The Espionage Effect(102)

I narrowed my eyes at my parents. Accusations flew in chaotic order in a brain ill-equipped to handle the barrage of information in the midst of the emotional turmoil, but I funneled them in. Only shallow temporary satisfaction would come from finger-pointing. I needed answers now. Justice would come later.

“Why did you lie to me?” I ground out through a clenched jaw. “About Geneva?” About the circumstances. About themselves. “About it all?”

Dad had the decency to sigh. But Mom answered, hard as nails. “Wasn’t our decision to make.”

Duty above family. The words had never been spoken, but in our regimented excuse for a homelife, the message had been clear. Only their duty had been to the world at large, not some scientific corporation or government entity. Their loyalty had lain with EtherSphere One.

“You had no qualms about changing? About withdrawing into a cold, heartless shell?” Because, in truth, that was where the deepest betrayal lay. Not in what they’d done, but in what they hadn’t.

“We dealt with the situation the only way we knew how.” Mom’s eyes held no remorse.

“Efficiently.” My teeth ground together, anger rising.

“Without emotion,” Dad corrected. “You should understand that.”

“Really?” I shouted as my fisted hands exploded outward, yanking the edges of the towel until it pulled taut on either side of me. I didn’t give a flying f*ck if they saw me standing in my soaked-through bra and underwear. The time had come for them to take a good hard look at the real me, inside and out. “If you’d bothered to pay an iota of attention to the daughter you abandoned, you would’ve realized that I’m the exception, not the rule.”

Both my parents seemed taken aback by that tidbit as their eyes infinitesimally widened.

“That’s right.” My body trembled with rage as my tone lowered, each word forged with steel. I pulled my towel around me again, hugging my midsection. “I have emotions, and they run deep.” My throat worked as I struggled with a hard swallow. “I suffered from that loss too. But Geneva wasn’t the only one stolen from me that night. Your perfect little genius noticed the love you ripped away.”

Miracle of miracles, their hardened fa?ades faltered. Dad blinked, as if fighting back tears. Mom’s gaze lowered, shame flickering over her features.

“I did nothing wrong.” My voice flattened, some of its angry punch fading away. “It wasn’t my fault they stole her instead of me.”

Dad shot a sidelong glance at Mom. A couple of the shadowy High Council figures shifted in their seats.

“Tell me. I’m done with lies.” I scanned my gaze across the semicircle of council members before landing it squarely on my parents again. “Anna said this entire thing was orchestrated by your organization, EtherSphere One.”

Mom turned slightly, glancing over her shoulder. The shadowed council members leaned to one side, then the other, appearing to discuss a topic that didn’t filter through to the feed. Then the figure on the far end gave her a slight nod.

When she turned back to face me, my parents leaned in toward one another, arms shifting as if they’d clasped hands. And her expression had completely changed. Compassion softened her features as she tilted her head to the slightest degree.

“They weren’t after you, Devin. They wanted Geneva. She tested even higher than you did.”

I blinked hard, confused. “Tested?”

Dad lowered his face, never taking his gaze from mine. “Both of you were tested. You were above a 160. Geneva’s intelligence level was…”

“Immeasurable,” Mom supplied when Dad faltered.

“Who is ‘they’?” The dark figures in my nightmares.

“We don’t know,” they both said simultaneously.

No deception threaded their tone. “She isn’t dead though, is she?”

“No,” Dad replied.

I closed my eyes, unable to fathom what that meant. “Where is she?”

A silent beat passed. Then another. “We have no idea,” Mom said. “Only a message that arrives every few months, touting her progress.”

They offered nothing more. Only the bare minimum. More than I’d ever gotten in my life, yet still light years from what I’d needed.

I let the silence stretch long, the tension on both sides thick and palpable.

No apologies followed. Not for what had happened to Geneva—or me.

My inner darkness stirred, molten hot and filled with purpose. “I want access to everything you have on Geneva. Every note you’ve made, every communication you’ve received. Anna was right: You suspected I wouldn’t join EtherSphere One if that’s what you’d wanted for me.”

I took a deep breath, then fixed a hard stare at the two of them. “I won’t be a lapdog. You may have shown loyalty to EtherSphere above all else, but I won’t. What I want comes first.” I’d never realized the importance of that fundamental requirement as starkly as I did now. “If EtherSphere One wants me as one of their agents, they’ll have to earn that right. Now? I’m a free agent. I work for myself. Any assistance you want from me…is on my terms.”

“Done.” The words were spoken in unison from the two of them, as if that authority had been granted to them.