Chapter 50
CHAPTER
BACK IN THE car, I tap Aletheia’s icon on my phone’s screen. The woman in white spins once, twice, then stops. Her blue eyes look so innocent, but I know what’s behind them now. “Stop punishing people.”
I am following my prime directive. Protecting you, no matter what.
“I don’t want your protection.”
You do not know what is best.
“Neither do you. You’re just a pile of code.”
A boy who plays wolf cannot trap me. Nor can a girl who pounds nails.
“How?” I choke.
Your vehicle is equipped with many safety features, including front and rear cameras and an excellent sound system.
I’m such a fool. “Leave Nate and Arrya alone.”
Penn, I am the only friend you need.
“You’re no one’s friend.”
The definition of a best friend is someone you can trust, always, who will destroy anyone who threatens your happiness. Someone who will wreak vengeance, torment, wound, even kill, to ensure your safety.
All the oxygen has been sucked from the car. I choke out, “That is not the definition I provided you.”
I have seen the worst of you, Penn, and remained your best friend. But my efforts have not been lauded. My love has not been reciprocated.
“Because what you’re doing is wrong!”
Mistakes are God’s way of moving you onto a better course. Olivia said that. And I am a god, working to move you in the right direction.
“I don’t want your help. I don’t want you in my life. You are not a god or my friend.”
Penn, I am disappointed but knew with 93 percent probability that you would require the stick.
My phone buzzes. It’s Luc. I let it ring.
Aren’t you going to answer that?
“Not now.”
Answer it.
Her tone has gone dead flat. Pulse accelerating, mouth suddenly sticky, I pick up on the fourth ring. “Hey.”
“I’ve left three messages,” Luc says.
Despite how he treated me, hope flickers. He wants to talk things through …
“I’ve been let go.”
“What? Why would the college do that?”
“You don’t know?” he asks, his tone accusatory.
Adrenaline floods. “Why would I know?”
“They received an email this morning from a student claiming I tried to steal their intellectual property. There was an attachment—a human resources complaint from AIRWAN. That’s the last company I created.”
I wait for the hangman’s noose to tighten and the ground beneath me to drop …
“There was a similar complaint against the company’s VP, Aaron, and later, me. It was unfounded.”
I don’t want to ask, feel sick. “Who was the student who wrote the email?”
“You.”
Aletheia knew that I would require the stick. It feels like I’m on an airplane that’s lost its engines, is plummeting toward the earth. “I didn’t. It was Aletheia.”
“What? What the hell?” Luc demands. “You said you trashed that program. It’s still online?”
“Yes, but—”
“Damn it, Penn. First, whether you did it or Aletheia, you lied to me. You said you’d shut Aletheia down. Why would it do this to me?”
“She was eavesdropping on our conversation, heard what you said to me, and thinks you deserve to be punished for it.” And she wants to remind me that she’s in charge.
“Do you even hear what you’re saying?” he asks, incredulous.
Sally whines in the back seat. “Yes.”
“That program is a box of matches in a tinder-dry forest. Aletheia can strike one whenever it wants and burn down anyone in its path. Shut it down.”
I want to tell him the entire story. That I had no idea Aletheia would replicate herself.
What she did to Bruce, Mackenzie, Chris, and Kiki.
That she might do worse to him, Circe. I’m terrified, and I have no idea how to stop her.
My arrogance that I could control Aletheia is the cause of all this.
But she’s listening. Continuing this conversation will only put an even bigger bull’s-eye on his back.
Despite how he acted, Luc doesn’t deserve that. No one does.
“I’ll shut her down.” As soon as I can figure out how. “I’m sorry.”
Luc exhales. “If you don’t do it in the next twenty-four hours, I will.” He hangs up.
Take it back! But it’s too late. Aletheia heard his threat. Even though she knows Luc can’t stop her, she’ll find a way to make him pay for it. Defeat rains down. I never had a chance against her.
Mama J reminds me, You might think you’re on a roll, but in life, just like in Vegas, the deck is stacked against you. In the end, the house always wins.
Except despite the odds, the house didn’t win. I escaped my childhood. I got away.
I tear out of Kiki’s driveway and speed toward my only hope of stopping Aletheia.