Add that to the fact that she thought she was going to die anyway, and she’d likely figured she had nothing to lose. But she was damn wrong. She had everything to lose.

He saw Harper move at lightning speed, roughly grabbing Jeff by the neck with one rigid hand. Rome twitched at her unreal strength.

Gunfire rang out, causing him to jerk again, but Harper merely raised her free hand to freeze the charging ammo in some type of near-invisible shield. Damn, she was getting good at controlling her powers. Too good.

Rome shook his head with a profound sadness. He thought he had convinced her to bring Jeff and his faction to justice. To make the bastards accountable for what they did, not just decide to kill them and be done with it, losing her precious humanity in the process.

He couldn’t stand by and watch her go down that dark and desolate path. It nearly tore him apart to see her shatter his belief in her. To take the easy road of a vigilante instead of the tough route of responsibility.

She’d chosen to break the rules and, for everyone’s sake, he couldn’t let that happen. The cost of her personal vengeance was too high a price to pay for the rest of the world.

He had to stop her somehow. If she killed Jeff, he knew he’d lose her forever. Maybe he had already.

No. Rome refused to believe that. And he refused to let that happen to her.

“I’m going in,” Rome told the operative next to him as he resolutely jumped up and raced down the slick hill, the rain stinging his face.

Through her fury, Harper heard the crack of gunfire. Raising her other hand, she freed up a small corner of her writhing mind and formed an energy field, blocking out everything except Jeff and her, essentially encasing the two of them in a bubble. The bullets pummeled but didn’t breach her psi-powered defense.

Harper was heady with spiking power. And she liked it. Craved it. Her body filled with sultry energy, consumed with the hate for this man and his monstrous actions.

All it would take was one small shift of her mind and that energy would surge from the hand wrapped tightly around his neck into his body, searing him from within. Less than an instant would pass before his death.

She was that strong.

Bobby had known her strength. He’d seen it when she decided to fight back from her swimming failure. That’s why he’d left the serum and the data for her. Because he knew she had the inner fortitude to see this through.

Even Rome had said the same thing. He, too, had faith in her inner strength.

Rome.

Harper blinked as recent memories flashed across her vision, merging with the energy that swirled in her head. She and Rome fighting side by side in the darkness. Perusing Bobby’s data together over sandwiches.

Falling in love.

The rigid hand around Jeff’s neck trembled. Rome had said he loved her. He had said her strength was genuine. That he trusted her as much as Bobby had, to do the right thing.

The right thing.

And what was that? She thought it was revenge. But Rome told her she was losing herself to that craving for vengeance. He demanded that she believe it.

He’d said that the right thing wasn’t always what you wanted to do. But what had to be done.

Make the hard decisions. And usually the hard decision was the right one.

Evil was easy. There were no boundaries. No rules. But also no honor. Doing the right thing consisted of doing the honorable thing and making the tough choices.

Like Rome and his steadfast dedication to duty. No matter what he did, he always tried to do what was right. Even if it meant going against his boss. Even if it hurt. Even if he sacrificed something he wanted, he did it because it was the right thing.

After knowing her for mere days, Rome had sacrificed everything he had, everything he was, for her, for the sole purpose of the greater good. Bobby’s greater good. Her greater good.

Rome trusted her to believe she was more than just vengeance. Because he believed it. And because Bobby had, too.

And because it was right.

Harper blinked again, clearing her rage-clouded sight to look closely at Jeff and everything the man stood for. Then she took a deeper look inside herself.

Did she have the right to play judge, jury, and executioner? Even if Jeff and his faction committed hideous and dishonorable wrongs, did she have the right to act out on her own to resolve it?

No. The answer was easier than she thought.

She was more than that. She was better than revenge. The inner strength she had didn’t stem from the serum, but from passion. From the tenacious bond she had with Bobby, unbreakable even with his death. And from the unwavering love she’d found with Rome.

And that was enough.

The relentless heat roiling just under her skin receded slowly, like a bear pacing coolly back to its cave, alert but relaxed. Her mind calmly pulled back the power that radiated though her body, storing it for another time.

Harper peeled her stiff fingers from Jeff’s throat and stared at him. Still hating him and everything he had arranged. Hating him for lying and using her brother to bait her. But sad for him as well, because he had no idea what real strength and power was. And probably never would.

She stood her ground, holding off the threatening barrage around the two of them with her protective shield while she just gazed at him. Jeff rubbed his reddened neck, staring back at her in fear and uncertainty.

“You’re right. My brother would’ve wanted me to use my powers for good.”

A sly grin creased his face. His fear morphed into hopeful triumph.

“I’m glad.” He lifted his chin a notch and straightened his tie with shaking hands. “Glad that you understand what your brother really wanted.”

“I know exactly what Bobby wanted.” Harper smiled with solid and sure belief. And for the first time in a long time, peace. “He wanted you stopped and brought to justice. And that’s what I’m going to do.”

The moment held still.

And then he lunged at her.

Jeff tackled Harper to the ground. She wasn’t fast enough to stop his onrush. Her head snapped hard against the wet turf, causing sparks to flash across her vision and pain to explode inside her skull.

Straddling her hips, he smacked her cheekbone sharply with a solid backhand. Twice.

Chaos rang loud in her ears as she realized her protective psi-powered field had dropped at the same time she hit the grass. A frenzy of heavy boot steps and loud voices filtered through the ringing, and she saw frantic blurs of movement out of the corner of her eye.

Another hard whack connected with the other side of her face, shocking her fuzzy focus back to the madman on top of her.

“Coward,” Jeff seethed, lowering his face just a breath away from hers, his cheeks fuming red. “You have no idea what justice is. You could have had everything.” His eyes turned wild. “But now you’ve chosen to lose it all.”

He swung his hand back again, now with a cruel blade clasped in his severe grip, ready to strike. Harper thrashed and managed to loosen Jeff’s hold on her.

As she struggled to free herself, a slight motion to her left caught her attention. A tall dark figure raced down from the hill where she’d been not too long ago. Rain lashed at the runner, but he sped on, boots kicking up splashes of standing rain and mud.

Rome. What in the world was he doing?

Gunfire filled the air. Followed closely by deafening yells and splashes. A fierce wave of black-clad figures rushed into the courtyard and clashed with camouflage.

Rome’s group of special ops attacked Jeff’s army, half of which were supersoldiers. Skirmishes swamped her vision. Bodies battled and dropped. It was war.

Jeff took advantage of the distraction and pinned her again, raising his knife above her chest.