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“I’m asking myself that same question about you right at this moment.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means I want a meeting here at my house.We need to talk.”So much of me is bitter about having to do this, but there’s another part that’s buried way down deep that stirs with hope.“It’s time we got a few things straight.”

ChapterThirteen

JADE

“I’m so sorry,” I say to my mom for the tenth time.“This is all my fault.Are you sure you don’t need a doctor or something?”My eyes roam over her body, looking for some kind of injury.

She doesn't look to have been kidnapped, but Mom is always put together.From what she told me already, all the kidnappers did was ask her a range of questions.Once an alarm sounded in the warehouse she was being held in, chaos ensued, and the two men that had taken her ran out of there in a hurry.

A few moments later, men dressed in tactical gear from head to toe showed up and saved her.They too probed her with a range of questions but not about me.They wanted to know information on the men that took her and then they explained that she can’t tell anyone what happened.What went on was a matter of national security, so she’d agreed before they put her into the back of a van and brought her here to Gray’s.This is insane, and clearly, I’ve been in way over my head since the start.

“It sounds as if you were on to something important.They kept going on about drones before men who I can only guess are the FBI or CIA showed up, and now I’m in the home of Gray Malice.Who my daughter was kissing.Nyet?Did I not see that correctly?”Her Russian accent comes out, and I feel chided.

“You saw it correctly.”My cheeks start to warm because we’ve done more than kiss.

“Then he is a good man if he is working for the government?”I wonder if those kidnappers went so easy on my mom because it’s clear she’s Russian.It could also be that Gray was able to alert where she was so she could be rescued quickly.

“I think so?”I’m still putting it all together, but he has to be.I can’t see it any other way.

“Think?”Her brows lift.

I tell her what I overheard at the club and how we've now ended uphere.Then I explain that the more I dig and watch with my own eyes, the more I realize Gray must be working with the government.Our conversation about how he’s worried some of the technology his family has created could do as much harm as it does good.He’s trying to make this world a better place and to outweigh anything that lies on his conscience.The man really does take on all the burdens, even ones that aren't his to carry.

“I’ve really stepped into it.If I had stayed out of it, I wouldn’t have created this mess.”I drop down on the bed next to my mom.

“But you didn’t know Gray was good.You were brave, mysolnyshko.”She takes my hand.“Those men who took me are not good men.They are the very reason why your grandmother brought me here.”

“I can’t believe she broke her finger punching one of them.”I smile, shaking my head.

“Yes you can.”She squeezes my hand.“I just want you to be careful.Whatever this is isn’t over.”

“I know, but we’re safe here, and Gray is having Grandma brought over.”I reassure not only her but myself too.She thinks I’m brave, but I’m not feeling that way at the moment.

I leave my mom so she can take a shower and rest.Someone brought up a tray of food, and she said she’s going to eat and go to sleep when she’s finished.I’m sure it’s been a long day for her.

When I make my way back downstairs, I follow the sounds of shouting.What surprises me is that I recognize Keaton’s voice.It sounds like he and Gray are about to come to blows, and wouldn’t that be a freaking mess.The two of them losing it on each other is not something I want to witness.With their abilities, who knows what could happen?We already have a big enough mess to deal with, and we don’t need superhumans fighting it out in the living room.

“You’ve made me and my family out to be the villain in your story, but you’re playing with fucking terrorists!”Keaton’s voice booms down the hallway.

I rush into the room before this gets out of control, and thankfully, I see Elsy is there holding on to Keaton’s arm.If he moves, he’ll have to take her with him, and he’s not going to do that.Gray is standing behind his desk, but when he hears me enter, both men turn in my direction.

“He’s not working with them.”I quickly come to Gray’s defense because I can’t help myself.

“Why else would they blow up my fucking building?Unless they’re doing it for you.”Keaton points his finger at Gray.“You made it clear from the beginning you have it out for me and my father.”

“I had nothing to do with that, but I believe they see you as a threat.I explained to them that our families no longer work together.”

“You explained it to them?”If possible, Keaton looks more enraged.“You’re actually talking to them?Do they know what we are?”

“We don’t even know what we are!”Gray fires back while bracing his hands on his desk.

“No, he wouldn't tell them that.”Again I come to Gray’s defense.“He’s just selling them these drones that can’t be detected and are weirdly invisible because they reflect off the things around them?”My explanation comes out sounding more like a question.Honestly, I don’t fully understand how the technology works, but I get the concept.At least I think I do, but that’s neither here nor there.

“Hyperstealth biotechnology,” Elsy whispers loudly.

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