Page 70 of The Program

T didn’t respond, but there was a rigidity to his stance that, combined with his presence here with us, gave Demari the confirmation he was searching for.’

‘Well, we can’t have that now, can we?’ he taunted, pulling his holo-tab from where it hung on his belt. Holding it out in front of him, a hologram emerged to hover above the screen for us all to see. The image finally got a reaction out of T and he stepped towards the barrier, eyes intent on the hologram.

He wasn’t the only one, though. Foryk also stepped up beside him, his reaction an exact mirroring of T’s.

It hit me, then, looking at the two of them side-by-side. Even through T’s mask, I could now see the resemblance and I wondered how I’d failed to connect the dots when they were so obvious. They had the same burgundy colouring, the same broad shoulders… Stars, even the samemannerisms.

Movement on the hologram let us know that it wasn’t a still picture but a video, and the sick feeling in my gut told me it was live.

I recognised the man tied up, his face already beaten, bruised and bloody. He was another one of The Program’s guards, and even more connections suddenly lit up in my mind.

‘Your mother is, unfortunately, currently occupied and inaccessible, so we shall have to settle for using your father to set an example,’ Demari stated.

He pressed a button on the holo-tab and a voice came through.‘Boss?’

‘You can kill him now,’ he ordered indifferently, like he was talking about the weather.

‘NO!’ both Foryk and T yelled as they charged at the barrier. The blue-hued holographic depiction of their father became a gruesome sight. A gun was pointed at his head and the owner immediately pulled the trigger. His head snapped to the side from the force of the blow, then he slumped to the floor. We could clearly see the gaping hole in the side of his head, smoke rising from the fatal wound, and even through the hologram I could see the emptiness in his eyes.

Both Tornus were thrown back when they collided with the shield, but when they got up for a second attempt and saw their father, dead and gone, they collapsed to their knees with twin cries of pure anguish.

In that moment, my past with T didn’t matter. I rushed over to his side and threw myself around him, holding him tight as if my arms alone could keep the pieces of him from floating away. He leaned into me, his entire form shaking from the force of his heart-wrenching sobs, and I clung to him as hard as I could.

‘Fuck the Griknot, Subject A-173. I want you pregnant by the time I return,’ were Demari’s parting words before he spun on his heels and sauntered off.

T let out a tormented scream and pushed me off. I could have held on, but I released him, understanding that he probably didn’t want me touching him right now when our relationship was so strained.

Bromm was holding Foryk much the same way I had held T, but Foryk didn’t even seem to notice. Despite the tears tracking down his cheeks, the shock had set in and he was staring at the spot Demari had just left, a vacant look in his eyes eerily reminiscent of his father’s.

‘Fuck.’ The breathy curse came from Dorian and was quickly echoed through the rest of the group.

My eyes met Bromm’s over Foryk’s head, a deep-seated fear now encompassing them, right alongside a comprehension of the situation we’d found ourselves in. Here, in this room, and for the very first time, we were going to have to have sex. In front of everyone.

Stars, in front ofT.

But who knew how many lives were at risk if we didn’t comply?

CHAPTER 26

Bromm

Ishould have followed my gut feeling. I never should have allowed us all to walk into this trap. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t do anything about it, and now here we all were. Foryk was unresponsive and catatonic. He and T were apparently secretly brothers, and they had both just watched their father get murdered. Adara and Reece were still unconscious though they had provided Henrik with enough tasks to focus on by sewing them up and dressing their wounds. Urman was silently examining the barrier holding us captive while Artemis didsomethingI couldn’t begin to comprehend in an attempt to break it down. Dorian was watching in the corner, and I was sitting in contemplative silence beside Foryk as I tried to think of a way forward.

Oh, and let’s not forget that Markus and Xander were somewhere out there, alive or dead we didn’t know, as well as Foryk and T’s mother. And I still didn’t even know T’s name.

This was not how things were supposed to go.

I had just put my head in my hands in defeat when Foryk spoke up from beside me. He didn’t turn to look at me, but words were more than I had expected. A good sign.

‘What are you going to do?’ he asked.

‘What?’

His head jerked in Artemis’s direction. ‘They want you to knock her up. What are you going to do?’

My exhale was long and shaky. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Do you want kids?’

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