Lie to Me (28 page)

“I saw him move when he went after you. He was agile for a stuffy Regent. I bet he’s better trained than you anticipated.
Or
...” He hesitated long enough she thought she might have to prod him to continue. “You didn’t want to hurt him and lost due to your own limitations.”

“I went for his liver and left a visible bruise.” She’d spied it earlier in the shower. “It didn’t slow him down, not even a little. I couldn’t get to his dick or any pressure points, but I tried. I’d have bitten his damn nose off if he got close enough, but he didn’t. He was too strong.” Maybe too determined as well. “I fought until I was seeing spots from lack of oxygen. I’m pretty sure that was his plan.” Reaper had taught her how to go for the vital areas first because in a head-to-head match, she couldn’t defeat strength, so the soft spots were crucial. A lot of good it’d done her this go round.

Reaper nodded. “He had your scent. Not sure you could’ve escaped this outcome either way. Ooo...a banana.” He peeled the fruit. “What’s the tattoo on your neck?”

“Emmerson House sigil.”

He winced. “Ownership tattoo. That blows.”

“He says he didn’t order it put there, but that doesn’t make any sense. I keep wondering if I’m remembering things accurately from that night. His dad said so much that contradicts what Stone says.”

“Why would either of them lie?” He groaned with his first bite of the banana.

“I don’t know. His dad’s not a good man.”

“He was a Regent.”

She nodded. “Yep. But it’s treasonous to mark me without Stone’s permission, and I’m surprised Peter—that’s his dad—would go this far. That’s pretty ballsy even in this setting.”

“It’s treasonous to aid your flight, and his mother didn’t care.”

Kella shrugged. He had a point. “Guess it doesn’t matter.” What’s done was done.

“You know about the new Xeno?”

“Yeah, I saw.” She thought about the window sheet and decided she’d give it to him before he left. Chances were the group was already in action.

“Got a text right before I stepped in here. Creed chanced upon the team while transporting the girl to the X-camp. He shot her guards and—”

Her breath hitched. “They dead?”

“Nah...he had the weapon turned to stun.”

Whew
! Kella breathed a sigh of relief. The innocents Jones murdered for treason in the crimson rain told her the Regent was willing to turn the war dirty. Playing fair wasn’t in his vocabulary. Killing anyone in the Regency Guard would most likely result in a show of force, and Kella knew Jones didn’t need guilty victims, not when any innocent dreg would do.

“They made it to the silos.” Reaper munched on his banana. “I’m meeting up with them after dark to give them the 30K you gave me for explosives, so I need you to hang out here with prince charming.”

“Okay.” Stone wanted her to stay in anyway until he ensured her safety. “Rescuing a Xeno in broad daylight like this was risky.”

Creed sometimes thought with emotions rather than strategy. So far he’d been lucky and hadn’t gotten caught.

“This was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and I plan to rip him a new asshole when we meet up.” She actually regretted she’d miss that drama. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he was successful, but he jeopardized all of us with his stupidity. If he got caught, he could’ve ratted us all out.”

“Yeah, hard to make changes if we’re all in jail. Can you imagine how that’d look for Stone to have his wife arrested?” The heat he’d endure because of her choices would reduce his credibility among his fellow Regents.

Inclining his head, he sipped the coffee. “You might have a point about leaving him.”

Ignoring the way her belly protested with a swirl, she stuck to the conversation. “While you’re out tonight, run to my house and grab Retro’s sack of food. Dutch have any better luck hacking their system?”

“She’s in.”

Kella propped her elbows on the table and rubbed her forehead. Dutch’s impressive skills with tech were made even more impressive given their illegality for her low-class status.

“Dutch tried to reach you.” Reaper poured another cup of java. “When she didn’t get you, she contacted me.”

“With Stone hot on my ass, I stashed my phone with the frams at the dig.” It wasn’t often she carried it on her person anyway.

“She wants to meet with you to go over the video.” Reaper swirled his finger in front of his face. “But this new look of yours is going to make our cohorts fucking nervous.”

“I’ll tell them the truth, unless you have a better idea.” Honesty among criminals was the only way Kella could think to play the scenario.

“I don’t know. We’re fucked all around here.”

