Manipulative Attraction

36. ⚛️ Purposeful Prodigy

The pain had come upon Alex Jones unexpectedly, caving in his chest with each step. He shuffled to his room to take his medicine.

His doctors had told him he was in the period before the end. They cautioned Alex that he would feel like his disease was in remission, but it was a false interlude.

He knew he was at the end.

Until now, he hadn't needed a caregiver full-time, but the cancer that had started in his lungs and then spread like wildfire to his other organs was making its presence known more often each day.

Tomorrow, he would call Demetri and have Svetlana, his nurse, make his final days more comfortable.

Before he found the light switch, a soft voice spoke from the darkness, "Alex Jones."

A slim blonde, dressed in black, came from the shadows. With a trembling hand, Alex turned on his bedside lamp. "W-what do you want?"

The blonde spread her arms in a placating gesture. "I mean you no harm." Surveying his emaciated form, she gave him a wan smile. "I came to warn you that your daughter is in danger."

"Jeannie?" Alex said, perplexed. What did this woman want with Jeannie? Did another agency find out she was working with the Istochnik? "I'm sure you have the wrong—"

"We both know her handler, Demetri Petrov, tasked Jeannie with convincing Shon Westwood to join the Istochnik. What you don't know is that Demetri is not the helpful man he seems, but a rogue agent with his own agenda."

Pain, not from his disease, but from betrayal lanced his heart. Alex faltered under it and sat hard on his bed. "Forgive me, but I can't believe what you're saying." Alex shook his head in denial at the idea of Demetri being anything but a trusted family friend.

Demetri had been their handler when his wife worked as his secretary at the Istochnik, and Alex worked as an attaché for the Tanzanian ambassador. Demetri was Jeannie's godfather. He loved her as much as he had loved Valeria.

It was Demetri who delivered the news about Valeria's death. A hit-and-run driver had killed Jeannie's mother awhile she was on a business trip with him in Romania. Demetri had shed tears, huge, uncontrollable ones as he told the tale of finding her broken body. He profusely apologized that all he had to give Alex was an urn of his wife's ashes to mourn.

When Alex asked why he hadn't called and why hadn't, he brought her body home. Demetri had sidestepped the first question with the explanation that the transportation would be too hard on Valeria's body.

"The heat of the summer ..." Demetri had trailed off, and a distraught Alex had drawn his own conclusions. "I'm sorry, dear Alex. If there was any way to spare you the pain..."

Tatiana continued, "I know your time is short. I wanted to come to you when you were stronger, but I've just learned what Demetri is planning. The woman bit her lip, hesitant to continue. "He means to harm your daughter, Shon Westwood and... my son, Thorne."

Alex blinked up at the woman in surprise. Everyone working for the Istochnik knew of Tatiana and her husband, Aleksei the Giant.

But this woman's story had to be a work of fiction. Tatiana Vasiliev aka Tatiana Gable had died when Thorne was five. It was rumored that The Source had killed her as she had disposed of many of its agents.

But who really knew?

The police had found her body the day after she'd disappeared from her apartment. The corpse, burned beyond recognition, was identified by her molars.

But anyone could be bribed to manufacture evidence if the price was right.

If her death was a cover-up, why was she risking her life to warn him about Demetri?