Chapter Fourteen
Caius
“S upernova.”
The man with the dead, soulless eyes continues to stare past me at the café but doesn’t respond to my command.
“Super. Nova,” I grit out, enunciating clearly. “Listen, dammit.”
Despite me having him shoved against the brick wall of the building, my forearm cutting into his air supply, he appears unaffected by his desperate need to look at her.
Romy.
Why?
He’s one of ours—a CUP Star. I know this because I can see the tiny star-shaped scar on his temple. This means someone activated him via a predetermined trigger word. However, I should be able to neutralize him with a backdoor word Dad created.
It’s not working.
My brain works on overdrive as I consider what this means. There’s only one reason why using the supernova code word wouldn’t have worked.
Dad.
He’d have had to have created a different failsafe after the fact. And there’s only one reason he’d do that.
To render me powerless.
A cold chill creeps down my spine and it has nothing to do with the frigid New York air.
The man before me continues to strain his neck, trying to look at Romy. He’s huge and muscular. If he had put his hands on her, there’d have been no escaping whatever his plans were.
Or whoever’s behind this activated soldier…
His phone rings—a peculiar ringtone—and then, as if he wakes out of a daze, he relaxes as he reaches into his pocket for his phone. I stare him down as he answers, not yet bothered by my arm against his throat.
“Hello?” he rasps out. Then he chuckles. “Wrong number.”
The man blinks and then blinks again. The super-fixated expression on his face is gone. He frowns at me in confusion.
“Can I help you?” He shoves me away from him, a flash of fiery anger morphing his features.
I stumble away, no match for the man’s power now that he’s snapped out of his daze. “You were eyeing my girlfriend. Got a problem with her? Who sent you?”
The man sneers, holding up a hand to reveal a wedding band. “I’m married, asshole. Check your jealousy. You assumed wrong.”
He storms off down the sidewalk without sparing me a second glance. I shake off the uneasy feeling and stalk back toward the café. Romy, with a box in hand, and Eva exit the restaurant. Romy scowls at me before casting a worried glance past me.
He’s gone, little girl.
You’re welcome.
“We’re leaving,” I say to her, grabbing hold of her arm. “Let’s go.”
She wrenches out of my hold and sneers at me. “You have some nerve, Caius.”
My eyebrows fly up. “Excuse me? I just fucking saved your ass.”
“From what?” She scoffs and puts on a show of false confidence. “All I saw was you stalking me. You don’t own me, you know. I’m a free woman.”
Eva nods, agreeing with her. I want to throttle them both.
“Go home,” I growl to Eva. “I’m taking Romy back to the hotel where it’s safe.”
“Aren’t you being a little overprotective?” Eva asks. “Romy’s lived here her whole life and managed just fine without you.”
I sigh heavily and run my fingers through my disheveled hair I had no time to fix this morning. “Please, love.”
Romy softens at the gentler tone. I nearly miss it, but there’s a fleeting flash of relief in her eyes. The man scared her, as he should have, being what I know him to be, and she’s grateful I came for her.
“I need to bring these back to Kaitlyn anyway,” Romy says to Eva. “It was good spending time with you.”
The two women hug and Eva hurries over to a waiting SUV. I sling an arm over Romy’s shoulders, pulling her to me. It’s a long walk back to our hotel, but I need the time to think.
She doesn’t wriggle away but instead leans closer to me. This relaxes me. I don’t, however, take my eyes off every person we pass as I search for threats.
Did Dad send him?
Is this his attempt to clean up some of this Romy mess?
Because she is messy. Ever since Theo brought her into our lives, she’s complicated everything. Does Dad see something I don’t? Am I getting in too deep with her?
The reality is…yes.
I’m beginning to truly care about her well-being. She’s more than just a problem to be managed. I didn’t want her, much like with Kaitlyn, but now I have her and I can’t ignore that.
“Who was that guy?” Romy finally asks, no longer brimming with irritation.
“Not sure. Scared him away, though.”
She’s silent for a beat as we cross the road to get to the next block. Wind sweeps between the buildings, pummeling us until we’re once again shielded by the next set of buildings.
“I think he wanted to hurt me,” she says, voice shaking. “Why?”
I am not about to explain to her the intricacies of the Crowne Unity Project or the secretive side project CUP Stars.
“I don’t know,” I state, “but you wouldn’t have had this issue had you not bolted without a word, not telling me where you’d gone.”
She shakes her head, huffing, a white cloud bursting out in front of her. “You can clearly track me down with no problems. Next time I’ll leave my phone at home.”
There won’t be a next time.
I’ll be damned if I let her slip from my grip a second time.
“You hurt my feelings last night,” she says softly. “I thought… I thought we were breaking new ground. I was wrong.”
Her words are a punch to my chest. I know I upset her last night. I’d intended to smooth things over this morning by taking her to breakfast. Having her as my enemy won’t do.
“I’m sorry,” I grit out. “I was getting too emotionally involved.”
She stops suddenly and turns, the box nearly smashing between us. Wide eyes peer up at me as she studies my expression, searching for lies. There are none.
I can’t help but lift a hand to smooth away her blond hair that whips into her face. She leans slightly into my palm. My thumb brushes over her cheek. So fucking soft.
