Page 70 of G.O.D.S Omnibus

“Well, it looks like our time is up,” Chester laughs.

“You drugged them, didn’t you?” Brennan asks Chester, who just laughs again.

Boston, Case, Marlow, and Davis jump to their feet.

“Calm down, boys. It was just a little something to take the edge off. I know you would have caused a damn scene and not heard us out.”

“So where have you been for the last few years?” Davis asks me.

“I have been here. Once child services took Jolie, I got word that I was being followed. Brennan managed to find this old place, and I have been stuck inside these four walls until the day came that I had to be ‘found.’ Mr Z believes this was all his brother’s doing—the kidnapping, the fake death, and holding me captive until I managed to escape and call Brennan.”

“This just sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me. Mr Z isn’t that stupid. Why not break her free from child services and run?”

“I can see why you’d think that, Marlow, but for the most part, Mr Z presumed his brother had me and Jolie. She went under the radar, and we planned to get her back as soon as all of this was over, it wasn’t supposed to take this long. Her being back is going to make it harder to keep him away. All he needs is a new damn scientist until Chester is trained to take over. He is waiting for her memories to come back, which he can’t synthetically achieve since the last scientist he could trust has vanished, along with his research.”

“Let’s get this straight because I’m so damn confused. You all love her like us. There are no more embryos left, and they want to use her to create more. Mr Z is obsessed with his dead wife’s DNA. You decided to fake her death and run away with her until you could find a way to kill the man who runs our entire organisation. Somehow, child services took her, and you went into hiding. You kidnap a scientist before getting yourself magically kidnapped and brought back here. Now you need Davis to interrogate said scientist. You plan for us to work alongside Mr Z’s mysterious brother, whom none of us have ever heard about. You can understand why we are a little thrown... it just sounds like you’re feeding us some bullshit story. If this is allabove board, how about you answer some questions for Davis? Alone.”

“I’ll go first,” I say with no hesitation. We have tried to explain it the best we can. We never expected it would take this long to bring her back.

Ziyon, a.k.a. Mr Z’s brother, had promised he had the evidence to bring his brother down. What we didn’t expect is that every time he tried, he found another layer of corruption. In the end, we agreed that Mr Z has to die. Ziyon isn’t interested in recreating the DNA of his dead lover; he is happy to use the research and new DNA. He agrees it is weird wanting an army of soldiers using the same DNA.

We are in the final stages of our plan. Kai has been gathering intel on Mr Z’s movements for the last two years. He is always heavily guarded and never seems to go to the same places at the same times. No one knows his whereabouts until he arrives—the gala dinner being the exception. His wife started the funding to make the organisation what it is today, and her foundation still finances Olympia. Besides, people will believe whatever you tell them; they see a few kids do some fancy tricks, and they sign over their money like it’s chump change. All you need is a few corrupt assholes to throw some cash around and the rest will follow like sheep.

We wondered at first why Mr Z wouldn’t just kill off his brother, but Ziyon says it’s because he doesn’t see him as a threat. He just banished him from the woman he loved, then the business he helped create, and finally turned everyone against him.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jolie

I watch from the window as they talk about this situation, my head swarming with information. It all sounds so outlandish that I don’t know what to believe. It took everything in me to hold back from racing in to see Trace. His lies hurt the most because he is the only one that I remember, and I’m powerless to stop the tears rolling down my face.

I scramble around to the side of the house as I hear the murmur of voices coming from a window that is slightly ajar. Davis is asking Trace some random questions, like his name and age. A twig snapping catches my attention, and my glance finds Marlow leaning against a tree. I curse myself; he is always so damn perceptive.

“Wanna get wasted?” he asks, holding out a joint.

What do I have to lose? Busted, I move out from my hiding spot—not that the spindly trees hid much, anyway.

Coming to stand next to him, I let Marlow pull me into his side as he passes me the joint. “How much did you hear?”

I shrug. “The end. I don’t even think I have started to process it. I am pissed though—everyone has lied to me. It hurts that Trace isn’t who I thought he was, and that my memories were stolen from me. Now what?”

“I have an idea, but no one inside is going to like it,” he says, taking the joint back and inhaling, like he is not certain about this idea he has.

“And what’s that?” I ask, curious.

“Chester has recreated what he thinks could bring your memories back. They want to confirm it first with someone who is less than willing to hand over what they know.” He takes out a needle filled with a yellow liquid and swirls it around. “Or...” he says as I snatch the needle from his hand and ram it into my arm, the liquid burning as it enters. I throw the empty needle on the ground and wait. I feel nothing.

“Or we do that.” He laughs at my recklessness.

“I’m sick of all the lies. Most of all, I don’t plan on handing my body over to a man I don’t know, to do who knows what with me.”

Marlow nods. “Then I guess we better break the news to the others. Wanna bet who loses their shit first?”

“Ten bucks it’s Boston,” I say, taking another hit, knowing I will need to be super wasted for this.

“I don’t know, Creed could give him a run for his money. He may be super fucking weird, but as a girl, you managed to get him to play dolls and tea parties with you.”

Throwing the butt to the ground, Marlow takes my hand, and I walk on shaky legs towards the cabin.

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