Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Other Titles
About the Author
The Outlaw Cyborg
Cyborgs on Mars
Honey Phillips
Copyright © 2020 by Honey Phillips
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author.
Disclaimer
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover by Pro Book Cover Studios
Edited by Lindsay York at LY Publishing Services
Chapter One
Angelica curved her hand over her stomach and smiled. Pregnant. Little bubbles of happiness floated through her veins. A baby of her very own at last. Someone she could love and who would love her in return. Someone else, she reminded herself. Justin was going to be so excited. He had been talking about his desire to have a child since the first night he brought her here to her new home.
She cast a quick glance around the expansive apartment. Even after six months, the amount of space allotted to the two of them was almost inconceivable to someone who had been brought up in one of the vast state-run orphanages. The crowded conditions meant that she had spent her life sleeping, eating, even bathing, accompanied by all of the other girls in her sector. Although she knew only too well that being surrounded by people didn’t mean that she never felt lonely, she missed the constant presence of the other girls.
Instead, all of this space was just for the two of them—the big living room with the open view, the sparkling kitchen always stocked with delicious food, the ornate bedroom with the huge bed, and most wondrous of all, the vast library filled with actual paper books. The library was a status symbol for Justin but during his frequent absences, she spent most of her time there, eagerly reading everything from history to science.
But even though the luxurious apartment was a sign of Justin’s enormous wealth, she would have been just as happy in one room as long as the two of them were together. Perhaps if he weren’t so incredibly wealthy, he would have been able to spend more time with her. As it was, he traveled so frequently on business that he rarely stayed more than a night or two in the apartment. His most recent trip had lasted over three weeks, and the big rooms had grown increasingly lonely.
A baby would help to ease the crushing loneliness—although surely he would be able to cut back on his travel once they had a child. I can’t wait to tell him when he gets home tonight, she thought with a smile, hugging her stomach once more. He was going to be thrilled.
Unable to sit still while she waited, she wandered into the luxurious bathroom to check her appearance. Her long white-blonde hair was loose and flowing, exactly the way he liked it. She was wearing one of the dresses he had chosen for her, a flirty little slip of blue silk that exactly matched her eyes. It seemed a little tighter than usual across her small breasts, and she smiled again as she realized it was another sign of her pregnancy.
She heard the door to the apartment open, and her heart gave an excited little flip as she danced off to meet Justin. He was standing by the door, so tall and distinguished looking, the streaks of grey at his temples only adding to his appeal. Since the moment he had picked her out of the line of girls assembled for his inspection, she had been enthralled by his looks and charm.
He looked up when he saw her and frowned. Her steps faltered. It wasn’t the reaction she had been expecting, but perhaps it had been a difficult trip.
“Oh, Justin, I have the most wonderful news.” She put her arms around him and lifted her face for his kiss. Instead, he impatiently pushed her hands away and headed for the bar cabinet as she stared after him in dismay. “Is… is something wrong?”
“Actually, something is very right. Finally.” He poured himself a brandy from the crystal decanter and stood looking down at the glass.
“You mean you already know?” But if he did, why was he acting so strangely?
“Know what?” he asked, still frowning down at his drink.
“That I’m pregnant! Isn’t that wonderful?” She forced aside her doubts and smiled happily at him.
To her shock, he threw back his head and laughed, a harsh sound she’d never heard before.
“Is… is that funny?”
“I find the timing amusing. After six years of trying, my frigid bitch of a wife is finally pregnant. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you are as well—after all, that is the reason I chose you.”
“Wife?” She swayed on her feet and reached out to clutch the back of the couch.
“Of course. A man in my position has to marry well.”
“But you never told me you were married,” she whispered.
A manicured brow rose. “I didn’t think it was any of your business. And to be quite frank, I didn’t realize that you were naïve enough not to have figured it out. After all, it’s not as if I spend the majority of my time with you.”
Her face felt numb. “You said you were away on business.”
“A polite fiction which I didn’t expect you to believe. But I suppose I should have realized.” He sighed, rubbing his chin as he studied her face. “This is really most inconvenient.”
“Inconvenient?” The numbness seemed to be spreading to the rest of her body.
“You know how difficult it is to get a license to have a child.”
She did know. In a desperate attempt to relieve the massive overcrowding, Earth Government severely restricted the ability of its citizens to bear children. A license for parenthood was expensive and difficult to obtain.
“But you have a license,” she said desperately. “You told me that when you brought me here. You told me that you wanted to have a child.”
“The operative word is one. I have one license. And now I have a pregnant wife and a pregnant mistress.”
