Isa POV
"You've got to stop that, Isa," Joshua says, rolling his eyes at me from his position below me on the bottom bunk. We had both snuck in here for a quick nap in between our duties today.
"Stop what?" I ask, even though I know what he's going to say.
"You need to actively pursue the stuff you want. The whole reason you're in the freaking army in the first place is cuz you tend to just go with things, or back away from things that scare you."
"The last time I checked, being enlisted in the army wasn't your number one dream either," I retort. Annoyance creeps up on me, the way it does whenever Joshua starts such conversations.
"I'm serious, Isa. You've gotta stop just going with the flow, and crawling away from things you genuinely love at the first encounter of hardship that you face. Life is worth living."
I grumble and bring up my hands to my forehead, covering my face, even though Joshua can't see me.
"You didn't tell me when you became a hippie, Josh."
Joshua groans below me and I can envision him rolling his eyes and I hear him releasing a breath of annoyance. He says nothing else, which I am thankful for.
The scene changes and I am standing in the heat outside, listening to all the surrounding yelling. There's dust all around, prickling at my eyes, but that's not the reason I'm crying this time.
I stare at Joshua's body lying limp a little distance from me. My head is blank, but at the same time, there is a pounding in it that does not seem to want to go away. I want to go away at that moment because there's nothing else I can do. There's nothing else I can even think of doing.
But I stand there, rooted to the spot. Staring as the commotion unfolds around me, tears streaming silently down my face.
I wake up suddenly, breathing shallowly and in a cold sweat. It's dim in the hotel room I'm in and I can't tell what time of the day it is. I've been here for a night already and haven't left at all. The remnants from the takeout Chinese food I ordered last night sit in the room's corner.
I ignore it as I make my way over to the bathroom. I splash cold water over my face, and even though I feel more alert, it doesn't stop the heavy feeling that has been inside of me since the moment I left Temi's apartment.
I stare at myself in the mirror. I've been sleeping nonstop for the past day but it doesn't show, as there are huge eye bags under my eyes.
I really don't feel good.
Things don't feel good.
Something isn't right. No shit. I fell in love with a girl I was assigned to be a bodyguard, and I had seen her kissing another girl.
But I really do not feel good.
I slowly take off my clothes and get into the shower. I take a cold shower, welcoming the feel of the water against my body. It's a sting, but a welcome sting. The pounding in my head seems to reduce and I feel myself slowly calm down.
Of course, my mind wanders to Temi. I think of her and wonder how she's doing. No doubt, she's not doing well. Hell, I'm not doing well.
I had immediately gone to campus security after leaving her apartment, so hopefully, they're keeping a watch on her for the time being till I contact the Agency and they send another bodyguard in my place. Now more than ever, she needs to be put on suicide watch.
I'm really not looking forward to the conversation I'll have to have with Simon, especially not after he had given me the opportunity to leave a few weeks ago. Would it have been better if I had just left back then? Would I be saving both Temi and me from all this pain right now?
Bouts of guilt shoot through me. I know I am largely to blame. I feel that my presence in her life only made everything worse. I'm probably the last thing she needed, and I ended up hurting her when she was most vulnerable.
The feeling of the warm tears on my cheeks is a contrast to the freezing shower I'm taking.
I wash my hair when I glimpse the tattoo on my thigh. I had gotten for Joshua after his death. As I look at it, I think back to my dream of him. I think back to his words. The words he always said to me. He always told me to pursue what I want and told me off for shying away when things got hard.
A moment passes, and something goes through me. I did exactly what Joshua warned me against all these years.
I feel like I have been slapped really hard.
"Isabella, what did you do?" I hear myself say, my voice is low and doesn't sound at all like mine.
I look down at the bar of soap in my hand. It looks so out of place, everything seems so out of place.
"What am I doing?"
I'm not sure what my plan is or what I'm thinking, but I hop out of the shower and immediately start drying myself off.
It's not too late. I hope to myself that it's not too late.
My anxiety is growing within me, and my heart skips a bit as I pull on my clothes. I need to make things right. Things need to be fixed. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know what I'm going to say, but I know what I want. And that's Temi.
Temi POV
I had never once doubted my mom's capabilities before. But now I am. Would she really be a shitty governor if she's a shitty mother? Are those two things mutually exclusive?
The way I had always seen it, I saw my relationship with her as simply being sacrificed for the good of more people. Sure, she wasn't the best mom, but she was busy. She's an important woman with an important job. At least, that's what I have always told myself.
I am lying in bed, staring up at the plain white ceiling. Everything about this room is plain white, devoid of any color, any emotion. I don't cease to notice how uncomfortable the mattress is below me and I'm not surprised. This is all a tactic. It's all a ploy.
