Page 17 of Zane

“You will,” Marco said. “Or you will explain to every man in this room why your word is worth less than the paper we burn to keep warm.”

No one smiled at the line.No one breathed easily.Marco’s anger had not passed; it had merely found a direction.That was worse for the man in the corner and better for everyone else, which meant the room accepted it without complaint.

Marco looked around one final time, letting each face register that this failure belonged to all of them, even if only one man had been chosen to carry it.

“Find my product,” he said.“Find out who interfered.And if anyone in this room believes I will tolerate another promise dressed up as progress, leave now.”

No one moved.The men of Cerberus stayed where they were, trapped between loyalty and fear, while Marco turned toward the door with the same controlled fury he had brought in with him.

Behind him, the unnamed man lowered his head, already calculating the hours left before sunrise and the cost of failing twice.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“So, as a child, you knew you could hear animals?” asked Zane.

“I did but my mother told me not to tell anyone or they’d think I was crazy.It was hard hearing their cries for help, or just their conversations and not being able to tell anyone.Ironically, my stepfather encouraged me to explore it.”

“But you didn’t,” frowned Zane.

“No.I can’t really explain why I didn’t.It was just this feeling that I didn’t want him to know that piece of me.I remember sitting in the front yard with the neighbors dog who was complaining about his food and how it made his stomach hurt,” she smirked.“It was actually kind of funny.He would get gas and then the owner would get mad that he made the whole house smell.”Zane burst into laughter shaking his head.

“Did you help him?”

“Not really.I put some coupons in the neighbors mailbox for a different kind of food but I don’t think she took the hint.Anyway, I was always on the front lawn with the dog but I could feel Josh, my stepfather, behind me on the porch, watching every move I made.After a while, it was just easier for me to ignore it, push it all aside.”

“You once said that your stepfather was seen as a good man to everyone in the community, but he didn’t treat you kindly.Is this why?”

“I’m pretty sure, yes.He wanted me to tell everyone about what I could do.He said I could help people but my mother was adamant that I wasn’t supposed to talk about it.She took the hits for me.”

“He never hit you?” asked Zane.

“No, he was more into verbal abuse.He’d make fun of my red hair, my freckles, everything.”

“For the record, I love your red hair,” said Zane reaching out to touch her long tendrils.

“For the record, I love when you touch my hair,” she smiled, whispering as she moved closer to touch his lips.It was a soft, innocent kiss at first but progressed into somethingmuch, much more.

Zane pulled her onto his lap, tasting her, feeling her curves mold into him.That beautiful sundress was revealing all that she was and he wanted to rip it to shreds.The knock on the door made them both pull back, flushed and breathless.

She stood, staring down at his lap and grinned.

“Maybe I should answer the door while I give you a minute,” she smiled.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”Blake opened the door to see Tanner and AJ standing there with a phone in their hands.

“Hi,” she smiled.

“Hey, Blake, sorry for the interruption.We’ve been working on your phone since you got here, making sure you weren’t being tracked and of course loading our securities to it.”

“Yes, thank you,” she said reaching for it.Except neither man was willing to hand it to her.That brought Zane’s attention back to normal.

“What’s wrong?” he frowned.

“Someone from this number keeps calling the phone.They don’t say anything except, “it’s me – pick up”, and then they hang up.”They played the voicemail and Blake listened, swallowing hard.“Do you know who it is?”

“Y-yes.It’s my stepfather, Joshua.I thought he was dead.”

“Why did you think that?” asked Tanner.