Page 82 of Wicked Deeds

She nodded. “It is weird. But…you saved me, back in the realm. You’ve always been nice to me. I’d….I’d like to get to know you. I don’t know if I’m going to be any good at being a friend or a sister. My aunt, well, she was chilly. She did all the right things, but she wasn’t affectionate. During my holidays, she took me to museums and lectured me about art or whatever. We went to the theatre, or movies she deemed suitable. When we were home, I had chores or stuck to my room. She wasn’t sociable. We definitely didn’t hang out. Not once I was old enough to be at school. She played with me when I was little, but she didn’t love me. Not really. Though I didn’t know any different at the time.”

“At least she did all the right things. My mom didn’t always do even that,” I said. “But I was lucky. After she died, her parents—my grandparents—took me in and they did love me. But I know what it’s like, having a rough childhood.” Mine had been rough in different ways to hers. It didn’t sound as though she’d ever worried about there being enough money or having to pack up and leave in the middle of the night. So hopefully, unlike me, she didn’t know what it was like to go hungry. But neglect took many forms. “And hey, we both like games, that’s a start.”

Gwen was probably farther down the gaming rabbit hole than I would ever be. Like Nat had been. But since I’d dated Damon I’d had an increased appreciation of VR. After I was sure I wasn’t going to be stalked by a demon in a game again.

“A start,” she agreed.

I studied her face, but found no trace of me. But maybe I couldn’t see it. I had my mother’s eyes and hers were that icy blue. But I couldn’t argue with the DNA. She was my sister. I wanted to know her.

I tried to think of something to suggest, something we could do together. Sister bonding time. But Damon and Cassandra came back into the room before anything sprang to mind.

Gwen shifted in her chair. “What did you decide?”

Damon nodded. “Mitch called. They found another Wheatley in the list of aliases we have for Jack. Spelled slightly differently, but I think it’s enough for now. Unless Cassandra’s team finds proof that the guy in the database is real and living his life somewhere, we’re going to assume it’s Jack.”

Well, fuck. I tried not to let the slice of jagged fear that hit my stomach at the news show on my face.

Gwen wasn’t so well controlled. She looked scared. “So, what happens now?”

Damon held up his datapad. “Now, if you want to know more, you sign an NDA. And Cassandra does whatever she needs to do with you from a Cestis point of view.”

“Oh, we have NDAs as well,” Cassandra said.

“Sure,” Gwen said, holding out her hand for the datapad.

“Wait,” I said.

She frowned at me.

“You need to read it. Never sign anything without reading it. It’s like asking a Fae for a deal without agreeing the specifics.” Even if she’d not signed many legal documents in her life, she should understand the analogy having spent the last four years in the realm. “I’ve signed a lot of NDAs for clients in my time, do you want me to talk you through it?” I wasn’t an attorney, but the woman who’d helped me set up my business from the legal side of things had taught me the traps to watch for in NDAs early on, once she heard I was going to be a consultant.

“I want to know.”

“I’m sure you do. And I’m not saying don’t sign, I’m saying understand what you’re signing, okay?”

“Okay, explain it to me.”

Damon looked amused and maybe a little proud. He passed me the datapad and I scooted my chair round next to Gwen. I took my time talking her through each of the clauses of the Riley Arts agreement. It was basically identical to the one I’d signedwhen I’d first met Damon. This was, possibly, even broader. After that we worked through the Cestis one, with pauses to ask Cassandra to clarify several points. But in the end, I sat back. “Up to you now.”

“It’s fine.” Gwen grabbed the datapad, scrolled, signed and added her palm scan when asked to. Then repeated the process for the second NDA before handing it back to Damon. “There. So. Tell me about Jack.

Cassandra cleared her throat. “Maggie, can you ask Lianith to leave the room.”

Lianith raised her head, eyes narrowed.“Trust,”she said.

“She says we can trust her,” I said.

Cassandra stared at the nixling. “I’m glad to hear that. But as a show of good faith, I would prefer you to leave. After all you can’t sign the kind of…contract…that Gwen just did.”

Lianith made a trilling noise, clearly disgruntled. But she jumped down and stalked out of the room.

Cassandra watched her go and then made a little ‘go on’ jerk of her head in my direction.

Right. Apparently I was going to do the honors. How do you tell your sister your father is a criminal genius? “Jack made his money in tech. He came up with a few early innovations in holographics. Those made him rich. Then he moved into investing and got richer.”

Damon nodded at me, not disagreeing with anything.

I explained about meeting Jack at theSerenity Fallstournament. Gwen listened in silence. When I got to the part about Jack locking me into a game, she said, “Wait, what? How is that possible?”

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