Resistance (Replica) (11 page)

A tear trickled down her cheek. Ordinarily, she would have tried to hide any sign of weakness, especially in the presence of a social inferior, but she supposed there was no reason to keep up appearances right now. Thinking about what her future might hold made her want to curl up in a hole somewhere and die. Dante squeezed her hand a little tighter, but he didn’t have any more comforting words to offer.

“What happened when you were arrested, Nadia?” Dante asked. “There’s no way Chairman Hayes thought Agnes Belinski was a better match for Nate than you. The change in plans has spite written all over it. What I don’t get is, if he hates you so much, why did he let you out of Riker’s?”

Nadia shook her head at him even as tears continued to fall and she clung to his hand. “You never take off your spy hat, do you?”

It was hard to tell in the darkness, but she thought he might have blushed. “Sorry,” he mumbled, scuffing at the ground with one foot. “I can’t help noticing this stuff. And wondering about it.”

For a moment, Nadia was sorely tempted to tell Dante everything, to tell him about Thea, about her experiments, about Mosely’s mission to procure test subjects from among the lowest, most powerless citizens of Paxco. She wanted to thrust a dagger through the Chairman’s heart and laugh while he bled.

But it wouldn’t be the Chairman who bled if word of his crimes got out. Dante’s resistance movement claimed to want to change the government slowly and peaceably—or at least that was what Dante thought the eventual goal was—but despite the Chairman’s ruthless quelling of protests, there were plenty of malcontents out there who would gladly turn to violence if given sufficient cause. Triggering a rash of riots that could potentially escalate into full-out civil war was
not
the way to punish the Chairman for his sins. Which meant, she realized with a sinking feeling, that she wouldn’t be able to blackmail her way out of this even if she
could
reach the Chairman. Any threat she made to release the recordings would be a bluff, and he was too savvy not to know that.

“I can’t tell you what happened,” she said. “But you’re right that the Chairman hates me. He can’t kill me or put me in Riker’s.” As long as the recordings existed and were hidden. Nadia had arranged for them to be released to the public should something happen to her. “But he can—and obviously will—hurt me in other ways.”

Just as he would hurt Nate, in any way he could.

The thought of Nate made her chest ache, and the tears flowed more freely. Why hadn’t he come to tell her the dreadful news in person? How could he leave her here in ignorance?

How could he let the Chairman marry him off to someone else?

The tears burst from her in an uncontrolled gush, no longer demure and ladylike. Dante drew her into his arms, cradling her head against his shoulder, and she didn’t even think of resisting.

“I’ll spend the rest of my life locked up in a retreat somewhere up north,” she sobbed, not sure how she would bear it. Five nights at Tranquility had her wanting to scream. How could she live in a place more restrictive and more isolated than this for the rest of her life?

“Maybe not,” Dante whispered soothingly, holding her tightly to him. “Your father may win in the end. And even if they do send you away, it might not be forever.”

She appreciated his attempts to comfort her, but it could never work. She could see her fate stretching out before her all too clearly. She would be sent to a distant retreat, where everyone was way older than her and female. She would never be seen in public again, might never see her family or Nate again. They could keep her at the retreat against her will until she was eighteen, and then they could keep her there by refusing her access to the family’s funds so that she had nowhere else to go. She would never marry, never have children. Hell, she would never even know love, because there would be no boys or men in her life.

“You don’t understand,” she hiccuped against Dante’s jacket. An Employee like Dante would never have had to face the specter of a retreat, couldn’t possibly comprehend what such a gilded cage was like.

Dante sighed and stroked her hair. “I
do
understand,” he said softly. “And I’ll do whatever I can to help you. I’m sure Nate will, too.”

Nadia shook her head and tried to pull away from Dante’s arms, but he wouldn’t let her. She went limp against him. Propriety didn’t matter anymore, and if she wanted to let a male servant hold her and comfort her, then she would. His arms felt solid and strong around her, and she liked hearing the steady thump of his heart when she pressed her head to his chest.