“Maybe we can find another working V-chip and switch my appearance back and forth.”

“That black market tech is going to cost a fuckload more than you have.”

“I have a lot more frams than you realize. Ask Creed, I’m sure he can come up with something. But I think we need to bring Dutch and Creed up to speed.”

Sighing, he sat back. One clunky boot hit the edge of the table, jarring the dishes, and the other flopped down over the opposite ankle. “I’ll ask him.” He massaged his forehead with his fingertips. “This could go bad fast if Stone discovers it.”

“Having a new V-chip identity could save him if
I
am implicated as an X-Ds.” Not to mention if she elected to leave before the eight-month period, she could walk away without Stone knowing her new look.

“How do you plan to pass the contracted eight months with your husband?”

She shrugged, not wanting to discuss this with him. “No clue, but probably not staying that long.”

“You should fuck him.”

Startled by the suggestion, she choked on a strawberry.

“Don’t be a prude, Mack. The more he trusts you, the less he’ll watch you.”

“Would you fall for that?”

“Fuck no.”

“Then why do you think he would?”

“He’s soft for you. That’s a weakness we can exploit.”

“Don’t you mean a weakness
I
can exploit?”

He conceded with a one-shoulder shrug.

“I don’t know if I can.” Kella twisted the napkin in her lap. She’d really liked the way he’d touched her earlier. Liked it a lot, and loved his kisses, but sleeping with him would engage her heart. She couldn’t risk that. “Sex isn’t my thing, you know. The shame I feel after letting someone use me that way...”

“This is different. He’s your husband. All I’m saying is if you’re still attracted to Stone, use the safety net he’s given you to win back your sensuality. Don’t let fear stop you. He’s planning on keeping you, so I
know
he’s attracted to you.”

Kella chewed on her bottom lip. The biggest problem she kept seeing with that was she might not be able to walk away from Stone if she let down her guard. But she wasn’t sure she could resist his allure either. Why’d her biggest mistake have to be her biggest weakness?

––––––––

A
little over an hour ago Stone and James had been led into Regent Jones’s office, told Jones would be ‘right with them’, and they’d proceeded to wait. And wait and wait some more. Stone recognized the ploy as a tactical play, Jones asserting his power. Unnecessary games among Regents were disrespectful in Stone’s opinion, but dictators seemed to get off on proving their dominance.

Stone maintained his outward calm, but inside he seethed. Time was valuable, and he had plenty of other important things to follow up on before the day ended. James sat on the edge of the humongous, pretentious desk, spinning the tip of his blade into the wood. An adolescent destruction of property, but Stone held back the reprimand since Jones made them wait.

All the furniture fit Regent Jones’s personality. Ostentatious and overconfident. Most Regents suffered from overinflated arrogance. Maybe if Regent posts were elected ones, the uncertainty of their leadership might tone down their conceit, and have them implementing a blanket of fairness to all citizens. Then again, they’d never allow the dregs voting rights.

Fed up with the wait, he shoved out of the chair and confronted Jones’s secretary. The woman paled but went into action to locate Jones. Stone retreated to Jones’s office, leaving the door open between the two offices.

“You carve your name into it yet?” he asked his bodyguard.

“Thought about it.” James skipped the knife across his knuckles. “He thinks he’s undermining your authority.”

Made no sense after the way Stone had nixed their attempt to overthrow him three years ago.

“He’s an arrogant fool.” He glanced at his bulky watch, a twenty-first century antique presented to him by his father the day of Stone’s swearing in as Regent. The antiquity of the timepiece had had him thinking of Kella. It’d been a bittersweet moment, made all the more ironic by discovering she was very much alive.

Stone had stepped into the Regency at a young age. Most inherited the position upon their father’s death, or the role skipped generations and fell to the grandchildren. When Peter was diagnosed with a particularly volatile disease, a new one that the cybernetic doctor couldn’t heal, Stone had had to take over early. The cyber doc wasn’t a perfect piece of technology, unable to cure diseases that resulted after the pestilence, but it was better than nothing.

