Hidden Hearts

by Eva Chase

  I wasn’t sure I could blame them if it’d gone down that way, not some brutal attack from people who were aiming to take Alpha Project down for their own selfish reasons,

  No one had ever mentioned experimenting on people with abilities like mine before. I’d only met a few other talents, Todd and a few younger foster kids, supposedly all “saved” by Alpha Project from those who couldn’t stand our differences. Now I couldn’t help wondering where we’d really come from. What Langdon and the others had really been observing us for.

  I had done tests, observed by him and others at the compound, but I’d thought it was just to measure my abilities and help me control them. They’d never hurt me.

  Because they wanted me as a tool, like Nick had said. They’d used me to hunt down the “valuable” subjects they hadn’t been able to recover any other way.

  A fresh wave of nausea filled my belly. I stopped by the train station and doubled over, clutching my belly, but nothing came out. After a minute, I straightened up again.

  Paris was beautiful, but it was tarnished now. Maybe back in my apartment, as much of a home as it was after two months in London, I’d be able to put together a clearer idea of what to do now.

  I bought a ticket and caught a train that was just about to leave. As it whirred off, I pulled out my phone. I’d turned it off for the trip, not wanting Frederick to interrupt my little initiative.

  Obviously that had been the right idea. When I turned it on, I found a dozen messages waiting for me, mostly texts, but a couple of missed calls too. Check in, Carina. Location, stat.

  Respond immediately. Urgent communication required.

  What the hell are you doing, Carina?

  I guessed the voice mail waiting for me was more of the same. I switched the phone off again and tipped my head back against the padded seat.

  Lord, what must Nick be thinking now? I’d run off on him right after he’d taken the risk of being completely open with me. Did he figure I was running back to Alpha Project to tell them everything I knew?

  I started to reach for my phone again and stopped myself. This was an Alpha Project phone. They were probably watching my texts, weren’t they? That’s what would make sense if I was just a tool to them, not a person who deserved her privacy.

  Anything I said to him, they might be able to figure out more from than I wanted them to.

  If Nick packed up and ran because of me, well, then I’d just have to live with that. I wasn’t going to put him any more at risk to absolve myself of a little guilt.

  The ride back to London felt as if it took twice as long as the one into Paris. I couldn’t get back to my apartment fast enough. I shifted on my feet as I waited for the elevator and rolled my shoulders as it ascended partway up the high rise Alpha Project had installed me in.

  Everything in my life was theirs. I hadn’t let myself think about it before, but it was true. They might as well own me.

  I fumbled with my keys before I found the right one and fit it into the lock. The door swung open to darkness and comforting silence. I tossed my purse by the wall and was just flicking on the hall light when the clearing of a throat carried from the living room.

  I flinched, my fingers smacking the light switch. The sudden illumination revealed Mikkel Langdon just getting up from my living room armchair.

  For the first few seconds, I could only stare at him, as if I could delve into the truth of his history just by looking at him. He gave me his usual mild smile, a sly spark in his dark eyes, and I remembered that I needed to act as if everything was normal. Well, as normal as it could be when he’d surprised me in my own apartment.

  “What are you doing here?” I said. “You didn’t say you were coming.” He’d let himself right in. Why wouldn’t he have a key too? Alpha Project had owned me; well, we all knew who owned Alpha Project.

  “Frederick was concerned,” Langdon said in his even voice. “He believed you let that gentleman you met convince you to leave the city against his orders and that some horrible fate might have befallen you. So I came to check up on you. Clearly he was overreacting.”

  He’d come to check up on me by lurking in my apartment in the dark? An uneasy prickle ran down my back, but I made myself smile. “Clearly,” I said, spreading my arms. “I forgot to charge my phone, if he was trying to get a hold of me there. Battery ran out. I was just following up on some new leads right here in London.”

  Langdon nodded in a way that somehow seemed to suggest he hadn’t expected anything different and also that he saw right through me, both at the same time. The prickling dug deeper. I swiped my hand across my mouth, trying to control my nerves.

  “Can I get you something to drink, or…?”

  “No, that’s all right. Now that I can see that you’re fine, I expect I’ll be going soon.” His gaze flicked up and down my body. “These leads, did they turn up anything?”

  I made a face and shook my head. “Nothing I’m sure of yet. But we’ll get there, right? We’re closer to catching these people than we’ve ever been before.”

  “Very true, very true.”

  I didn’t want to give away my suspicions, but I couldn’t help asking something. “When we do catch the Keanes, finally—what are you going to do with them?”

  Langdon shrugged. That spark in his eyes came back. “Some would say people like that should simply be put down. I suppose that’s what you’d prefer after what they did to your parents. But I’m not sure that’s the best we can do. I assure you they’ll be kept somewhere secure enough that you won’t have to worry about any harm coming to you.”

  “Oh, good,” I said, as if I’d actually been worried about that. The best we can do. Like the best use he could put them too? But he wouldn’t come right out and say that to me, would he? I swallowed thickly. “And after we do—I guess I’ll have to find some sort of normal job, huh? At least I’ve seen a lot of the world to pick a good place to settle down in.”