“Nate can’t help me,” she said, feeling the truth of her words down to her bones. She didn’t know how the Chairman had convinced Nate to agree to the match with Agnes Belinski, but she knew he hadn’t done so willingly. Somehow, his father had gotten a hold on him, and if he was determined to make both Nate and Nadia suffer, then he would be sure to keep them apart.

“Probably not directly,” Dante agreed. “I don’t know what’s going on under all this, but I do know the Chairman will be watching Nate’s every step. But he won’t be watching
me.
”

He finally released her from his embrace. Nadia would have regretted the loss, if he hadn’t cupped her wet cheeks in his hands and stared intently into her eyes.

“We’ll find a way, Nadia,” he said, with such certainty that she could almost believe him. “Nate and I don’t like each other, but we both like you. A lot. We can work together to help you.”

“Help me
how
?” It wasn’t like she was in some kind of physical danger they could save her from.

“Help you escape, if it comes to that.”

“Escape.” Somehow, the thought had never occurred to her. Maybe because it was so wildly impractical. “Where would I go? How would I live?” She would have no money, and no way of getting access to money if her family didn’t want her to. It wasn’t like she could just get a job somewhere. Jobs went to Employees, not Executives, and it wasn’t as if she could hide her identity. Especially once the latest scandal broke. Her picture would be plastered over news feeds and gossip columns everywhere.

Dante made a face. “I don’t have the answers, at least not now. But we’ll figure something out. It might take time, but if you get sent upstate, we’ll find a way to get you out. I promise.”

Nadia fervently wished she could believe him. Maybe someday, when Nate became Chairman, he would have the power to free her, but not before. Not when the only place she could flee to was the Basement, where she could have food and shelter for free, if she didn’t mind living among drug dealers, prostitutes, and gangs who would see her as fresh meat.

“Thank you,” she said, because she really did appreciate his kindness and his intentions, even if she didn’t believe he could succeed.

Dante nodded gravely, then put his arm around her, snugging her close against his side. Her tears were drying—for now—so she didn’t technically need his shoulder to cry on anymore, but she leaned easily against him anyway. His body felt warm and solid and safe against hers, and right now she needed warm, solid, and safe.

There was a long, companionable silence, until Dante suddenly broke it.

“Do you love him?”

She’d been asked that question by reporters dozens of times, and she’d always refused to answer on the grounds that it was private. However, her refusals had always been phrased in such a way as to make the interviewer believe the answer was yes. It was on the tip of her tongue to answer Dante the same way, but he wasn’t a reporter. He was a friend and a confidant—the only one she had left to her—and he deserved honesty from her, at least when she could afford to give it.

“He’s my best friend,” she said, “and I love him like a brother.” Even as she said it, Nadia wasn’t sure she was being entirely honest after all. There had never been any hope of a romance between her and Nate, but sometimes she suspected she was at least a little in love with him anyway. “But if we were Employees and could marry whom we chose, we never would have ended up with each other.” And that part
was
entirely true. “Does that answer your question?”

“Yeah. And sorry if that was too personal.”

“If it’d been too personal, I wouldn’t have answered.” She angled her head so she could see his face. Moonlight limned one side of it while leaving the other cloaked in shadows. The freckles over his nose had faded since he’d started working for the Lake family and spent most of his time indoors, but they were still faintly visible, even in the moonlight. They would be considered an unsightly blemish on an Executive, but Nadia found herself fighting the urge to reach out and touch them.

She licked her lips, aware of how close she was to Dante’s sensual mouth. She and Nate had kissed many times, but they had always been sham kisses, meant to help strengthen the illusion that he was into girls. Nadia had no idea what a
real
kiss felt like, and she suddenly wanted to find out in the worst way. She looked into his eyes and saw the answering spark there, but he didn’t take her up on what she felt certain was a blatant invitation. He smiled at her and stroked one hand lightly over her hair.

“You’ve just had some bad news and are in an altered state of mind,” he said gently. “I’m not the kind of asshole who’d take advantage of that.”

