Manipulative Attraction

46. ⚛️ An Open Heart

The man was silent. Through Carmen's retelling of Demetri's actions, he only nodded, his lips pressed together with a forefinger curled around his chin. The man's bulbous eyes, like those of a deep-water fish, never left her face.

"And that's all I know of the plan so far..." Carmen trailed off at the man's lack of expression. It was as if he were a breathing statue.

"He will not get far with his plan." The man placed both of his beefy hands on the ornate desk in front of him. "You did well to bring this to my attention."

"Will you help Jeannie and Shon? What can I do? I can go—"

The man cut her off with a grunt, "You will do nothing, Carmen Quintana."

The man reached forward and flicked his hand towards the screen. It went dark. The transmission had ended.

Carmen patted Fifi on the head. The worry over Jeannie, her friend, and Shon who meant so much more, brought tears to her eyes.

"Oh, Fifi, what if they won't help us?"

Fifi jumped and licked Carmen's cheek, giving her a small bit of reassurance. Carmen stroked the little dog's back. Fifi accepted it at first; then she growled.

Carmen saw the assassin coming towards her in the computer's screen. With Fifi yelping in her ear, she ducked and rolled just as the man was about to throw a garrote around her throat.

Anatoly brought out a metal chair for Demetri to sit on. He gave Jeannie an apologetic look before retreating behind the metal door. A metallic thunk and click reverberated in Jeannie's ears. Anatoly had locked them inside the humid area.

Demetri, it seemed, wanted to take no chances on either Shon or her escaping. As if they could. Their cages had been constructed with the material used in underground aquariums and was sturdy enough to hold sharks and killer whales ten times her size. She and Shon were powerless to get out unless someone rescued them.

Thorne will come. I'm sure, Jeannie thought. But would she and Shon still be alive when he did?

The hope of that was slim.

Jeannie stood with her arms folded across her chest, glaring at her captor. "What did you promise Carmen to turn against me?"

Demetri unbuttoned his suit jacket, letting it fall open as he undid the Windsor knot in his tie. "I didn't promise her anything. She did it of her own accord."

A dark hatred welled up in Jeannie's heart like a blocked gutter full of trash. The shock of discovering her godfather's treachery was bad enough, but knowing Carmen, who'd helped drug Shon, had been playing Thorne and her the whole time, cut like a scalpel on diseased flesh.

Carmen had only pretended to want to help them. Jeannie kicked herself for trusting Carmen as a friend. Now, she and Shon were paying the price of her misguided belief.

If anything happens to Shon, I'm to blame, Jeannie thought morosely. I introduced him to Carmen after all.

Jeannie turned her gaze to Demetri, ready to beg him for Shon's safety and his release. The words melted on her tongue. Demetri wore a smug expression, just waiting for her to break. She wouldn't. She knew he wouldn't give in so what was the point? The longer her godfather locked eyes with her, the harder she dug her fingernails into her clenched palms.

"Why didn't you tell me what you wanted me for? Why the elaborate scheme to—"

The words, "Shut up," shot from Demetri's mouth like the crack of a whip,

Jeannie stepped back from the wall as Shon stepped forward. "Don't talk to her like that," Shon said, his face indignant.

Demetri ignored him and kept his gaze on Jeannie. "Because of the love I once had for your mother, was the only reason I waited so long to put my plan into action. You and Shon are some of the last of your kind—children engineered to create a master race. You're impervious to sickness, stronger than the average man..." Demetri's eyes flickered back and forth between her and Shon, "and more intelligent."

Jeannie's heart filled with dread. The man was mentally unstable. He couldn't mean...

"What do you mean, Demetri? What do you mean by 'engineered'?" Jeannie asked, her voice trembling at the end.

A slow maniacal smile lit up the ice in Demetri's eyes as he gazed upon his most valued creations.

"I have engineered you, Shon, and Hawthorne to be healthier, smarter, and stronger than any other beings on the planet. What I want is simple. For you and Shon to give me a child of exceptional quality."

It took Thorne several minutes to gather himself. His heart wanted it all to be a bad dream even as his mind slowly accepted the truth.

How was it possible? His mother had been an agent of the Istochnik? His father as well? It was terrible, but it wasn't the end of the world. The worst thing, which sat in his mind like a red-hot brick of insanity, was that Jeannie's mother had killed his father. How could he ever get over that?

And come to think of it, how had he let himself fall in love with Jeannie in the first place? His training gave him the tools so he wouldn't become involved with his marks, yet he'd done so, all too easily. It had to be down to some kind of manipulation. Looking back, Thorne realized unseen forces had steered him in Jeannie's direction on more than one occasion.

Take the message of "Don't give up on her" he'd received for instance. Who had sent it and why?

Thorne had been ready to cut his losses, but that text had made him pursue Jeannie, and now, things were about as bad as they could be.

The darkness threatened to take over him. He should let it. Becoming cold like he once was made life easier. No heartache. No worry. All he had to do was think of himself. Thorne allowed his mind to go blank. He hid his clenched fists under the table, gazing at everyone and nothing.

Quentin spoke, putting everything into perspective as only he could, "That's some messed up shit, yo. But Jeannie is still your girl, right?"

Quentin's reasoning, for what it was worth, pulled Thorne out of the pit of despair. With an effort, he pushed his negative thoughts away, letting the love he felt for Jeannie fill his heart and his mind. She was the woman he would give up everything for, including his life.

He didn't know what circumstances had led him to fall in love with Jeannie, but he had. The information on the video, sad and twisted as it was, hadn't changed that fact.