I'm scared shitless. I am also extremely confused. I am a lot of things right now.
My tummy grumbles, and as if on cue, the room door flies open, and the blonde woman from earlier walks in, accompanied by the man from earlier. The man that had drugged me and brought me here.
I instinctively sit up in the bed, my head hurting badly from my sudden change in position. But despite this, I fix my eyes on the man, glaring at him. I muster all the hate I can feel into that one look.
The man looks unfazed, which infuriates me even more. He's still dressed completely in black, how he was this morning. Was it this morning? There isn't a clock in this room, so I have no concept of time.
"Temi, it's so nice to see you again," the woman says, taking a seat in front of me. The man stands next to her. He's carrying a tray that's covered with a cloth and I am frightened to find out what's underneath.
"I can't say the same," I respond. My voice sounds a lot braver than I am feeling right then, for which I am thankful. If I'm going to go down, I will not go down easy.
For a moment, the woman looks at me with some form of amusement in her eyes. It's the most emotion I have gotten from her. I feel unsettled.
"I realize that we might have gotten off on the wrong foot earlier on," the woman says, speaking once again.
This time I don't say anything. I only fix her with one of my award-winning glares. She, just like the man, doesn't flinch. The only other person who doesn't flinch under my glare is Isa. My heart skips a beat as I think of her. It's ironic that even now, she's still on my mind.
"You must be hungry," the woman suddenly interrupts my thoughts, and of course, my stomach grumbles loudly, betraying me.
"Eat." The woman simply says.
The man next to her removes the cloth from the tray he is holding, revealing food.
It looks delicious but I eye it suspiciously. I am relieved to see it is food under the cloth, rather than weapons, but the last thing I should do is trust these people.
"It's fine," the woman says, rolling her eyes. "I promise it's not poisoned." Like her promises mean anything to me.
I hesitate for a second longer before realizing I'll much better take my chances. I am hungry as hell, and God knows I can't put up much of a fight starving.
I take the tray of food from the man, sending him a glare before picking up a fork and taking a bite out of the chicken. I chew slowly. I don't know why I do so. It's not like the rate I chew at is going to affect whether I get poisoned if it is poisoned.
"I realize I never introduced myself," the woman says, now that I'm eating, "I'm Katherine, and this is Vincenzo."
Of course, he's named Vincenzo.
"We work for Cameroni."
I swallow harshly, coughing slightly when I hear this. So this is the big ploy. They all work for Cameroni, the candidate going up against my mom for New York State Governor. Clearly, he feels threatened. Clearly, this is why I'm here."
I'm not stupid. I know that the more I learn about them and who exactly they are working for, the slimmer my chances of getting out of here are. Even if I do what they want.
I take another forkful of food, this time chewing it a lot faster than I had the last one. After all, this might be my last meal for a while.
Katherine carries on talking. "We hope you have had the chance to think about what we said to you. We know Senator Adeola is your mom but think about it, really. Is she really what's best for New York State?"
And Cameroni is? I say nothing, but only look at the people in front of me. I wonder just how dumb they must think I am. Sure enough, I might doubt my mom's capabilities as a State Governor but I know sure as hell that Cameroni isn't much better.
After all, if you have got to kidnap the daughter of your opponent to make a point, what kind of point are you even making?
Despite this, anger courses through me. None of this would be happening if my mom was a regular mom and actually checked in on me. But no, she hardly ever calls. She has no clue of what's going on, and neither does anyone else.
I am truly, entirely, in this alone.
"All we're asking is for you to come forward and talk about how unavailable your mom is to you, her own daughter. How she has kept you from knowing of your father and how such a person could never be New York State Governor-"
Is this really happening? I know it sure as hell is, but I'm having a difficult time fully comprehending the whole thing.
"So, what do you say?" Katherine finally says, there's a light in her eyes. I don't like it in the slightest.
I take my time drinking the glass of water beforehand.
"You know at first, I really wasn't on board with your whole plan," I say, placing the glass back onto the tray, "but now that you've really explained everything out to me..."
Katherine leans forward in her seat and I hold on to the feeling of satisfaction that I feel right now. Especially because I know I won't be feeling this a few seconds from now.
"... Still no." I finally say.
Katherine leans back, straightening her spine. Her face has gone rigid, unsmiling.
"Well, Temilola, I think I can still change your mind."
Before I know it, there's a sharp blow to my stomach. I gag instantly, throwing up all the food I had just eaten. I look up at the culprit, Vincenzo. The fucking henchman. I want to say something really nasty, but I'm unable to form words.
I feel another blow, this time to my face. I don't even put up a fight as I feel myself lose consciousness.