Page 109 of Owned By Two

I had to pretend to be one of the most-hated professions in the galaxy to infiltrate the most-hated species in the galaxy.

32

UHTI

The momentI climbed aboard the shuttle, I sent a communication to Lizzy’s office and informed them that they were to contact me the moment the Hive made contact.

I didn’t explain why or any other details and kept everything extremely close to my chest.

Secrecy was of the utmost importance.

The secretaries were also not to contactanyone elsein the company —no one,including the lawyers — and should speak with me alone.

It was only thanks to the time I had spent with James as his executive assistant that they listened to my orders.

The call came through about thirty minutes later — it took me that long to explain my plan to him.

I enjoyed seeing the marked look of confusion on Blor’s face, shocked that I would put Lizzy’s life — and our best chance of rescuing her — in the hands of a pair of leather suitcases and horn-rimmed glasses.

As confident as I was that the plan would work, there was one aspect I was unsure of and that was whether or not Lizzy could explain to the Hive she didn’t own anything of value yet.

My fears were allayed when I received the call.

It did nothing to allayhisconcerns.

I had known from the first time I met him that Blor was prone to outbursts and weak at controlling his emotions.

It was a skill I had learned from a young age and it had proven invaluable to me over the years.

But there was another benefit too…

It was much easier for me to not only read his emotions but manipulate him into thinking however I wanted.

I was not as naive as he seemed to believe I was.

I knew enough about Qeyel to know he was not someone to be trifled with, much less trusted.

And if I wanted him to believe I was there as someone looking for a simple favor in tracking a ship down, I would need for him to underestimate me.

And the easiest way to do that?

Let him see how Blor underestimated me first.

But that wouldn’t work with the Hive.

They were linked in ways no modern form of technology had yet managed — although they were fast on their way to doing so.

If any member of the Hive noticed something fishy, it would be shared with every other member of the Hiveinstantly.

We had to assume the Hive had assimilated an Elkik lawyer at some point but I doubted even they could keep abreast of all the latest developments in our species’ law.

That was how we would get Lizzy out of there.

I spoke with Lizzy’s real lawyers directly and told them how I wanted the contract worded, so the Hive would think it meant they would gain every part of James’s empire when in actual fact, they would get none of it.

They would also be obliged to release Lizzy or else lose all the wealth they might otherwise have attained.

I had also included the corollary that none of Lizzy’s employees were to be assimilated against their will — a way for Blor and me to be protected… but it was flimsy at best and I wasn’t sure if the Hive would follow through with it.

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