“For the record,” she murmurs, “I’m confused about all this too.” Her lips curl into a small smile. “I don’t hate it.”
I’m bombarded by memories of last night, how we’d made out, fooled around, and nearly had sex. Again. My cock thickens at the reminder. I ache to take here to bed again.
No.
Abruptly, I pull away from her even though I’d rather be kissing her. If she’s disappointed, I wouldn’t know because hot anger burns through her. She stalks ahead of me, hugging her box to her chest.
We don’t touch or speak the rest of the way to the hotel. I sneak a glance at her on the elevator while heading to our floor, but she won’t look at me. Her cheeks are crimson from the wind and she wears a cold expression on her beautiful face.
Once inside the suite, we find Theo and Kaitlyn watching a Christmas movie on Netflix. Kaitlyn has a blanket stretched out on the floor and has her stuffed animals all surrounding her. Theo, oddly engrossed in the movie, waves from his roost on the sofa where he’s sprawled out.
“Come watch the movie,” Kaitlyn says to us, not sparing a glance. “We’re about to see Santa.”
The only place to sit is the love seat. I can tell Romy would rather sit on the floor beside Kaitlyn, but I’m not about to let that happen. She sets down the box and tells Kaitlyn she got the treats for her, then removes her purse and outerwear. I quickly remove my coat and grab hold of Romy’s hand before she can escape. She’s silent as I pull her down to sit with me on the love seat. Her body is stiff when I haul her to my side, but after a few uncomfortable seconds, she relaxes, resting her head against my chest.
As the tension bleeds from my body now that I know Romy’s safe, my mind wanders. A song playing in the background of the movie is the last thing I recall before drifting into a memory of the long past.
I wake, soaked in sweat, my heart racing wildly. The man who adopted me—Orion Crowne—sits at my bedside, frowning at me.
“There he is. You’re awake now. It was just a bad dream.”
His calm words do nothing to soothe my erratically beating heart. Emotion sits heavily in my throat and tears prickle my eyes. I haven’t felt such despair since learning my parents died in a car accident. And then, when I was forced to leave her.
I miss her.
Orion’s eyes narrow as he studies me. “Were you dreaming about her again?”
I’m disgusted that I showed a sliver of vulnerability to this man right before Calista was taken away from me. He witnessed it as if I’d flayed my own heart open for him to see the throbbing contents of it.
“I, uh, don’t remember,” I lie, voice gritty from sleep. “I should go shower.”
Orion doesn’t relent. His frown is lined with concern for me. While I’m grateful he rescued me from that hellhole, I’m not keen on this adoption. He wants to be my new father. I already have one of those. He’s dead, sure, but he’s still my dad. This guy is a phony, a fake, a stand-in. It’ll never feel right.
“Why don’t you take something to sleep after,” Orion suggests. “You haven’t gotten much sleep since you got here and it’s been months, Son.”
I recoil at the end of his words. Son? I’m not his. I’ll never be his.
“I’m fine,” I choke out, this time the truth.
I will be fine. I have to be.
“I heard you say the name Calista,” Orion says softly. “Is that her?”
Tearing my gaze from his, I stare at my window. It’s not a window at all. In fact, it’s just a window covered with drapes just to give off the look of a window being there. The first time I’d tried to run away, I’d been shockingly informed of the wall behind those curtains.
There’s no leaving this place.
From one prison to another.
Except in this prison, Orion doesn’t force me to do things I don’t want to do. No forced therapies or medications or machines. He always asks. Since he hasn’t hurt me yet, I can’t help but ache to let my guard down. Plus, he’s been saying he should adopt another boy so I’ll have someone my age to confide in.
The thought of having a brother to get through this while I mourn the loss of my sister is encouraging.
Rather than answering the question about Calista, I toss off my sweat-soaked blanket. Orion stands from the bed and moves aside. I slide out of the bed and head for the dresser where my clothes are neatly stacked.
“I can help you,” Orion states. “Say the words and I’ll teach you this business. You’ll learn all you need to go out and get her.”
There’s deception in his words and it makes my skin crawl.
I don’t confirm that her name is Calista or that I’m desperate to get my sister back. Instead, I grab some clothes and head for the bathroom. Before I close the door, I stop and turn to look at him. His head tilts slightly to the side, patiently waiting for me to speak.
“Tomorrow,” I force out, voice still raspy. “I want to learn how to use a computer. I want a phone. I want to go outside. I want a brother.”
The grin on Orion’s face splits his face. I know I’ve said the right thing.
I’ll let him teach me his ways, but Calista is mine. I won’t share her with him or anyone else. Because if I do, and Orion helps me get her, there might be strings attached. What if he forces her to come live here too? Would her room not have windows either? When I finally find her again, we’ll both escape.
No more prisons.
No more evil men pulling our strings.
My phone buzzes, pulling my mind from the past and dropping me in the here and now. I read the text before realizing Romy is also reading it too.
Unknown Number: Caius, it’s Calista. Stop looking for me. You’re going down a dangerous path you can’t come back from. I love you, but leave me alone.
My eyes scan the text over and over again to make sure my mind’s not playing tricks on me. Romy tilts her head up to look at me, lips parted in shock.
Calista knows I’m looking for her.
She knows and she’s warning me against it.
Well, that’s not fucking happening…