  Langdon’s gaze sharpened. “Oh, you know you’ll always have a place on the compound. I’m sure we can make sure you don’t get bored.”

  A hint of steel had crept into his otherwise casual tone. Don’t get any ideas, it said.

  I was theirs, and he had no intention of letting me go. I felt it right down to my gut in that moment.

  “Okay,” I said, keeping my voice as steady as I could. “That’s good to know. Well, I’ll give you a heads up if I come across anything else that’s useful before the next check in. Tell Frederick I’m sorry.”

  “I’ll do that,” Langdon said with a little smile. He slipped past me to the door. But even after it had shut behind him, my pulse kept racing on.

  15

  Nick

  I’d always thought if I needed to pick up and leave, I’d be able to do it pretty easily. After all, I’d spent four years traveling from place to place, rarely staying anywhere more than a month or two, before I’d settled in London. But I hadn’t taken into account the way a person sets down roots without even realizing it.

  The shirts and slacks I’d bought for my clubbing nights and had thought I looked pretty sharp in—no room for them in my hiking pack. No room for the collection of books I’d gradually been accumulating whenever one caught my eye at a second-hand store. And the plants on the balcony with all their very literal roots…

  I eyed my little garden through the sliding glass door. The scent of the lilies and the fresh herbs drifting in from the window sent a mournful pang through my chest. Hopefully whoever cleaned out the apartment for the new tenants would know someone who’d want them and treat them well.

  “Nothing yet?” I said to Liam. I had him on the phone, propped between my ear and my shoulder, as I stuffed my backpack full of the essentials I could take with me.

  “Facial recognition gave me a bunch of possibilities,” my youngest brother said. The clatter of his fingers over his keyboard carried from his end of the line. “I’m waiting on the DNA. I had to out-source that analysis, you know.�
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  “Of course,” I said. “Not trying to rush you, just wanted to check in. Even if I might not be able to use whatever you find out.”

  I heard his grimace in his voice. “Do you really think she’ll go running to them after everything she saw?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. That question had weighed heavy on my heart since the moment Carina had rushed away from me in the courtyard. “But I’m screwed if I wait around to find out and it turns out she has. I’ve got to at least hole up somewhere she doesn’t know until I see what the fallout is.”

  Maybe I shouldn’t have extended myself at all. Maybe I should have stayed back that first night and tried to figure out what I could about her from a distance.

  But even as I thought that, the memory of her anguished face rose up. She was a victim here. If she reported anything to Alpha Project, it was because of how deep they’d gotten their claws into her through years of manipulation going back to when she was a little kid.

  I’d do what I had to in order to protect myself and my family, but I couldn’t see her as a real enemy. Not even a little.

  “Well, I really hope she comes around. And I’ll give you a shout the second I have anything definitive.”

  A knock rattled the door. A flash of cold washed through me. I snatched up my pack—and Carina’s voice filtered through.

  “Nick? It’s me. Just me. I’m sorry. Can I come in?”

  “I’ve got to go,” I said to Liam in a low voice, and hung up. His feelings wouldn’t be hurt. We all knew sometimes there wasn’t time for politeness.

  I stepped closer to the door, listening hard. A faint rustle of clothing carried through, but only what sounded like one figure. And really, if the Alpha Project goons had wanted to grab me, they’d have had a much easier time of it taking me by surprise and bursting right through the door rather than giving me a warning.

  The deadbolt rasped over at my push. I opened the door to only Carina, standing on the worn hardwood of the hall, her body tensed but a small smile lighting her face at the sight of me. Her eyes looked a bit red, as if she’d swiped tears from them recently. She raised her chin with a tiny wobble.

  “Hey. I feel like we didn’t exactly finish that last conversation.”

  My heartbeat had sped up with a weird mix of apprehension and delight. She was here. She’d come back to me. But I didn’t know what it meant yet.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’d agree with that. Where did you go?”

  “Just home,” she said. She sucked her lower lip under her teeth. “I haven’t told them anything. That’s what you’re worried about, right?”

  I wished that touching her would have told me right away whether she was telling the truth instead of just giving some other random impression. Every instinct told me she was genuine, though.

  “Okay,” I said, stepping back from the doorway. I swept my arm for her to come in.

  She took a few steps into the apartment and stopped at the sight of my bulging travel pack on the kitchen island. “You’re leaving.”

  “I thought I might have to,” I said. “When you live the way we do… It’s better not to wait until you’re completely sure you need to. Better just to get going if there’s any chance your cover’s blown.”

  “Yeah,” she said quietly. “I can see why that might be.” She rubbed her hand over her face. “I really didn’t know. I can swear that much to you. They never—they never treated me badly. I thought they’d rescued me. I thought— It doesn’t really matter. What matters is they lied, and they’ve been dictating my life on their terms all this time.” With a pause, she glanced at me. “How much do you already know?”

  I motioned her toward the couch. “Why don’t we sit down?” This could be a long conversation.

  She sat at one end, her hands balled tight on her lap, but when I sat across from her she shifted a little as if she’d wanted to scoot closer and held herself back. Because she wasn’t sure what she wanted or because she wasn’t sure what I wanted?

