Chapter 24 Zill #2
"Zill, is there any validity to the claim that Empress slept with–"
I push through the doors to Reese's apartment lobby, cutting off the end of the last question. The paparazzi don't follow, leaving me to let out a long sigh.
The front desk clerk looks at me with a raised brow, and I hold up my hand to tell him I'm fine. My shadows drop from underneath my clothing, pooling underneath me. I go through the thoughts that Reese wants to share with me, and I hesitate in trying to find the right answer.
I'm fine. I tell her, pausing as I try to think of the best way to word the next part. Before I get a chance, her thoughts are screeching into my head, and I can't stop the smile pulling at my lips.
Where are you? What's going on?
Kolos and I are following a lead. I didn't want to bother you with it if it turns out to be nothing. It's the truth, more or less.
I want her in my arms when she figures out that her brother sent her some hateful messages on her socials.
I want to be there to hold her and tend to her if she needs it, if it turns out her brother is the one who leaked her information.
It isn't right to keep the information from her, and I won't do it for long.
I just need to make sure she's taken care of when it happens.
When will you be done? Reese asks right as someone pounds on the shield around my mind hard enough to have me doubling over in pain. My comm pings as the pounding gets a little less severe.
Kolos
Get Reese back to the ship. Now.
I read over Kolos's message, realizing that he's the one pounding on my head, the one trying to get in. He stops the incessant barrage as he throws open the lobby doors and looks at me with a panicked look in his eyes.
We're just about done, but it's best if you both head up to the ship, and we'll meet you there. I tell Reese. I don't want her worrying or freaking out prematurely. Kolos obviously knows something I don't, but I'll be filled in soon.
Are you sure everything's okay? Reese's voice comes through a lot quieter than the other times. I take a deep breath, hands tunneling through my hair and pulling strands free from where I have it tied back.
It will be. I promise. I tell her, hoping that whatever Kolos is about to tell me doesn't make me regret not filling her in sooner.
"What's going on?" I ask Kolos, who is rapidly typing on his comm.
"He did a lot more than sell her information," Kolos says, not looking up from his comm. My own chimes with notification after notification. "Let me in your godsdamned head and I'll fill you in while I get everyone else up to speed."
I drop the shield around my mind without hesitation, letting Kolos in and not even putting guards on my thoughts.
I'm in too much of a rush, and he's not in the mood to be digging through my thoughts for something to use against me right now.
Without a second passing, Kolos is dropping me into the memories he copied from Jeremy.
"One hundred thousand credits just for her name?" Jeremy says, sitting across a coffee shop table from a man in a well-tailored suit and perfectly styled hair. His name is Vic, someone Jeremy contacted from a gossip podcast.
"If the information you give us is correct, then yes," Vic says, his voice dripping with charm. "If you're as connected as you say you are, we have a few other opportunities to make some extra money if you'd like."
"I'm interested," Jeremy says, pulling out his comm and sending a quick message over to the other man. It's a concise message with Reese's full legal name, home address, and phone number. The other man's comm dings with a notification as he receives the information.
"If this proves to be true, we'll send you over the money," Vic says, sliding out of the booth.
"What about the other opportunities?" Jeremy asks, his voice high with worry because he thinks he's being played. His conscience is berating him for not getting the money up front and giving away all of his leverage.
"You said you're her brother, right?" Vic asks. Jeremy nods. "Do you have access to her home?" Again, Jeremy nods. "Then we'll be in touch."
My shadows squeeze against my chest as my hands ball into fists. I know Vic. Not because I've met him, but because of an interview he did with Reese, one that caused her to reject any further interviews with his podcast.
Kolos is grabbing my shoulder, pushing me out of the lobby, and back onto the street. The paparazzi are still out there, but I'm too caught up in the memories being played out for me to pay them any attention. I let Kolos guide me as the next scene begins to play out in my head.
"Who is that?" Jeremy asks. He's a sweaty mess. His hands are damp enough that he's wiped them multiple times on his jeans, and they're still moist.
"Someone paying a lot of money to be here," Vic says.
The man is a normal-looking human man. He has dark hair, dark eyes, and tanned skin. He's wearing business attire, clean-shaven, well-groomed. Even Jeremy is struggling to see what his role is in all of this, considering the people he normally deals with are as falsely charming as Vic.
"Okay, well, we need to be fast," Jeremy says, pulling out a key from his pocket and unlocking Reese's apartment. He keeps his hand on the knob, staring at Vic. "I want payment now."
Vic shoots him a too-big smile, but pulls out his comm and transfers the money. When he tucks his comm back in his pocket, he shoves Jeremy away from the door. "It's best if you wait out here."
"You said you were just taking some shit to sell," Jeremy says, though he doesn't put up any sort of fight when Vic opens the door and lets the other man step through first.
"Like I said, my friend here is paying a lot of money to be here," Vic says, his voice slick as he moves to shut the door on Jeremy.
I'm going to kill Jeremy. If I ever see him again, if he ever has the audacity to show his face around Reese, it will be the last thing he ever does.
He sold her out for credits, as if she wasn't already giving him enough.
But not only was he the one to share her secrets, he was the one who let the intruders into her home, the one who helped someone violate her.
I don't care what he knew was going to happen in that apartment.
His sister was violated, and the only thing he cared about was getting paid.
"One more, so you can really be angry," Kolos murmurs, his jaw tense as he keeps typing away on his comm. "Just know we're on our way to her, okay?"