Her numbness was being replaced by terror. If her child was unlicensed, she would have no choice but to turn it over to the state. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be eligible for any type of assistance from the government, and even in the orphanage, she had heard the horror stories about the life led by the homeless and unlicensed.
“You’re so rich—couldn’t you get another one?”
“Possibly.” He shrugged and threw back his brandy. “But not without my wife finding out. And while she would have been forced to accept my child by another woman when she didn’t have one of her own, she will never allow it now.”
Her thoughts felt sluggish as she tried to work through his meaning. “You were going to give my baby to her?”
“Well, of course,” he said impatiently, pouring himself another dr
ink. “My son would be reared as befits the child of a man of my stature.”
“I would never have let you take my baby away!” she cried.
“You would have done whatever I told you to do. And as long as you were a good girl about it, I might even have kept you around for a while.”
He strolled over to where she stood in frozen horror. Running his hand down her neck and across her shoulder, he pushed the thin strap of her dress down her arm until he revealed the small white mound of her breast. “You are a tempting little thing. A little naïve perhaps, but oh so eager to learn. You always did whatever I wanted, didn’t you? No matter how perverse.”
He caught the taut peak of her nipple between his thumb and finger and twisted it, the sudden pain breaking her out of her shocked stupor. With a cry, she tried to pull away, but he held on just long enough to make her realize that it was his choice to let her go.
“What are you going to do?” she whispered.
“That is an excellent question. I had intended to break things off tonight. Now that my wife is pregnant, she’s demanded that I rid myself of my playthings.” He frowned again. “I had intended to gift you to Antonio.”
She couldn’t conceal her shudder. Justin had brought the other man home for dinner a few times, and she had always hated the way he leered at her.
“But of course, that’s out of the question now.”
“Why?” Even though the thought made her skin crawl, Antonio was as wealthy as Justin. At least her baby would be provided for.
“Aside from the fact that he wouldn’t be interested in a pregnant female, I would never give him that much knowledge of my affairs. No, my dear, I’m afraid you’ll have to go.”
“Justin, please.” If it had just been her, she would have been happy to get away from him, but now she had a baby to consider. With shaking hands, she pushed off the other strap and let the dress fall to her feet, leaving her naked and vulnerable. “You said your wife was frigid. Don’t I make you happy?”
He eyed her speculatively, then shook his head and walked over to the communication panel. “I’m afraid it’s not possible. Louisa is not easily fooled and she can be remarkably vindictive.” He dialed a number and spoke to someone she couldn’t see. “That matter we discussed—it needs to be taken care of. Tonight.”
“I don’t understand,” she cried. “If your… wife is such a horrible person, why do you stay with her? Why not divorce her and marry me?”
“Marry you?” He laughed. “My wife may be a frigid, vindictive bitch, but she’s the sole heir to the Bradbury fortune. Even if she wasn’t, I would never marry a poor, nameless wench from an orphanage.” Frowning at the tears beginning to stream down her face, he poured yet another drink. “Now I suggest you put your dress back on. We’re about to have a visitor.”
The doorbell chimed just as he finished speaking and she grabbed for her dress. She was still pulling it down over her head when Justin opened the door and a big man stepped inside. His eyes traveled over her appreciatively, and she would have been embarrassed if she wasn’t so terrified.
“Take her away, Rogers,” he ordered. “I think one of the outer ring developments in the New England metro area would be best.”
“No, Justin, please! You can’t do that!” At least here in the Dallas metro area she would have had some hope of contacting someone she knew, but in a different city, surrounded by strangers…
“I most certainly can. I’m not about to take the risk of having Louisa find out about you or the child.” For a moment, his face seemed to soften slightly. “I will provide enough credits to last until the child is born. But that’s all you will ever receive from me, do you understand? And if you attempt to make any trouble for me, you will regret it.” Any trace of softness had disappeared by the time he finished speaking.
“Please don’t send me away!” She threw herself to her knees in front of him, clinging desperately to his legs.
He sighed. “Take care of it, Rogers.”
The prick of a needle against her neck was immediately followed by an overwhelming dizziness. Her stomach rolled as impersonal hands picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. She lost consciousness before they left the apartment.
When she slowly swam back to wakefulness, she was lying on the rear floor of a personal flyer. Voices came from the front seats, and she tried to focus on the two men sitting there.
“Seems a waste. She’s a pretty little thing,” a man grumbled.
“You heard the mistress’s orders. She wants her out of the way.” The calm voice came from the driver’s seat. His face swam in and out of focus, but she thought it was the same man who had come to the apartment.
