Page 41 of The Program

She tensed, her posture rigid in my lap as she focused on what I was telling her. ‘What happened?’

I braced myself for telling the story. I hated to even think about it with how helpless I was to save them, but maybe Arty could help. ‘Reece was found guilty. They kept him in a cell this entire time and none of us were able to see him. Except Xander and sometimes Adara, but that was only because they were representing him.’

‘Xander…? You don’t mean CaptainAlexanderHironimus,’ she interrupted, her indignation rising the pitch of her voice.

‘Uh, yeah, the captain. We call him Xander now, though.’

‘I don’t trust that man, Bromm,’ she told me, her desperation for me to listen shocking me.

‘Why not?’

She took a deep, grounding breath before answering. ‘Right before The Program attacked, I found out that Hironimus was meeting with Colonel Granger in secret. They had video footage of me on the Entario Station changing into my disguise for the academy…’

‘Oh,that’swhat that was,’ I laughed.

Her brows furrowed in confusion. ‘What?’

‘My first time here I saw the meeting between the colonel and Xander. And I saw the footage of you changing, though to be honest at the time I thought it was a video of you and your girlfriend. It wasn’t until Markus showed us the footage of you completely destroying that facility that I realised – ‘

‘Woah, wait. Back up. You sawwhat?When?’

‘Well, after you sucked the soul right out of my dick and I fell asleep was the first time I ended up here. That’s when I saw the meeting and the footage of you at the Entario Station, but I woke up before I could see the end of it so I didn’t figure out it was you. Then about a week ago Markus showed us the footage The Program has of you going all badass on those guards – that thing you do with the shields? Fucking awesome, by the way – and told everyone who you were.’

She looked pale by the time I’d finished explaining, almost like she was about to be sick.

‘I… You saw that? I don’t understand… how can you say you love me if you saw…?’

I pressed a quick but passionate kiss to her lips in response. ‘It made me love you even more. You were so hot taking those bastards down I almost came in my pants in front of everyone. Apparently, watching you in full-on revenge mode really gets me going.’

She scoffed in disbelief. ‘You’re insane,’ she said on a shocked laugh.

I merely shrugged and smiled down at her. No point in denying it. I was crazy for this woman.Literally.

‘What was Markus doing with it, though?’ she asked, bringing us back on topic.

‘Apparently, Colonel Granger is anti-The Program and recruited Markus and Xander to secretly work directly for her. When she showed him that footage of you she was trying to prove what an asset you would be to the cause. They wanted to recruit you, love.’

She physically deflated as if a world-heavy weight had been lifted off her back. ‘Oh.Oh.I thought…’

‘You thought Markus, Xander and the Colonel were working with The Program,’ I finished for her.

She gave me a sheepish smile. ‘I guess I jumped to conclusions there, huh?’

I placed a kiss on her forehead, wanting the connection just as much as she needed the reassurance. ‘Understandably. You didn’t have the full picture, and it did admittedly look rather dodgy without context.’

‘Okay, now tell me about Reece and Addy. You said Reece was found guilty but not what happened next,’ she prompted.

‘Right. Well, Reece’s trial was rigged from the start. Adara provided the council with the evidence that it wasn’t Reece, but they ignored it and declared her guilty for contempt of court and conspiracy or some bullshit like that.’ I paused to gather the courage to speak their fate out loud. ‘The Program took them in as subjects a few days ago.’

‘Fuck,’she cursed.

‘They know you’re coming, my love,’ I warned her.

‘I figured they would. Not much gets passed them.’

‘How far out are you? Where are you?’

‘I’m still planet-side. The other women from the facility were freed, but it’s not great. They’re all pregnant, even Libby,’ she said.

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