I want to ask him what he's talking about, but the scene is starting to come together in my mind. Kolos is talking to someone, but his voice fades as the memory takes hold.
"How much?" Jeremy asks, his hands already shaking just thinking about how many credits the man is offering him.
"A quarter of a million if you just keep me up to date on where she is and what she's doing," the man says with a slight shrug of his shoulders, as if that's a normal thing to ask someone to do.
"Why can't you?" Jeremy asks, only questioning things because it seems almost too easy. He's not concerned about his sister's well-being or how he's once again violating her. Instead, he's worried that this man won't actually pay him even if he does what's asked of him.
"I can and I do, but I need someone closer to her, someone who people won't question if you're found nearby.
" The man reaches into his pocket but doesn't pull anything out.
"You'll need to stay far enough away that the Sombran doesn't hear you, but other than that, you'll just need to keep me apprised of where she is at all times. "
"She's planning on leaving Earth," Jeremy says. "I can only watch her until she leaves. I'm not leaving."
"I'm not asking you to," the man snaps, his composure slipping for a moment. He takes a deep breath, his face returning to pleasant. "Just keep me alerted to where she is and who is with her if you can figure it out. I can handle the rest of it."
Jeremy hesitates at that last statement, his heart speeding up. "What exactly are you planning?"
The man studies Jeremy for a long moment, making Jeremy even more uncertain of all of this.
Again, it's not because he's worried about Reese's well-being, but his own.
He's starting to see how unhinged the man across the table is, and he's wondering if he's made a mistake in answering him when he contacted him personally for more information about Reese.
"I'll be honest with you," the man says, leaning his forearms on the table.
"I plan on marrying your sister. She is the center of my universe, the light of my life, and this little hiccup with the Sombran is something that we'll look back on one day and laugh about.
I just need to get her alone so I can explain all of that to her. "
Alarm bells are going off in Jeremy's head, and it's almost as if the man across from him can sense it. He leans back, his tongue brushing across the front of his teeth.
"Fine, four hundred thousand credits," he says, and it's the exact right thing to say to get Jeremy from worried to back in line.
"And you're not going to hurt her?" Jeremy asks.
It's all for show. His thoughts are more focused on the money, but a part of him is saying he's not the bad guy if the man isn't planning on hurting Reese. He's trying to rationalize his vile behavior, and it's working enough for him to excuse what he's doing.
"I would never hurt her," the man says, the vow sounding hollow even to Jeremy. He chooses to believe the man, though. After all, almost half a million credits is a lot of money. Pair it with the half a million Reese is planning to give him, and he'll be set for a good long while.
"I'll keep you informed," Jeremy says, reluctantly taking the other man's hand when he offers it to shake on their deal.
He ignores the churning in his stomach, the ache in his chest telling him he's doing the wrong thing. He ignores all of that in favor of how much he wants the credits.
I snap out of the memory, my shadows vibrating in their anger, and I'm right there with them. If something happens to Reese, I know exactly who I'm blaming first. But no, nothing is going to happen to her, not if I can do anything about–
Zill! Reese's voice is like a scream in my head, and I open myself to all of her thoughts, to everything that's happening.
"Oh fuck," I mutter.
Kolos is still in my head since I haven't closed off his access. We're both aware of Isha falling unconscious, something or someone taking her out without her even realizing it. She's still alive. If she weren't, Skia would be on a warpath, and we would all know she's no longer with us.
Leave Isha, get back into the studio. Go to your dressing room and lock the door. Kolos and I are on our way. You need to hide.
I keep my thoughts from sounding as frantic as I feel. We're still too far away from the studio, too far away to be of any help. Reese hasn't moved, and based on the terror in her thoughts, I don't think she can. It doesn't stop me from prompting her once more.
Reese, love, please. I need you to hide until I can get there.
It's a whole new terror to listen to her beg her body to move, to want to flee and run and get away from the danger, all the while her body is locked up, frozen, all of her instincts screaming for her to do something, but her body's response is to shut down.
I can't. I can't.
It feels like my world is crumbling around me. Reese's mind is so vivid in what she sees, in what she shares with me. So, when the man Jeremy has been meeting with, who offered him so much money, steps out of the shadows of the parking garage, I know exactly what's about to happen.
"We'll be there soon," Kolos tells me, his eyes tracing back and forth as he watches the same thing I am. I'm not sure if he's trying to reassure himself or me. "We'll get there in time."
I want to believe him, want to will the transport to move faster, to get us to Reese before something bad happens.
When a syringe flashes in the man's hand, I have to keep myself calm.
Me freaking out in Reese's mind won't help her.
It won't make this any easier on her. Kolos and I both flinch as if we're the ones feeling the bite of the needle.
Reese's thoughts are a slurry of fading thoughts, and I try to soothe her as she falls into slumber.
Reese, we're coming. I swear we're coming. Just hold on a little longer, love. I'll get to you.
"I'm getting Jeremy," Kolos says, not giving me a second to take in what he's saying before he wrenches open the transport door and tosses his body out.
I watch from the window as he clumsily rolls, his shadows keeping him from getting too scraped up.
He gets to his feet and then starts running full sprint from where we came from.
"We're going to get her," I say out loud, trying my best to soothe myself and my shadows. They haven't fallen into despair yet. If anything, they want blood. Good, at least we're on the same page.