  I could worry about that later.

  Turning toward her, I leaned my arm against the back of the sofa. “From what you’ve told me, I’ve gathered that you lived with foster parents for as long as you can remember, and they were associated with a group I know as Alpha Project that’s run by a guy named Langdon. From what I picked up from you and what I’ve seen, I think they sent you on a mission to find someone who’s been returning items mysteriously around London. They’ve told you horrible stories about my parents and maybe me and my brothers too to convince you that we’re the bad guys. I don’t know what tipped them off that I was here, though, or what else they might have planned.”

  Her gaze had sharpened partway through. “What you ‘picked up’ from me?”

  I blinked at her. “I assumed you’d figured out what my talent is.”

  “You sense things from objects you touch,” she said. “That’s how you figure out what’s important and where to return it too. But— Oh. You can sense things from people too.”

  Her eyes widened a little. I could almost see her remembering all the little touches we’d shared leading up to the more extended ones in the last few days.

  “I only used my talent on you when I was trying to figure out why you were after me and whether I could trust you,” I said quickly. “I’ve got enough control over it that I only pick up the impressions if I open my mind to them. I haven’t—when we’ve kissed—the only thing I wanted to focus on right then was what was happening in the moment. And I wouldn’t invade your privacy except for my own safety.”

  She nibbled at her lip again. “Well, I’ve done my share of invading. I guess, from what happened in Paris, you must have figured out what I can do.”

  “You see the past somehow,” I said. “But you have to be in the place where it happened—that’s why you came all the way out to the house where I returned the bear. How long have you been looking for me, anyway? When did Alpha Project catch on?”

  “It was the necklace,” she said. “A couple months ago? The couple had reported it stolen, so they called the police when it magically turned up in their mailbox. They checked it for fingerprints and that sort of thing, found a trace of blood on it. Whatever ways Alpha Project has of monitoring these things, they connected that trace to your family. And when they looked, they realized there’d been a lot of mentions of spontaneously appearing lost items in the past few years.”

  The necklace. I closed my eyes. “There was some jerk near me when I found the necklace—I think it just fell right off the woman who owned it with the clasp broken. I saw it lying on the sidewalk the same moment that guy did, and he tried to fight me for it. Split my lip open.” I laughed roughly. “Figures he managed to screw me over.”

  “Maybe I can tell my supervisor something now to get Alpha Project off your back,” Carina said. “Give them a false trail away from here. Oh!” The color drained from her face. “Fuck. The last time I was here—I saw a conversation you had, I think with your dad. You mentioned Dubrovnik. I passed that on.”

  My pulse stuttered. I grabbed my phone to type out a hasty message to Mom and Dad. Your location is compromised. Get out of the country.

  Carina had dropped her head into her hands. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I was so confused, and I didn’t know what to believe— Are they okay?”

  “We each check into a group conversation once a day,” I said. “To confirm nothing’s gone wrong. They were fine this morning.” My phone dinged with the briefest signals to indicate my message had been received and they were taking action. I let out my breath. “And they’re still fine now. It’s a good thing you told me.”

  “I could have ruined everything for you. After they’ve been hounding you all this time. I can’t believe—” She made a choked sound. “I promise that’s the only thing I passed on they could use against you. For all they know, you’re still some guy who has a friend that might be my ‘target.’ They don’t even know I went to Paris with you—they didn
’t want me to go.”

  “Hey.” I touched her shoulder lightly. When she didn’t pull away, I slid my hand up to run my thumb over her cheek. “I meant what I said in Paris. I don’t blame you. They used you. But you cared enough to find out the whole story. You listened to me. That’s more than I was counting on.”

  She looked up at me, leaning into my touch. “Why did you take that chance on me? Why did you risk talking to me at all?”

  “Honestly?” I said. “At first it was mostly to see if I could find anything out about what Alpha Project was up to. But from the first moment I could tell you had a talent, I knew there had to be more to your story. The more I talked to you, the harder I found it to believe you’d be hunting us down if you’d known the truth. I couldn’t just leave you with them.”

  She gave me a crooked smile. “Of course you could have.”

  I stroked my thumb over her cheek again, lost in her dark brown eyes. “No, I couldn’t have, Carina. I can’t even pretend it was totally selfless. The more I’ve gotten to know you, the more I’ve wanted you in my life properly—honestly. I don’t know what kind of trouble you’re going to face getting away from Alpha Project, but I’m right here with you from now on.”

  She stared back at me through a few beats of my pulse. Then, wordlessly, she gripped the front of my shirt like she had in Paris and pressed her mouth to mine.

  It was a different kind of kiss than either of the ones we’d shared before. There was something raw and wanting from the very first brush of her lips that send a bolt of lust down to my groin. I kissed her back hard, tangling my fingers in her hair.

  She let go of my shirt to trail her fingers down my chest and then back up to my shoulders. Everywhere she touched, sparks leapt over my skin. I hooked my arm around her waist and tugged her closer. One of her knees slid across my lap, grazing my growing erection, and abruptly I was harder than I’d ever been in my life.