Page 33 of The Genius
“I’m not allowed to.”
“So you can watch it, but I can’t?”
“Technically, I could watch it, but I don’t intend to.” I didn’t tell him that I was the only person with access to that recording and that I’d already watched snippets from it three times.
Marco stretched his legs. “Look, you made the decision to send in Natura and you watched it. I think it’s only fair if I get to watch it too.”
My face had to be crimson red by now. “It’s against company protocol to give it out. Natura is a secret project; we can’t have recordings of her unaccounted for.”
“Shelly, doesn’t it bother you that someone could mistake Natura for you and think that you and I had sex together?”
Straightening up in my chair, I gave him a sharp look. “You sound like you’d be ashamed of having sex with me. Who’s the snob now?” My eyes widened when I realized what his real issue was. “It’s because of your wife, isn’t it? You’re afraid Gennie would see it.”
“Gennie?” Marco scrunched up his face. “Who told you about Gennie?”
“I heard you got married years ago. But don’t worry, you don’t have to be afraid of Gennie finding out that you’ve been with me. I can assure you that any recordings are classified. She’ll never see them.”
“That I’ve been withyou?” Marco’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils expanded like a wolf picking up a scent of blood.
“Natura. I meant Natura.”
“Yet that’s not what you said. You were referring to yourself.”
“Just wishful thinking,” I joked and laughed. “I’m kidding, of course.”
Marco looked skeptical. “Did someone tell you my wife’s name was Gennie?”
“No, you did, when you tested Natura, remember?”
“Right.” Marco stood up and, towering over me, he leaned down to be almost face to face. “Only, I’m not married and it’s Storm who has an ex-wife named Gennie.”
I tried to pull back, but I was stuck in the chair with Marco in front of me.
“But youweremarried, right?”
“No. I was never married. That day, I only went along with the Gennie thing because I was pretending to be Storm. Natura would be linked up to the system and in the system I was Storm.”
My eyes widened as I realized my mistake.
“You, however, knew it was me in there.”
I didn’t breathe because the question was right there in his eyes and there was no way I could stop him from asking this.
“I should’ve known something wasn’t right. A sex-bot would never ask me about my wife. Either you instructed Natura to ask that question or…” He narrowed his eyes. “Tell me the truth, Shelly. Was I with a sex-bot named Natura, or was I with you?”
CHAPTER 8
Reaction
Marco
When Shelly just stared at me, I repeated my question. “Was it you in that room with me?”
She licked her lips. Her breathing was shallow and her face flaming red.
“Was it?” I repeated for the third time, already knowing the answer in my soul.
“Of course not.” Shelly was looking at my shoulder now. “That would just be crazy.”
