Page 70 of The Puppetmaster

Her face tenses. “Tell me what this is about.”

She pins me in place with a look that allows for no objections or prevarications.

“We’re on our way to a branch of your bank,” I say, ignoring the questioning unease that instantly appears on her face. “They are waiting for us there, for you specifically.”

“To do what?”

“You will have to let it go through and sign something—”

“What exactly?”

I don’t like the way she stiffens up now, her entire body seeming to turn to stone, the expression on her face stern.

“You will be buying shares of a large pharmaceutical company under your name,” I finally say. “It’s a large amount of money, but don’t worry. I’ve got you covered—”

“Got me covered?” she cuts me off in a shrill voice. “Covered for what? What does this mean? Why am I buying shares of a pharmaceutical company—and with whose money?”

I let out a deep sigh. “Please, Alena, you have to trust me—”

“Trust you?” she sneers. “Raad, this is my bank account we’re talking about, my name, my financial security, my entire life—”

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

She inhales with indignation, shaking her head angrily.

“Is this why the other puppets disappeared after they were with you?” she demands, her lower lip quivering with anger. “Because you did this with them, too? And after they did what you asked them to, you were... done with them?”

She’s digging dangerously close to the truth, but not in the way she thinks.

“Nothing happened to my puppets,” I assure her. “And they didn’t disappear. They just never returned to The Velvet Rooms because that’s part of the nondisclosure agreement, as you very well know.”

She pins me down with a hurt stare, tears swelling in her eyes while she processes my words.

“That doesn’t really answer my question,” she says in a low voice. She sounds so hurt that it leaves a blazing sting biting deep in my chest.

“Are you done with me once I do this?” she asks brokenly.

Her question lingers between us, already carrying the painful truth with it.

A truth that I’m not willing to admit.

“No,” I lie. The words feel like dry straw in my mouth. “That’s not what this is about.”

As much as I have claimed to value honesty before her, I can’t be honest right now. I just can’t. I can’t tell Alena the whole truth just because she figured it out before all the other puppets did.

Because I need her. I need her to do this for me—and there’s just no fucking way around it.

And if it requires that I tell a little white lie to make this happen, then so be it.

I’m not sure whether she really buys it or if she just wants to believe it, but she seems to make up her mind right then and there by manifesting it with a nod.

“Okay,” she whispers. “So… you’re saying all I have to do is to go in there, sign my signature, and agree to buy shares of some pharmaceutical company, but you won’t tell me why?”

I nod. “I can’t tell you why. All I can tell you is that nothing bad will happen to you. I promise you that.”

She doesn’t look convinced when she looks at me with her head tilted to the side.

“How can I be sure of that?” she wants to know. “You just keep saying that I have to trust you, but to be honest, Raad, I’m not sure if that’s enough. You’re asking a lot of me here.”

---