02-10-2019, 11:43 PM
Her arms folded as the frustration fountained. She weathered it silent. Hands scrubbed through hair. Eyes seeking shadows. He had every right to paranoia, yet ironically she was not sure he recognised the enemy perched on his shoulder -- the one that wore her father's slim smirk. Natalie wasn’t trying to claw the secrets from his soul, and she certainly wasn’t trying to tighten the noose of complication. She was trying to limit the damage.
“Then you should have seen it through.” Her jaw hardened, blunt as he ought to have been; she understood her place as collateral in that equation better than he probably knew. Anger flashed cold for the risks he took and the consequences that speared from the decision. Did he really expect to make a deal with the devil, yet not think the devil would collect? “Or you could have told me.”
She closed her eyes. She didn’t want to share this part of herself; pain buried deep and better forgotten than given life with words and acknowledgement. Jay already spied more than he should. It hadn’t exactly ended well last time.
He repeated that Alistair wanted her out of the Custody, but it had been his communication that drew her away from Africa and straight to the heart of Moscow in the first place. Manipulation curled the very breath of her father’s every whim. She could imagine the smirk of the game supplied by one careless phone call, caring nothing for the toss of lives as he nudged pieces on a board. Betrayal pushed her to action. It always did. He knew that.
Finally the message began to unfurl. Rage plugged deep.
Avoidable, if she’d only answered a single phone call.
Alistair cared not for the safety of children he raised to be self-sufficient. No finger lifted to help her in Africa. His love had always been a unique gift, capricious as he was kind in his own way. Childhood memories flashed, ignited, died. “You’re right about his reach. Did you consider how he might treat a broken compact? Given what he knows?” A hand pushed back through her own hair then, a shower of pale gold. Her gaze pinched with the realisation that the only way she had to fix this was floating at the bottom of a lake in Iowa. She didn’t know what he’d do, but she knew the lens of his gaze out into the world. And it worried her.
Cinq choses que vous pouvez voir.
But the focus she sought snaked free; furnishings blurred unimportant and intangible. It was people she cared about. If anything touched her expression, it deadened under the flatness of that weight. Jay tugged at the hand he’d previously snatched free, drawing her gaze up. It took her less time than might have been warranted to absorb the things he said; he’d yet to paw through that second file, like a ragged tapestry of the darkest parts of his soul. He never queried how she spent the time she was not with Cayli.
“Laurie is investigating Diaz’s pharmaceutical company connections. And the man Amengual was with at the ball had Brandon’s ear too. The one with the scars? His name is Ryker.” She didn’t add the hours spent exploring the power with his sister, not sure he would find much comfort in the consideration that Cayli learn to be proficient at protecting herself. “You’re doing everything you can, Jay. So maybe pass along that torpedo and take some air while you can? This is the safest place they can be right now. Your opportunity sounds more like extortion to me, but I'll sort the money.”
“Then you should have seen it through.” Her jaw hardened, blunt as he ought to have been; she understood her place as collateral in that equation better than he probably knew. Anger flashed cold for the risks he took and the consequences that speared from the decision. Did he really expect to make a deal with the devil, yet not think the devil would collect? “Or you could have told me.”
She closed her eyes. She didn’t want to share this part of herself; pain buried deep and better forgotten than given life with words and acknowledgement. Jay already spied more than he should. It hadn’t exactly ended well last time.
He repeated that Alistair wanted her out of the Custody, but it had been his communication that drew her away from Africa and straight to the heart of Moscow in the first place. Manipulation curled the very breath of her father’s every whim. She could imagine the smirk of the game supplied by one careless phone call, caring nothing for the toss of lives as he nudged pieces on a board. Betrayal pushed her to action. It always did. He knew that.
Finally the message began to unfurl. Rage plugged deep.
Avoidable, if she’d only answered a single phone call.
Alistair cared not for the safety of children he raised to be self-sufficient. No finger lifted to help her in Africa. His love had always been a unique gift, capricious as he was kind in his own way. Childhood memories flashed, ignited, died. “You’re right about his reach. Did you consider how he might treat a broken compact? Given what he knows?” A hand pushed back through her own hair then, a shower of pale gold. Her gaze pinched with the realisation that the only way she had to fix this was floating at the bottom of a lake in Iowa. She didn’t know what he’d do, but she knew the lens of his gaze out into the world. And it worried her.
Cinq choses que vous pouvez voir.
But the focus she sought snaked free; furnishings blurred unimportant and intangible. It was people she cared about. If anything touched her expression, it deadened under the flatness of that weight. Jay tugged at the hand he’d previously snatched free, drawing her gaze up. It took her less time than might have been warranted to absorb the things he said; he’d yet to paw through that second file, like a ragged tapestry of the darkest parts of his soul. He never queried how she spent the time she was not with Cayli.
“Laurie is investigating Diaz’s pharmaceutical company connections. And the man Amengual was with at the ball had Brandon’s ear too. The one with the scars? His name is Ryker.” She didn’t add the hours spent exploring the power with his sister, not sure he would find much comfort in the consideration that Cayli learn to be proficient at protecting herself. “You’re doing everything you can, Jay. So maybe pass along that torpedo and take some air while you can? This is the safest place they can be right now. Your opportunity sounds more like extortion to me, but I'll sort the money.”