“Maybe we could have some fun with her first,” the first man suggested, and she would have shuddered if her body had been capable of responding.
“We don’t have time for that. We take care of her and get back.”
“What if Mr. Justin asks?”
“He won’t. He knows which side his bread is buttered on. But just in case he’s ever foolish enough to go looking, it needs to look like an accident.”
“So maybe she ran into a gang of thugs.”
“Fuck, Hudson. Stop thinking with your dick. I said an accident.”
Hudson grumbled as Angelica fought not to whimper in terror. She tried lifting her head to see where they were but her muscles still refused to obey. No wonder they hadn’t even bothered to tie her up. She was still trying to move when the flyer landed.
The rear door opened and a man appeared, the same one who had come to the apartment. He shook his head when he saw her eyes were open.
“Pity that shot didn’t last longer.” He pulled her out, his hands brisk but not cruel.
Night had fallen, but enough lights shone from the surrounding tangle of derelict buildings for her to see they were at the top of a hill. Below them, she could see a cluster of equally decrepit-looking warehouses and the oily black swell of water. The smell of putrefaction tainted the damp air. She’d never been near the water before, and it only drove home how far away she was from everything she had known.
“P-Please…” she managed to whisper, but Rogers only shook his head.
“You chose the wrong man, sweetheart. Hold her up, Hudson.”
The other man stepped up behind her, grabbing her breasts as he hauled her upright. “Nice little titties. Are you sure we don’t have time to play?”
“No,” Rogers said firmly, then he drew back his arm and punched her directly in the stomach.
The pain overwhelmed her, too shocking to even let her cry out. She gasped in a breath, and then a second blow descended. She swam in and out of consciousness, her world reduced to flashes of awareness. Hudson’s excited breathing as he pressed against her back. The darkness of the sky overhead. Rogers’ detached face as he raised his fist again. By the time he finished, it had begun to rain and the drops mingled with her tears and the wetness flowing down her legs.
“That will do it.”
Dizzy with pain and shock, she could barely hear Rogers’ words but he sounded as calm and untroubled as before.
“Leave her here?” Hudson asked.
“No, she’s going to slip on the pavement and take a tumble down the hill.”
Before he could carry out his threat, a voice shouted from somewhere close by.
“Damn.” Rogers sighed. “The mistress won’t want any witnesses. We have to get out of here. Let her go.”
The hands holding her upright finally let go, and she crumpled to the ground.
“She’s still alive.”
“I doubt she will be for long. And the child is gone. Let’s go.”
The child is gone. The words rang in her head. She heard them as she slipped into unconsciousness. They were still there when she awoke, louder than the throbbing pain in her abdomen. They echoed in her mind as she stared up at a dirty ceiling and listened to a hushed conversation from somewhere nearby.
“Is she going to
live?” A man’s voice.
“I think so. She’s young, but she’s a fighter.” This was a woman’s voice, infinitely weary. “But she lost the child—and any hope of another. Maybe if I’d had better equipment…”
“You did what you could. And maybe it was for the best.”
No. She put a hand over the rough stitches low on her stomach, so empty now. An emptiness that matched the hollow feeling inside of her.
Somehow, she would find a way to recover what had been taken from her. She would have a child. She would have her family. No matter what it took.
Chapter Two
Fifteen years later…
“Goddammit, Wales.”
The outraged roar echoed through the barracks, but John Wales ignored it, concentrating on the boots he was polishing, until Sergeant Carter’s feet appeared in his line of vision.
“On your feet, Wales.”
He stumbled to his feet, managing to step on the sarge’s toes in the process. They gave a satisfying crack.
“You great clumsy oaf.”
He was not in fact clumsy and hadn’t been since he came to terms with that first enormous growth spurt that put him head and shoulders above his fellow orphans. However, he had learned that being thought clumsy and slow often gave him an advantage.
“Why did you do it? Why?”
Sergeant Carter was red-faced with anger, poking his chest with an annoying finger. John briefly considered snapping that finger in two, then regretfully discarded the idea. He hadn’t enjoyed his last two trips to the stockade.
“What did I do?” He wasn’t being difficult. He never really knew when someone would take offense to something he said or did.
“Hell if I know, but the captain wants to see you so it must be bad. And I’ll get the blame. As always.”
“When?”
“Now. So get your oversized ass over to his office immediately.”
John shrugged and obeyed, moving with deliberate slowness until he was out of Sergeant Carter’s sight, then assuming his usual brisk stride.
The Outlaw Cyborg (Cyborgs on Mars Book 5) Page 1