“Oh,
now
you’re going to turn all gentlemanly on me?” she asked, her cheeks heating at the rejection. He’d worded it nicely enough, but why should she expect a guy who thought Executive girls were akin to pampered poodles to want to kiss someone like her? Sure, he seemed to like her just fine now that he’d decided she wasn’t cut from the same cloth as most of her peers, but that didn’t mean he’d forgotten what she was. What she would always be, even though she would live the rest of her life in disgrace.

It was embarrassingly hard for her to stop leaning against him and put some distance between them on the log, but she managed it, wishing she could sink through the ground in her humiliation. Dante’s eyes widened, and he took her hands before she could jump to her feet.

“I’m not saying no,” he told her earnestly. “I’m just saying not now.”

She appreciated his attempt to spare her feelings, but she knew a rejection when she heard one. And it probably served her right, anyway. Kissing Dante as some kind of secret act of rebellion, or just because he was there, didn’t say much about her strength of character. Even if the yearning in her belly suggested there was more to it than that.

“I mean it, Nadia. To tell you the honest truth, I’ve wanted to kiss you ever since the first time I met you.”

She gaped at him. “You thought I was a spoiled, privileged, self-centered Executive bitch, remember?”

One corner of his mouth lifted in a sexy smile that revealed a dimple on his cheek. “No, that’s what I thought of the
others.
I knew you were different from the moment you ever-so-politely tore Jewel to shreds with your words.”

Nadia smiled a little at the memory. She lost almost as many verbal skirmishes with the Terrible Trio as she won, but the victories were sweet. And she remembered how Dante had visibly fought off a smile when Nadia cut Jewel down to size.

“If you still want to kiss me when I come visit you tomorrow, believe me, I’ll be more than happy to let you.”

Nadia swallowed hard, realizing he meant it. “You really mean to keep showing up here at midnight every night?”

“Of course I do. I told you I would.” Once again, he cupped her face in his hands. “No matter what it feels like, you’re
not
alone in this. Okay?”

Damn if Nadia’s eyes weren’t stinging again, but for very different reasons. No doubt she
should
be trying to talk Dante out of coming. There was risk every time they met, and he had to be running himself ragged. But she needed him too much to do the right thing. And besides, she doubted she was capable of talking him out of it anyway.

Words couldn’t express how grateful she felt, so she recklessly threw her arms around him and hugged him.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Nate
buried his head in his pillow and willed himself to fall asleep. It didn’t work this time any better than it had worked the last fifty he’d tried. He flopped over onto his side and glared at his clock, which told him it was almost four
A.M
. His body felt sluggish and heavy with exhaustion, desperately in need of sleep, but his mind had other ideas, circling endlessly around his fears for Nadia and for his own bleak future with Agnes. He
had
to find his way out of the engagement.

But even if he did, his father could easily find another would-be bride for him, one with as few redeeming features as Agnes. And Nadia’s reputation would still be destroyed.

It was all so unfair he wanted to scream.

Nate forced his eyes closed and took a deep breath, searching for a sense of calm or peace, but there was none to be found.

If his nerves hadn’t been so taut and his mind so hyperactive, he probably never would have heard the very soft creak of his bedroom door opening, or the even softer sound of footsteps on the carpet as someone entered the room.

Adrenaline jolted through his already-wired system, and he sat up with a startled yelp, suddenly convinced his father had decided to dispose of him once and for all instead of forcing him into marriage.

“Easy,” the intruder said, holding up his hands in a calming gesture. “It’s just me.”

At the sound of Kurt’s voice, Nate let out a shuddering breath. His heart was still galloping, and he wondered if maybe he’d been closer to sleep than he’d realized, his mind right on the edge of a nightmare that Kurt had interrupted.

“Sorry to scare you,” Kurt said as he approached the bed.

Nate would have liked to pretend he hadn’t been scared, but Kurt would never buy the act. “We have to stop meeting like this,” he responded instead, making room so that Kurt could sit on the bed beside him.

Kurt snorted. “It’s like this or not at all. Which would you rather?”