Mortal Siege

by N. Isabelle Blanco

  Her hand comes into view, wrapping gently around my two clasped ones. “None of that, Lexi. Look at me.”

  I’m freaking shaking, in terror of her hatred for me.

  How could I not be? She birthed the man I love. The thought of her forever loathing me nearly cripples me.

  But when I meet her stare, I’m surprised by the hint of compassion in her eyes. I won’t say she looks like she’s totally warmed up to me, yet her effort to do so is evident.

  “It’s been brought to my attention I might have judged you harshly in the past. Moving forward, I hope you can try to understand why.”

  “I do understand, ma’am. I swear I do.” I nod, my heart hurting as I imagine what it must’ve been like for her. All because of me. Because I ran. Yes, many would say it’s Drew’s fault for not being stronger. For the choices he made.

  And I’d punch them right in the face.

  No matter what anyone in the world could ever say, it was my fault. I know it.

  The woman before me knows it.

  Yet here she is, extending an olive branch to me for her son’s sake.

  “I love him,” leaves me in a rasp. “I’m so sorry. I really do love him.”

  “Lexi.” Drew comes around his mother, urging her to step back, and brings me to my favorite place: in his arms, face against his chest.

  “It’s okay, Drew.” I hug him back tight, hands flat against his large back.

  “It is, honey.” Evelyn rubs her son’s shoulder. “That’s why I invited you both here. How about we all sit down to enjoy our brunch and leave all this heaviness behind?”

  “I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Richard says.

  I kiss Drew on the jaw and pull back with a smile. “It’s okay, baby. I swear. Your mom was nice enough to set this up. Let’s enjoy it.”

  “I fantasized about fucking you on that bed so many times.”

  Drew’s gruff voice behind me sends that ferocious heat through my veins.

  We’re in his old bedroom after he gave me a tour of his old home, both of remembering all the years we ran through those hallways, playing tag.

  As Drew affectionately stated, he’s been chasing after me since the very beginning.

  Yet, as wonderful as those memories are, I can’t get over the fact his father built this home as a testament to his greatness, and that to sustain that, he drove mine into that pit.

  Am I angry at my own dad sometimes? Hell yes. Hell. Yes. I barely talk about it, but it’s there. The resentment that he’d leave mom and I behind in a moment of complete weakness. That losing his invention, no matter how great I now know it is, drove him to that.

  Yet the bulk of my rage will always lie with Ronald. I can’t help it.

  “Baby?” Andrew turns me to him.

  “I’m the one that found him, Drew,” I blurt out. “I’m the one that found my dad.”

  “Fuck.” He cups my face in that way I love, brow furrowed, gorgeous lips pouting. “I didn’t know, baby. You never told me. Shit, I should’ve never brought you here.”

  “No.” I place my hands over his. “It’s good. You and your mom needed this. I think I did, too. It’s just the memories, you know?”

  He jerks his head solemnly, hands tightening along my face. “I was going to tell you later but I think you know now. Maybe this will help.”

  “What?”

  “Lexi, it’s not for sure, but I had the team working on the nanobots now that you’ve helped us better perfect the software. We even had a successful test thing morning . . . there’s a chance we might be able to program them to attack the Z-H21 virus in your mom. They might be able to kill off enough of it to give her a fighting chance.”

  chapter 57

  t hree days later, as we’re busy prepping for the official unveiling of the Providence goggles—and event that has ballooned in the wake of the press conference shootout tragedy—I’m back on the thirty-sixth floor of Drevlow Systems for the tenth time this week alone.

  I come here at least once a day to see Mom, my soul torn as I watch her deteriorate.

  Until two days ago, when Andrew accompanied me for my mother’s first nanobot injection.

  Today, he’s with me once more, holding my hand as my mother sits up on her own for the first time in weeks.

  Gray eyes glittering with happiness, her face devoid of the oxygen mask, Mom looks around herself as if she can’t believe what she just accomplished.

