Page 14 of Pride
“Max. I’m not sure…”
“What about Joe or Bailey?” Flint asked.
“I regret to inform you that these names are not in my system for family.”
“Misha, Lilo or Grace?” Sloan tried.
“Negative.”
“Shit.” Parker scrubbed his face. “She’s regressed. Probably to the point of her inception.”
An ominous tension filled the air as they all looked at each other.
“AIMI… what about Daisy? Do you know that name?”
A pause. A held breath.
“Negative.”
Flint and Sloan slumped.
Parker pointed at them. “Start gathering any old backup files and feed the data to AIMI.”
“Or I can program AIMI,” Sloan offered.
“No,” Parker said. “It was one thing for you to clean up the corrupted code, but no one programs AIMI but me.”
“You fucking kidding me, bras? You know I’m the best.”
He shrugged. “But this way I know exactly what’s been touched.”
“Whatever. I’m done. Let’s see how far you get with your head stuck up your ass.” She shot him a look filled with venom. “You need to redo your tattoo, bras. Your pride is getting to you and, trust me, you don’t want to see what happens when you black out.”
“Irrelevant. I’m not mated.” The lie laced his tongue with bitterness.
Her eyes narrowed as she assessed him, most likely drawing on her sixth sense to work out if his emotions betrayed his lie, but as usual, he was in complete control. And he had Alice in his bedroom. If he ever felt his sin edging too much toward the dark or light, all he needed to do was go in there. A simple touch between them would reset his sin to perfectly balanced.
In the silence that followed, Parker realized two things. One, his father and sister didn’t trust him. And two, Alice had stopped shouting. It was quiet. Too quiet.
“Out,” he ordered his family.
Flint raised his brows at the order.
Sloan’s lip curled. “I was leaving anyway.”
On their way through the penthouse to the front door, Flint stopped at the dining table. His gaze locked onto the discarded robotic arm. He pointed at it and then met Parker’s eyes.
“Is that what I think it is?” Flint asked.
“Liza brought it.”
“Are you going to—?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m just as deadly with one arm as I am with two.”
Sloan’s mocking laughter echoed down from the front door and it boiled Parker’s blood.
“But you can’t activate the wing suit,” Flint pragmatically pointed out.
