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I look at Ziyon for answers. “Melinda, Jolie is your daughter.”
“My daughter?” she frowns. “When did I have a child?” she asks, turning to gaze up at my uncle.
“Almost eighteen years ago,” he says. “Let me explain.”
He leads us all over to a sofa and we all take a seat. Brennan sits next to me, intertwining our fingers and lending me his strength to get through this. Melinda sits beside my uncle and he places his hand on her knee, squeezing it in reassurance.
“A few days before your birth, Melinda told my brother she wanted a divorce. He couldn’t handle that and flipped out on her. She called me crying and afraid for her life. He told her that he would kill her after she gave birth and he would take the baby and raise her without a mother. There is no way he would have let her come to me, even without you.” He shakes his head. “We had to work fast to make sure she was safe. I still had a few friends within the organisation at the time, so I called the doctor and explained to him what was happening. For the right price, he agreed to induce labour while Zacari was out of town. Melinda was under the watch of a handful of guards when she went to her eight month check up, but the doctor was able to excuse them for privacy reasons. Once they left, he explained to Melinda what was going to happen, that he was going to induce labour and Zacari would get a call that his wife and child had died. The plan was in place. What we didn’t know was that he returned early and had a plan of his own. He couldn’t bear to kill her, the guilt of that was obviously eating at him so instead he wiped her memories. Back then the drug wasn’t stable and so far we haven’t found a way to reverse the damage.
“Neither myself nor the doctor knew of the memory loss at this stage. At the check up, Melinda went in and the doctor gave her a drip, under the guise that she was dehydrated and labour began. The guards called my brother and when he turned up the doctor was obviously shocked and called me. We still went along with the plan, only we had no way to remove you without him knowing. My brother was there when you came out and he whisked you away before we had a chance to stop him. Melinda lost a lot of blood and needed surgery to repair the damage that was done. While she was in the operating theatre, the doctor informed my brother that she didn’t make it. After cutting a deal with the morgue, they wrote a report indicating that they had cremated her. That is why I had this house built, so we could live here away from him and the danger he represents.”
We sit in silence. My mind reels. What the hell is wrong with Mr. Z? We can’t wait much longer; he needs to be taken down and fast. They have until the end of the year or I’m going to take matters into my own hands. Someone as deranged as him needs to disappear.
“I have a daughter,” Melinda whispers, tears in her eyes. “I've always wanted a child.”
“Melinda did have some complications with the bleeding after you were born and she was unable to have any more children.”
“Would you boys mind giving me and Jolie a moment to talk?” Melinda asks, patting my uncle’s hand. Ziyon nods and stands, motioning for Brennan to follow him.
“I'll give Brennan a tour of our underground paradise.”
Once they leave the room, Melinda moves closer to me and reaches out to take my hand. “This must be a huge shock, I know it is for me.”
I laugh, “You can say that again. So you don’t remember anything?”
“I do remember waking up after surgery and Ziyon was there. My heart skipped a beat when he first walked into the room, but I didn’t know who he was. He explained that I was in danger and he needed to take me to safety. I was sceptical since I had no memory of even meeting him before, so he showed me videos and pictures of us together. One look at the smile I was directing towards him in those photos and I just felt like I could trust him. I have all the memories from then until now, but what I really want is to know about you and your life. Give me the quick version,” she giggles, “and I hope we can spend more time together and get to know each other.”
“For you to fully understand, I'll have to work backwards for my story. A few months ago I was brought back into this world, but,” I wave my hand, “that's a story for another day. At thirteen I lost my memory and was hidden away from Mr. Z. Before that, I was raised at Olympia and trained to be in his super team. There isn’t much else to tell really.”
“Were you happy?”
“I think I really was before my memory was taken from me. I was raised by nannies, but my team was always around.”
“And what about now, are you happy?”
“I’m trying to be. I just lost five people close to me not that long ago and I’m trying to get back to a normal existence without them, but I think other than that I’m content.”
We spend the next half an hour talking; Melinda asks me questions and I answer them. All the basic things like favourite colour, food, and who my friends are. When Brennan returns, he lets me know that we have to go. We only have so much time before our microchips will activate again, so we need to get back to the garage before our cover is blown.
Melinda gives me a quick hug and makes me promise to come back. We are led back outside by the same guard and we make the ten minute walk back to the car in silence.
“Did you know that she was alive?” I ask Brennan as he drives us out from the underground parking lot.
“I found out when I came a few weeks ago. I didn’t get to meet her, but I was asked if he could tell you. I gave him a month and here we are.”
“Do you trust him?”
“More than I do Mr. Z. But we're hoping now that we know you’re named in the will, that we can talk to this Amelie woman and get her on our side. That way when it’s in your name, you can sign 49 percent over to Ziyon. He can run the company, but you’ll still hold the majority vote in case something goes wrong.”
“That makes sense, but I just don’t know.” I tilt my head in thought. “I know I’m supposed to hate Mr. Z and I do, but I get a weird vibe from Ziyon. I mean it could just be because of how we were greeted by guns, but still, something doesn’t sit right with me.”
“This is why we never rushed into killing anyone or bringing you back; there's so many unanswered questions.”
He's right, some things can’t be rushed. I just need to focus on my training and school for now. When the time is right, the guys will let me know and I will be right there with them to take him down. Only something in my gut is telling me that we might have to add another name to that list.
14
Jolie