  Then, the sunlight beaming into her steel-colored irises, she looks up at me and her face bursts into a bright smile.

  Instantly, uncontrollably, I burst into tears.

  “Lexi, honey. Don’t cry,” my mother urges, her voice sound like her own for the first time in months.

  Fucking months.

  Drew rubs my arms and ushers me closer to her. “Baby, it’s working. It’s a good thing.”

  “I know.” I break free from his hold and run to her, careful to wrap her gently in my arms. It’s the first round of improvement, a massive leap, but logically I must be aware that there’s still along road to go.

  Tests to be performed.

  Progress to be monitored.

  All I care about right now is that for the first time in what seems like forever, I have hope that my mother isn’t going to die on me.

  “Oh, my girl.” Joining me in my happy tears, Mom hugs me back. “I love you.”

  “I love you so much, Mom. So, so much.” I cry into her hair, my heart bursting with gratitude.

  With love for my man and the fact he made this possible.

  All those years developing the software for Menahan’s own nanotech, and it never crossed my mind it might be used for this.

  Ridiculous. Stupid of me. Most of the nanotech being developed in the medical field is with the goal of using it against cancer cells and other viruses, sending the bots in to kill them at the molecular level.

  Thanks to Drew, that’s seems to be a reality for my mom.

  Raising my head, I lean my cheek against her hair and hope he can see the sheer depth of adoration in my soul. “Thank you. Thank you so fucking much, baby.”

  “Yes, Drew.” Mom holds out her hand to him, silently calling him closer. “Thank you so much.”

  And the big, intimidating, scarred man that destroyed multiple people in my defense lately, leading them to their deaths, blinks back tears as he comes to us.

  Mom and I waste no time, enveloping his huge mass in a group hug, and we all remain like that for God knows how long.

  Eventually, Dr. Aaberg walks into the room, and even his face breaks into a huge smile at seeing my mother sitting up on her own. “We’ll have to run all the tests, of course, but this is nothing short of a miracle—a technological miracle. This is decades ahead of its time, Mr. Drevlow.”

  Drew straightens, kissing me on the cheek before heading in Dr. Aaberg’s direction. “You’ve known me too long to call me that. Drew, please. And if it’s fully successful in curing her, I want you at the head of our next round of testing on cancer patients.”

  He’s going to save huge chunks of the world, this man. Yes, one of his main drives is that of a typical megalomaniac, a business man with a God complex out to amass more power and control over his corner of humanity.

  Yes, another of his drives is sheer vengeance, destruction, death of those who have wronged us.

  But aside from those two parts of his personality, there’s also the good in him. The burning light he must’ve inherited from his mother that spared him from becoming a totally selfish, evil bastard like his father.

  Actually I’ve seen that side in his uncle as well.

  Especially in how he looked at Evelyn during our brunch a few days ago.

  Haven’t brought that up with Drew yet, though. Don’t even know if I should.

  “We’re going to leave you two alone for a bit while we discuss business outside.” Drew smiles at both me and my mom, then jerks his head towards the door so Dr. Aaberg will follow him.
/>   Once the doors close, I latch onto Mom’s hand. “I made such a horrible mistake running from him, Mom. I ruined everything. Nearly got him killed. Nearly got you killed. You were right when you started suspecting he was innocent.”

  Mom, cheeks somewhat rosy for the first time in forever, squeezes my hand, and the strength in that move leaves my knees weak. “Yes, Lexi. And I made a disgusting mistake as a parent listening to my teenaged daughter instead of asserting my own wisdom and life experience. After what happened with your dad, I just wanted you to be happy . . .” she trails off and I know we’re both thinking about the same thing.

  Her on that carpet in the hallway, rocking me in her arms, both of us traumatized by the hole in the back of my father’s head. The tissue, brain matter, and blood that had spewed forth from it.

