Chapter 213: 214 | A Bad Idea Not to Answer
Noel’s phone buzzed. She glanced at it. Her expression shifted.
"Your sister just texted me again."
"What does she want?"
"She wants to know if I’ve made my decision about meeting her tomorrow." Noel looked up. "She doesn’t know I already know everything. She thinks she’s still the one with the information advantage."
Mera’s hands tightened on my shoulders. "That’s useful."
"It’s a trap waiting to happen."
"Or it’s an opportunity." Mera bent down. Her breath warm against my ear. "Your sister wants to help you take down your father. She doesn’t know you already have a team. Doesn’t know about Cheon’s Interface or my portals or Noel’s tactical brain. She thinks you’re operating alone."
"You want to use her."
"I want to know what she knows that she hasn’t told you yet." Mera straightened. "Nobody gives away all their cards in the first meeting. Not even family. Especially not family."
Noel was watching Mera with something that looked almost like respect. "You’re more devious than I expected."
"I grew up in New Orleans. Deviousness is a survival skill."
"What exactly are you proposing?"
"I’m proposing that Noel keeps her meeting with Vivian tomorrow. Shows up alone. Plays the role of the suspicious teammate who doesn’t trust Rome and wants independent verification." Mera walked around the table. Sat on its edge. Her legs crossed at the ankle. "Meanwhile, I shadow Noel through a portal. Stay invisible. Listen to everything Vivian says when she thinks she’s only talking to one person."
"And if Vivian is setting me up?"
"Then I pull you out before anything happens." Mera’s tail swished. "I can open a portal in under a second. Vivian’s ability is structural reinforcement. She can’t stop spatial displacement."
I considered this. Looked at Noel.
"What do you think?"
"I think it’s risky." Noel uncrossed her arms. "I also think it’s probably our best option for gathering intelligence without tipping our hand."
"You’d be putting yourself in danger."
"I’ve been putting myself in danger since I agreed to be on a team with you." Noel’s lips curved. Not quite a smile. Close to one. "At least this time I’d be doing it on purpose."
My phone buzzed.
Cheon.
The message was brief. Typical.
CHEON: Where are you? We need to discuss the exhibition match preparation schedule. Also Laurana sent revised training protocols. Also your sister called the penthouse landline. I didn’t answer because that seemed like a bad idea.
I showed the message to Mera and Noel.
"How does Vivian have the penthouse landline number?"
"She’s been spying on your father’s surveillance team, remember?" Mera shrugged. "They probably have everything."
"This family dynamic is deeply dysfunctional."
"Welcome to the Angelo experience." I stood. "We should head back. Cheon gets anxious when plans aren’t finalized."
"Cheon gets anxious when anything isn’t finalized." Mera hopped off the table. "It’s part of her charm."
We left the conference room together. An unlikely trio. The girl with red skin and devil horns. The violet-haired heiress who’d spent five years hating me. And me, the impossible boy with too many abilities and not enough sense to stay out of trouble.
The walk back to the penthouse took twenty minutes. We could have used Mera’s portals, but she was still recovering from the previous night. Her reserves needed more time to replenish, and I wasn’t about to let her burn through what little she had for the sake of convenience.
Century City sprawled around us. Glass towers and neon signs and people going about their lives without any idea that a seventeen-year-old weapon had nearly detonated on a university campus less than twenty-four hours ago. The ignorance was almost comforting. Normal people doing normal things. A reminder that the world kept spinning regardless of what happened in our particular corner of it.
Noel walked on my left. Mera on my right. Neither of them touched me, but I could feel their presence anyway. Two different kinds of warmth. Two different kinds of protection.
I thought about what Laurana had said. About becoming undeniable. About making myself too visible to disappear.
I thought about what Noel had said. About my father thinking like a businessman. About poisons in family dinners and accidents that nobody questioned.
I thought about Mera’s plan. About Vivian. About leverage and information and the delicate game we were all playing with stakes none of us could afford to lose.
And beneath all of that, quieter than the rest, I thought about Liam.
Seventeen years old. Kidnapped. Tortured. Transformed into something inhuman by a process that used my blood as raw material. All because my father wanted to understand what I was. Wanted to replicate it. Wanted to control it.
Liam was alive because I’d chosen to help instead of run. But there would be more like him. My father had called Liam a prototype. Which meant there was a production model in development somewhere. More children. More victims. More walking bombs waiting to be deployed.
I couldn’t save all of them.
But I could make sure my father paid for every single one.
The penthouse was warm when we arrived. Cheon had the coffee maker running and something that smelled like soup on the stove. She stood at the kitchen island with her tablet propped against a cutting board, scrolling through what looked like training schedules while stirring a pot with her other hand.
Multitasking. Her favorite activity.
She looked up when we entered. Her grey eyes swept over Mera, then me, then landed on Noel with an expression I couldn’t quite read.
"You brought company."
"Noel has information we need to discuss." I kicked off my shoes. "Also she’s part of the team now. Figured she should see where we operate."
"Part of the team." Cheon’s voice was flat. "As in the exhibition match team, or as in the other team?"
"Both, probably." Mera flopped onto the couch. Her horns caught the afternoon light streaming through the windows. "She’s in too deep to back out now."
