20. Finley #2
Something akin to a growl came from Eli. “That’s not how this is going to work. You can’t just call and demand things from me. While I might not have raised you, I am still your father, and I will be treated with respect.”
I scoffed, shaking my head. “No matter who you are, respect is earned.”
“Then my answer is no, and I’m going to hang up if you don’t give me a reason to say yes,” he threatened.
“Ah, now there is the man I would believe runs the Organization. Did you look into your underlings yet? They are the ones who have been working for James funneling information through unsuspecting operatives like Tabitha. Your fellow brother has been working to take you down and me along with you since Mother died,” I shared.
“Interesting fact is that he has been incredibly close to pulling it off a few times, but it seems fate has other ideas.”
“There is no possible way you can know all that for a fact,” Eli snapped.
“Can’t I? You’re the one who trained me, the best of the best right? Who’s to say what I can and can’t do now that I’m at full power,” I challenged. “Trust me when I say I got it from some incredibly reliable sources, direct from the mind if you will.”
This shut him up quickly, no longer willing to argue that I didn’t have the right information. The mind might play tricks on you, but I don’t think it was that good to fool me watching memories.
“If you are willing to come out and publicly declare that you are my daughter, then I can get you into the gala,” Eli answered. “Of course, also making your declaration publicly that you are the elven queen will also do it, but might be less risky to admit you’re related to me.”
“What if I do both?” I asked. “If I make myself public enough, then it will be far more difficult for them to come after me.”
“If you choose to bring down that world of hurt on yourself, then so be it. Making that announcement will bring the Elders to your doorstep far quicker. Do you really want to risk losing your magic before this fight?” Eli demanded.
“That isn’t for you to worry about. I’ll handle whatever comes my way. I might look like my mother, but we are not the same person. I won’t let anyone take from me what is mine,” I announced just as the others joined me in the car.
They must have sensed I needed some time to myself and helped Peter and Tabitha off. For that, I will be forever grateful. While I would have had the conversation with them in the car, I was glad they didn’t need to witness my argument with the man who demanded to be claimed as my father.
“Set it up so I can go with you to the gala. I’m sure Zander can do the same with his connection to his mother. Am I allowed to bring a plus one or seven?” I asked.
There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the line. “They allow you to bring your partner, but since you will be accompanying me, that doesn’t apply. If you somehow get an invite, then I’m sure you could make them accommodate your men.”
“Then it seems I have a press release to work on, now doesn’t it,” I shared before hanging up.
“Fun having parents, isn’t it,” Derven commenced, giving me a cheeky smile. “Now you get to join the shitty dad’s club.”
Slipping my arm around his, I took his hand in mine, taking the strength from him he was trying to give. Then I turned my attention to Tabitha. “I need you to tell me everything you know about James.”
“That’s going to take longer than a thirty-minute drive,” she informed me.
Figures this couldn’t be easy.
“Fair point, then start with how you met him, and he got you to play both sides?” I inquired, giving a little more direction.
She shifted slightly in her seat and for Tabitha, that was a big sign that whatever she had to say wasn’t going to be what I expected.
“He’s my dad… I’m two years younger than you.
He got my mother pregnant but only because he wanted a weapon.
He paid her to carry his child, then gave up all rights to me so he could put me in the foster system for the Organization to take me.
Everything was planned before either of us knew that he existed.
James didn’t tell me who he was until after everything went wrong on the Sutton job and I walked away. ”
Out of all the things she could have said, that hadn’t been it. “Did you know him growing up? Is that how you trusted him so easily when they trained that out of us so early?”
“He worked with Judge Slesinger, Delilah’s grandfather, so when he told me that he worked with the Senate, I believed him.
Then his requests got more and more odd and focused on things the senate would never need or want.
He’d ask to look at case files that he shouldn’t have known I had, but I assumed the Senate was the one who asked for the job to be done.
Everything started to get worse when he zeroed in on you after we worked that mission together.
Something caught his attention and he was desperate to find out more about you,” Tabitha said, twisting in her seat to look at me.