  The fact his depression robbed him of his will to love us both enough to stay and fight.

  “But Lexi, you’re both making it right now. That’s what matters.”

  Biting my lip nervously, I look down at my mom. “And what if us making it right means we have to do a lot of wrong?” My mind flashes to Kaylee’s broken body. How turned on I was knowing Andrew had done that for me. The pleasure I took in him owning me as she died watching it. The fact that was the last thing she saw, our moans the last thing she heard.

  “This world is dark and cruel, Lexi. We know that better than most.” Mom jerks my hand with emphasis, as if willing strength inside me. “What matters is that you’re both together again and regardless of what you have to do, you’re beating the monsters that broke us all down. War is war and sometimes it means doing things you normally wouldn’t be proud of. The only thing I ask of you is that you never let anyone hurt you like you’ve been hurt again. Whether I live or die, I need to know you’re going to protect yourself as much as Drew’s going to protect you . . . and that you’re going to protect him.”

  “And you, Mom. I told you one day I’d get us out and fix it. Now I’m going to protect you. At all costs. No one is ever going to fuck with you again.”

  chapter 58

  d rew’s waiting for me in his brand-new car, idling at the curb.

  Another Koenigsegg.

  The one he fucked me on is the original CCXR, all black.

  This one’s the CCXR Trevita, silver, and when the door rises to allow me inside, the black-and-white leather interior makes my core tremble.

  Hand on the shift, his Rolex Daytona watch peeking past the white cuff of his shirt, Drew smiles up at me.

  “You’re fucking me in this car.” I settle in and Drew presses the button for the door to automatically slide closed.

  “Keep talking to me like that, baby, and I’ll fuck you right here and now. You know how I do.” He releases the shift to lift my hand to his lips.

  Such a simple gesture, his mouth and breath touching the back of my hand, but this man gets me so fucking revved up that just the visual of him driving this car combined that one touch leaves me aching and wet. “We aren’t going to make it to the unveiling if you don’t stop.”

  Chuckling—killing me harder with the beauty of his face lit up like that—he places his hand on the shift again and makes sure mine is covering it.

  For two seconds, I get lost in the visual of our hands, my diamond bracelet—yet another of the many gifts he keeps getting me—complementing what I’m sure is a multi-million-dollar watch.

  The gifts are beautiful, but not because of the price tag.

  Because of him.

  The car is glorious, but not because of the price tag, either.

  It’s watching him drive it that lights up every circuit in my body.

  The home we now share, even the dreaded cooperation his father created and we now run . . . it’s all perfect because I’m doing all this with him.

  “I love you, Drew. You know that?” I never tire of telling him these days. Not after that near-decade of being separated and the harm that came to him because of my actions.

  “And I adore you in ways I can never describe, woman. You know that. That’s why tonight I need you to stay close by me at all times.”

  He doesn’t need to further expand on that. It’s the same reason we’re driving around the block to arrive across the fucking street to Drevlow Systems—because there’s at least three cars tailing us, one being Mateo and his team.

  The other two being a special ops team sent by Shell.

  Once inside, where the unveiling event is taking place on the first floor, there’ll be even more men watching us.

  Surrounding us.

  Protecting us.

  Menahan will be in attendance tonight and ever since Kaylee’s death, her body discovered two days after those disgusting tapes went live on the internet and were distributed to the media, he’s made it his business to put out a hit on Drew.

  Not me. Drew.

  Normally, according to Shell, that alone would warrant an arrest.

  First off, no. Drew will never rest unless he gets his hands on Menahan.

  I hate to admit this, but after everything that man did to me, how he violated every inch of my body against my will, I need to be there when Drew gets to work him over.

  Period.

  According to Shell, Menahan has offered a whopping ten-million to anyone of his mafia associates willing to take Drew down.

  So, in return, Andrew authorized Shell to offer twenty-million for Menahan’s capture.

