AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hello, Novaleen.” She startles, so I tighten my hold, even as the others move closer as if they can protect her from his ghost. A slight smile curls his lips, and she shivers. I don’t blame her. It’s a cruel, mocking smile. I don’t think he is even capable of a real one. “If you are watching this, then I am dead.”
“No shit,” Jonas mutters as he blows out a breath.
A chair creaks on the video from where he is filming in this particular room, exactly where Dimitri is sitting. He must realise it because he stands in disgust and backs away, as if not wanting to be tainted by being near where he was. “I know you hate me, I understand the emotion, but I want to explain myself. I did what I thought was best for mankind. I thought I was bettering humanity and I could play God. I truly believed it was for the best of our people, and a few sacrifices and suffering, including yours, daughter, were worth the end result, but I see now that I was wrong, very wrong. In the name of advancement, I hurt you, and I stole yours and many others’ innocence, and only now, at the end, are my sins catching up with me.” He lets out a cold, bitter laugh. “Strange how you think about the beginning at the end. I did love you. I need you to know that, Novaleen. You were brilliant, the very best of me and the world. The capacity for greatness you have was revealed in every experiment I have ever conducted. None ever compared.”
“Bastard,” she mutters.
“But you threw it away. If you are watching this, it means you’re back, though, and despite what you think of me and my research, there are some things you need to know and do, if not for me, then for those like you—those still out there enduring the same treatment as you. There are other children, lots more. Some are grown, and I hope you find them, but some are still young. It’s bigger than the children now. I needed help, Nova, and that was my first mistake. I needed funding, and I sold my soul for that. The man who no doubt killed me and will be searching for you now is the very same man still conducting my experiments, and despite what you think about me, he is evil. He doesn’t want this for advancement, nor to help people. He wants to hurt them, use them, and profit from them. I did this for knowledge, but he does not. There are no lines he won’t cross. I’m afraid I have once again put you in danger, but I know you are smart and strong enough to stop him.”
He moves closer, his face filling the frame.
“And you must stop him, daughter, otherwise not only will my research be corrupted, but it will be sold to the highest bidder. It would destroy the world as we know it. I can never ask for your forgiveness for what I did to you and the others, but in my last act, I am trying to make things right as much as I can. All of the lessons I taught you will come in useful now, Novaleen.” His eyes narrow as he drags that out, like it’s important. “You will need them all. Find the others like you, tell them, and let them help you stop this. At the end, I hope you find peace.” He sighs, scrubbing at his face in an unfamiliar sign of stress and exhaustion. “She doesn’t know, Nova. She doesn’t know what I did, and she doesn’t know what you are, that you’re alive somewhere out there. She doesn’t know the deals we made to keep her out of it, but she must be included now. You will need her.”
“Ana?” she murmurs, confused.
He glances behind him, then, before looking back at the screen. “I don’t have long, but I will not run and hide. He will kill me, Nova, which I’m betting you will be glad about, but heed my warning—he will stop at nothing to protect his secrets. You think I am the devil, daughter, but you are wrong. You are going to meet him, and I wish I could see you all in action, but it is not meant to be. Stop him. That’s my last order to you.” Then he’s gone.
A picture of a notebook flashes on the screen for a split second, and then the video cuts off.
“If he wasn’t already dead, I would kill him.” We all jerk our heads up, not realising Ana had joined us. Her expression shows she is heartbroken, and anger flashes in her eyes.
“That’s the first smart thing you’ve ever said,” I mutter, and she throws me a glare before blowing out a breath.
“He knew you would need my help. That picture at the end of the message . . . play it back. Yeah, there, stop,” she instructs Dimitri, glancing over the gibberish. “I can decipher his notes. These are locations.”
“Locations?” Louis demands.
“Yes, it seems so. Locations and numbers . . . No, wait, ages, I think. Fuck, you think these are other labs he . . . experimented at, don’t you?” she whispers, looking at us.
“Only one way to find out,” Nova grinds out. “We hit them all and destroy everything he has. Ana, you stay here and keep working. None of this leaves this house. If anyone tries to take it, you kill them.” She steps from the circle of my arms, moving towards her sister. “I’m trusting you to do this.”
“I won’t let you down,” Ana promises, her back straightening. The two sisters, night and day, face each other.
Nova looks us all over. “Pack your bags, boys. We are going on a road trip.” With that, she storms from the room, and Louis watches her go before nodding.
“You heard her, pack up. I want wheels up in an hour.” He follows after her, pulling his phone out.
“I guess that means I need pants,” Jonas grumbles, making us all laugh despite what we just saw.
THIRTY-EIGHT
There is no time to waste, so I pack as quickly as I can. As I stare down at my bag, his face flashes before my eyes, and my hands curl into fists. Anger, resentment, hope, and fear fill me.
I hated him, but seeing him brought back all those childhood feelings of wanting to be loved, and I hate that more. I hate that even at the end, he’s still playing me, using me, and ordering me around, even going so far as to involve Ana, knowing I would have no choice then.
Whoever this mystery man is, he killed my father, and for that I’m grateful, but if he is doing worse, I’ll kill him myself and bury his body right next to my father’s grave.
Determined, I zip the bag closed and toss it over my shoulder, finding Louis in the doorway, watching me.
“Just wanting to check your state of mind.”
“Pissed, hateful, and wanting to kill someone,” I reply, and he grins.
“Good.” He pushes away from the doorframe.
Shaking my head, I drop my bag in the foyer as Bert comes in, holding a bag in his hands.
“I packed as much food as I could.” He hands it over to Nico, who stops next to me, his own bag slung over his shoulder. “I’ve also included pancakes for Master Jonas.”