Since stress caused his dad’s current disease to worsen, Stone stepped up to his responsibilities and took over Quadrant13 at the age of twenty. Half the time he still felt like he fumbled through the position, but his father offered his support and gifted mind...along with his rancor when Stone neglected his advice, which was often. He’d made changes to honor the memory of his dead wife, but he regretted none of them.

If Regent Jones pegged Stone as weak because of his age, the modifications to his Quad, or even his real concern for
all
his people, the other man made a crucial mistake. His to make, of course, and Stone wouldn’t correct Jones’s error until it was too late for the other man.

Stone motioned to James. “Let’s go.”

“Regent Jones is coming, sir.” The secretary blocked his path.

He glared down at the woman, his fingers curling into fists at his sides. “
Move
.” Had she been one of his people he would’ve repositioned her himself.

The woman’s eyes rounded, and she trembled as she hustled ass to shift out of his way. The door at her back opened just as she moved, and Jones walked in behind her.

“My apologies, son, for keeping you waiting.” Jones shut the door.

Stone’s jaw hardened, and he met Jones eye-to-eye, getting into his personal space. “It’s
Regent Emmerson
.” He reached around Jones and opened the door.

“What of our meeting?” Jones gawked as if surprised Stone would dismiss him so casually.

“Your meeting, I didn’t request it. I showed respect by allotting you my valuable time.” Left unvoiced was Jones’s disrespect toward Stone. “You’re welcome to walk with me if you wish to talk.” Stone breezed out the door with James following.

“I had a time-sensitive issue.”

“I don’t care.” Stone kept his tone unbending. “I have a time-sensitive issue awaiting me too.” Thoughts of Kella melting to his caresses and kisses mellowed him just a little.

Jones fell into stride beside him. “You should care. The X-Diplomats were involved. They’re your problem too.”

Not my problem
. “How so? I thought you dealt with the terrorists in the crimson rain.”

Jones barred Stone’s exit through the door leading into the main hallway. “Unfortunately, that example didn’t deter them apparently. They’ve struck again.”

Stone stared at the older man, unconcerned, but curious what their actions had been this time. “Go on.”

“The Xeno we identified earlier, she was stolen from us within the last hour.”

“Who took her?” James asked from behind Stone.

“X-Diplomats, of course.”

“You’ve got proof the X-Diplomats are involved?” The rebellion was an easy target. Stone demanded substantial evidence before he handed down a guilty verdict.

“Who else had motive to take her?” Jones narrowed his eyes.

“Her parents could’ve hired mercenaries.” James stepped into view, his thumb swishing along the hilt of his knife sheathed at his waist. Stone thought the move made out of habit, more than a threat.

“They’re barely surviving as it is. Please return to my office so we can discuss this in private.”

Stone gave a slow headshake. It’d be a cold day in hell before he gave the older man the satisfaction of submitting to his request. “Suspicion doesn’t prove X-Diplomats are involved. How much proof did you have before you executed the terrorists”—he called them terrorists loosely—“in the crimson rain?”

“This is a war, boy.”

“Regent Emmerson.” The scuff of metal against leather gave a sharp punch in the room when James whipped his blade back out.
That
was a direct threat.

Jones’s slouched frame went straight, his shoulders squaring. “Tread carefully. There are cameras everywhere.” He flicked his hand toward the ceiling. “You’re my esteemed guests, but accidents happen every day.”

James smirked at him, a sneer that clearly taunted Jones to ‘bring it’ because it’d be the asshole’s funeral.

“War doesn’t validate accusing innocents unjustly, Regent Jones.” Stone elected to maintain the tension between them, mostly because he preferred Jones discombobulated...and thinking he held all the cards. “You didn’t invite me here to compare war strategy. What do you want?”

A long moment passed before Jones shifted his gaze from James to Stone. “Rumors suggest you were the last to speak with my Director. He’s gone missing since your meeting. Have any idea where he is?”

Somewhere you’ll never find him
. “Don’t know. I’m not his babysitter.”

James added, “Evans showed up as an uninvited guest. Haven’t seen him since he left.”

The truth anyway you sliced it.

“Are you responsible for his departure from my Quad?”

“Are you accusing me of something, Regent Jones?”

Loud silence descended. The only noise in the hall was the ticking of Stone’s military-grade watch.