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The machine we were working on was incredible. Not only did it read blood and offer medication suggestions, it could also be used to study anomalies we didn’t have cures for yet so that the scientists and doctors could start working on them, and it had a dialysis function that filtered blood. It was the only machine of its kind in the world, and the tech that had gone into it was the latest in medical development.
I was so excited about the machine; I couldn’t imagine someone like Colter Price would turn it down just for the sake of profit margins.
It could do so much good for so many people, and if the man owned a lab and a clinic…
“Yeah, why the fuck else are we here?”
“I was just asking.”
“This new tech will change everything—you’ve seen the stats. I don’t have to convince you. We need the funding to make it happen, but it’s not the funding that’s an issue.” He rubbed a finger along his nose. “It’s the profit.”
“It’s a shame that so many people prioritize profits over saving lives.”
Jerry snorted. “And Colter Price wants a big profit. That’s the problem—the profit margins aren’t that great, and Colter will get the project canceled if he doesn’t see that he will make a lot of money from this.”
I’d only ever heard Colter Price’s name. I didn’t even know what he looked like, but from what Jerry was telling me, he sounded like a terrible person. Profit over saving lives? But many people in the health business had gotten greedy. Their priorities weren’t right.
Jerry wasn’t a saint, but the way he talked about Colter Price made the billionaire owner sound like a monster. The world could be a dark place, and if dark people ran the world, then it would only become more so. I knew all about what a dark place the world could be—since my foster mom had died of a blood disease, I’d lived with my foster dad who’d been one step up from hell.
The rest of my life, the shelters and shitty boyfriends and debt collectors who threatened to take what little I had, had proven that there wasn’t much good left in the world. They showed a bright, light world in movies sometimes, with people who had happy families and good experiences, but it just didn’t work that way.
“He’s going to arrive soon,” Jerry said and stood, tugging at his tie again. “On your best behavior, Clarke. And be careful of him. I mean it.”
I still didn’t know how I should have been careful of someone when I was just taking notes, staying out of the conversation otherwise, but the words sent shivers down my spine, and I swallowed hard, a knot of nerves bunching in my stomach.
2
LIV
The door opened, and two men walked in. One had long hair pulled back into a ponytail and a short, stocky body. The other was tall and muscular, with messy brown hair and a stubbly beard. Neither of them looked very intimidating.
They both wore gray suits and looked more like bodyguards than businessmen in the way they carried themselves.
When the third man walked in, the atmosphere in the room shifted completely. His presence spilled into the room, filling out into the corners, and there was no guessing who was in charge. The first two men had made a statement, but this guy…
He wore an all-black ensemble—black suit, black tie, and black shirt. His wardrobe made him look as high-class as it did dangerous.
He wore one single piece of jewelry—a ring that looked like it came from a different time, thick and heavy and embellished with an intricate design.
His dark hair had been cropped close to his skull, and he had piercing green eyes. His face was like something from a fantasy—square jaw, nose straight as an arrow, high cheekbones, but it was his eyes that made him mesmerizing. They landed on me almost immediately, and a shiver ran down my spine. Something about this man—Colter Price, without a doubt—made me feel like he stared right into my soul.
“Colter, it’s nice to see you again,” Jerry said, smiling broadly. He held out his hand, and I stared at my boss, who had turned from a bully to a suck-up in less than a second. “Can I get you anything to drink? Water, tea, coffee... something stronger?” He waved at me to get up and do something.
I stood.
“I’m fine,” Colter said. When I stood, he looked me up and down, and I fought the urge to squirm under his intense stare. I felt his gaze almost like a physical touch, and heat washed through my body.
What the hell was going on with me?
“What are you?” he asked me. His eyes slid down my body again, and he frowned slightly, as if he disliked what he saw.
I stiffened. “Excuse me?”
He stared at me, refusing to repeat himself.Whatwas I?
“I’m Jerry’s—”
“Assistant,” Jerry chimed in before I could say anything about my position as a researcher here at the company. “She’s nobody important, but she’s happy to get you something to drink, so—”
