Hayes thought-about me for a second, then dipped his head in acknowledgment. “That’s true,” he stated. “You let your little FBI pet do it for you.”

I gritted my tooth. “Adrian isn’t a canine.”

“Let’s comply with disagree about that,” he stated and gestured for me to stand up. “Come,” he stated. “Sit with me. We have to discuss.” I climbed to my ft and toddled on shaky legs to the armchair that he was pointing me to. “Do you want something?” he requested. “Are you hungry? Do you want a drink?”

I shook my head. “I simply need to go house.”

“Sure, to your son. Elias, proper?”

I went chilly. “Please don’t convey my son into this.”

Once more, Hayes dipped his head. It was like we had been in some form of negotiation, however he was the one one who knew the phrases. “You’ve been creating identities for your self, haven’t you? Because you left the custody of the US Marshals.”

I nodded. There was no level in attempting to disclaim it. “I’m good with computer systems.”

“I do know. I appeared up your data.” He reached over and held up a folder. “You will have some spectacular credentials. It’s a disgrace you ended up in a diner in the course of a swamp.” He opened the folder and flicked by the pages. “And earlier than that, you had been a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas.” He glanced at me and clicked his tongue towards his tooth. “You’ve wasted a lot of your potential because you moved to the US, Nataliya. It truly is a disgrace.”

“Thanks,” I stated. The phrases felt misshapen and mistaken in my mouth—making good with the person who was liable for my brother’s demise felt like a betrayal of the worst kind—but when enjoying well mannered saved me alive lengthy sufficient for Adrian to search out me, I might do it with a smile. “I hope to return to working in my subject sometime when issues are extra settled.”

“Why wait?” Hayes requested. “I may all the time use somebody on my workforce with abilities like yours.”

Right here we go, I believed. I had been ready for the gross sales pitch. “I’ve seen what you do, Mr. Hayes,” I stated. “I’m not impressed.”

“Oh, I feel you’d discover me very spectacular, Nataliya. What proof did you actually get towards me, huh? A handful of damning emails with no context, perhaps? A voicemail?”

He has no thought what we now have, I believed. He’s guessing so I’ll inform him. “My brother is lifeless due to you,” I stated as an alternative of answering his query.

Anger cracked by his charming, impartial masks. It was just for an instantaneous, however I noticed the person beneath the designer garments and veneer-bright smile. “Your brother is lifeless as a result of he didn’t follow what he did finest: comply with orders. As a substitute, he ran to Interpol along with his tail tucked between his legs.”

“He was attempting to do proper by his nephew.”

Hayes chuckled, and it was a imply sound. “He may have executed a lot extra if he’d come to me,” he stated. “Have you learnt the assets I may have gotten for you? As a substitute, you’re permitting a researcher to run experiments in your son.”

My palms clenched into fists. “I requested you to not convey him up.”

Hayes sighed. “I simply need you to concentrate on what I may do for you. I may get you a job within the subject you like; I may set you and Elias up in house in any a part of the nation you’d like. I may guarantee that he has one of the best medical care.”

I crossed my arms throughout my chest. “Why would you do all of that for me?”

“I deal with my individuals.”

I snorted. “Do you commonly deal with your individuals by setting them as much as be killed?”

His masks slipped once more, and his darkish eyes turned searing. “I do what must be executed to keep up what I’ve constructed. I’m positive you could perceive the necessity to defend one’s personal creation, sure?” I clutched on the arms of the chair, digging my fingers into the material. “That being stated, I’ll want you to return what you took from my system, together with the rest your brother may need left for you.”

“No.”

“Simply ‘no’?” Hayes requested in such a perverse mirror of the dialog Adrian and I had earlier that I really laughed. “You don’t suppose you need to make the sensible alternative and negotiate?”

I shook my head. I knew it wasn’t the sensible alternative, knew that I ought to play alongside till somebody got here to search out me, however there have been some issues I simply couldn’t abdomen. And agreeing to work for this man—at the same time as a ruse—was a line I couldn’t convey myself to cross. “No, Mr. Hayes. This isn’t a negotiation; it’s only a no.”

Hayes stood, and I pressed myself again within the chair, attempting to get away from him as subtly as attainable. “You’ve struggled a lot as a single father or mother, Nataliya,” he stated, circling now. It was like each cliché film villain ever, and there was a hysterical a part of me that needed to snicker…however that will most likely find yourself getting me killed. “Don’t you need to make your life simpler? Don’t you suppose you deserve it?”

“In fact, I deserve it,” I stated. “Nobody deserves hardships or struggling.”

“Return what you took from me, and you’ll have no matter you need.” He shrugged, as if to say it was simply that simple. “I’ll even depart your guard canine alone.”

I wouldn’t imagine something he informed me even when he stated the sky was blue or water was moist. However shutting down the dialog utterly wouldn’t do me any favors. I needed to hold him speaking, attempt to stall. “Why do you do it?” I requested.

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