“I’m quite curious to hear his response as well,” Karl adds, twirling a knife between his knuckles.
“Fuck you both for thinking I’d do that,” Rowan growls, pushing August until he drops his hold. “I can admit I was a major dick when she first arrived.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Sebastian snorts, making Rowan glare in his direction.
“Says the guy who ran so hot and cold you gave her whiplash,” Karl murmurs.
Sighing, I say, “We don’t have time for this. We’ve all done something that we need to apologize for. So, let’s stop with the blame game bullshit and focus.”
August takes his seat, but Karl doesn’t stop glaring at Rowan. “I still want an answer.”
Rowan goes rigid-his face flushing red with anger before his heated gaze meets Karl’s matching one. “No. I just said I wouldn’t do that. I fucking love her. It took me all year to realize it, but I’d never do that to her. I’ve been trying to do everything so we can get her back.”
“Enough,” my father commands. “Your trivial shit isn’t the concern here. You can have your group therapy session later. Right now, we’re going to discuss the next steps.”
Chastised, Karl and Rowan huff but keep quiet.
“We’re going to up security around her. Increasing her discreet detail and you five will make Samantha believe she’s in control until we can get that damn chip out of my son,” Karl’s father orders.
“You can’t expect us to ignore our pregnant girlfriend. It was bad enough we had to treat her the way we did today,” Karl confesses.
Sebastian massages the bridge of his nose. “What did you do?”
Slumping in his seat, Karl deflates as he remembers our encounter with Emma earlier.
I open my mouth to explain, but Mr. Calloway holds his hand up, signaling me to stay silent. “They can fill you in on that later. Just know the plan hasn’t changed. We expect you all to continue following orders. Stay away from Emma Bradford until further notice.”
I slam my laptop close. “Why can’t I find anything?” I grumble, pushing away from my desk and standing.
It’s been four hours since the meeting at the Fraternitas, and I’m no closer to finding a way to deactivate the chip. I can’t find Eshe. There’s no trace of her anywhere. Which means she’s either in hiding, being held, or dead. I’m desperately hoping it’s the former rather than the latter because if she’s dead, we’re fucked.
Groaning, I pull out my phone and dial Thomas.
“What’s up?” He says, not wasting time with any greeting.
“Are we secure?” I inquire, not wanting to say anything if we’re being tapped.
He grunts twice and hangs up.
Not secure, then.
A minute later, a text appears.
T: Teagan…ten minutes….
I know not to reply, and the text vanishes, like it was never sent, once it shows I’ve read it.
Striding to my desk, I sit back in my chair, then push the button on the left side, and my wall opens up to two rows of monitors. Then, I place my thumb over the sensor and level my eye to the scanner. The drawer pops open. I pull out my encrypted wireless keyboard and token, then connect it to the encrypted server. The screens come online, and I enter the newest code and wait.
The screen comes to life, and Teagan is on the other end.
“Long time no see Liamon,” she greets.
“I wish it was under better circumstances.”
She grunts her agreement. “I’ve been updated. Eshe is dead. She was found two days ago with her throat slit.”
“Fuck,” I exclaim.
“Fuck is right. With her went any real hope of deactivating that chip. Short of getting a hold of the man who inserted it in Karl, there are very few other options.”
My hands ball into fists at my side. There has to be another way. Karl would sooner kill himself than let Samantha force us to marry her. There’s an expiration date on his willingness to cooperate.
“You said ‘few options.’ What else is on the table?”
She smiles. “You know how much I like solving the unsolvable. I’m working on hacking the chip.”
My eyebrows arch in surprise. “Is that possible?”
We might be able to get out of this after all.
I always held out hope, but despair grew as each day passed, and I was greeted with only dead ends.
“It’s going to take some time, but I’m sure I can build a code to hack either the chip or the device that vindictive bitch is using to control you all,” she explains.
“Do you think you can do it before this dumbass engagement party that’s happening in a little over a month from now?”
“I’m running round-the-clock code. You’ll be the first to know as soon as I have an answer.”
Nodding, I ask, “Is there anything I can do?”
“If you can find a way to clone the device Samantha is using, that can speed this process up exponentially.”
“You’ll have it before the end of the week,” I state.
She dips her head, and then the screen goes black.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.