does he always point?”

“Yes.”

“I dislike it.”

“So do I.”

“You two will not make jokes while discussing a breach of international⁠—”

Sabine's eyes narrow.

“Did your company kill my father?”

The room goes dead.

Every trace of humor disappears.

My father doesn't move.

Sabine does.

One step.

Then another.

She comes to stand beside me.