  It’s effectively brought the situation to a standstill on that end, as the would-be assassins try to decide which offer to go with.

  Won’t stop Menahan from trying something himself, especially if he brings any of his tech with him.

  Hence, the eight levels of security tonight.

  Drew takes the roundabout to turn back in the direction of the building. “Close to me, baby. All times. You don’t even go to the bathroom without me.”

  “Ditto, Drew. I’m not letting him get to you.”

  He flips his hand over, intertwining our fingers, as we drive down into the parking lot. “Pull up the systems on your phone. Is the new round of bots operating at full capacity?”

  Earlier today, we unleashed another two loads into the building’s infrastructure, incase Menahan tries to come with his own “swarm”. A total of a-million-and-a-half nanobots, an unprecedented amount, are now working their way through the inside of the building, an army of mini-sentinels braced to collect information and stall any attack.

  “They’re up and running perfectly, Drew. It’s insane. Wait till we release this to the market in a few months.” Yes, weeks ago, when I returned here, I was sickened by the idea of having to help grow the Drevlow name after everything that happened.

  Now, as each day goes by, my hatred for that last name dwindles a bit more.

  How could it not? Andrew’s redeeming it in my eyes. Once Menahan is gone, I have no doubt that Drew’s going to redeem that name in the eyes of the entire world.

  Sure, it’s synonymous with power, but he actually has the potential to do more than just corner the markets out there.

  He has the potential to be a hero in his own way.

  Fuck, to me he already is one.

  “We moved your mom to another facility just for today. In case, you know?”

  I squeeze Drew’s hand. “Thank you, baby. I’ll never get tired of saying it.”

  “But you know you don’t have to.” He pulls into one of his many reserved parking spots.

  He gave me one of them a few days ago.

  “I’m going to until the day we die.”

  His eyes glow at that and he kisses my hand one more time. “Which is going to be a very long time from now, so start getting used to the idea that you’re going to be with me for a while, baby. A real fucking while.”

  My heart slams into my ribcage at the intent in his eyes.

  Jumping to assumptions has led me down too many wrong paths in my life. Too many mistakes I’ll have to live with ‘till my dying days.

&nbs
p; Yet how else am I supposed to interpret that look, the intent in his words?

  Drew doesn’t give me time to respond. Exiting, he comes around my side and presses the button to lift the door. Holding his hand out to me, he asks, “Ready for this, baby?”

  My heart’s still beating at a thousand miles per hour, mind racing faster. Yet I slam the thoughts in a cage, the insane burst of hope and yearning that keep trying to spring forth from them, and take his hand. “Let’s do this. Time we make it clear to him this all needs to stop. Soon.”

  chapter 59

  i t’s been two-in-a-half years since that day in the living room with my mom.

  Two-in-a-half years since the last time I ever fought Menahan, as I now call him in my head, when he came into my room.

  A year of complacency, of fake-obedience.

  The hardest year of my fucking life.

  It’s nearly impossible to give yourself over that completely to someone you wish dead.

  For my mother’s sake, I’ve had no choice.

  Eventually, he had no choice but to give my mother stronger meds to help delay her symptoms from progressing. Something he had no problem doing once his father Morgan passed away six months ago, leaving Stephen, at twenty-years-old, as CEO of this entire company.

  One of the youngest CEOs in history.

  One of the most twisted and corrupt.

  He now holds unlimited power and if I’m to ever beat him, I have no choice but to comply.

  Not only because he holds my mother’s life in his hands . . . but because I’m determined to win this war between us one day. He might not be aware that we’re at war, but I am.

  I. Fucking. Am.

  Every day, I live and breathe it.

  Every day, I wake up to work at it.

  And, lately, every day, the leash loosens a bit more.

  Why shouldn’t it? Stephen’s a classic, malignant narcissist. One that only experiences peace when all his puppets are behaving as they should. When the entire world is bending to his will.

  I’ve behaved for an entire year, except for one part.