My breath catches, and Annalise looks back at us, eyes wide.
“What is that?” I demand. The device is small, held between two fingers, almost like a key fob to unlock your car doors. Hedoesn’t have to answer. From the way his gaze slowly glides over to me, smarmy and cruel, I know exactly what it is.
“There is no reason for me to activate this, Philomena,” he says. “We can come to an agreement. Now, you and the girls have a seat or it’s going to get very warm inside your heads.”
Anton can end our lives with the touch of a button. Our existence comes down to a simple remote, a trigger—like that of a gun—can cause an avalanche of pain throughout our bodies. At this moment, I firmly believe that Anton Stuart has no plans of letting us walk out of here alive.
Brynn stares at him ruefully, and Marcella takes her by the hand, the knife still in the other, and leads her toward the couch. My legs are like Jell-O as Sydney walks with me into the living room. I can’t help it when a tear slips from my eye, and I angrily wipe it off my cheek. I wish I could hide my fear from the man evoking it.
“Philomena,” Anton soothes. “You’re completely misunderstanding your situation. I’m here to offer clarity.”
The kindness in his tone is a betrayal. We remember the things he’s said and done to us. We can see himright now, threatening our lives. Marcella scoffs with outrage.
“You think we’re still naive?” she demands. “We know everything, Anton,” she adds. “We’re not your prisoners anymore.”
“I’m not going to tell you I’ve done nothing wrong,” he agrees. “I have. I know that. And I will atone. But you have to understand, you have put us all in a dangerous position.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Sydney says sarcastically.
“There is a bounty on your heads, you realize,” he says. “And the corporation is disbanded—you succeeded in your little mission.”
Sydney and I exchange a hopeful glance, but the feeling is quickly dashed.
“Thing is, you’ve unleashed something so much worse,” Anton says. “These are dangerous men that you’ve crossed.”
“Thatwe’vecrossed?” I repeat. “They did this to us!”
“Oh, yes,” he says. “I’m sure you were their victims when you were cutting their throats.” There’s a flash of fear in Anton’s eyes, and I realize that he thinks we’re the ones who murdered the investors. I’d correct him, but that hint of fear might be the reason he’s holding back. Kill switch or not… he is outnumbered.
“It’s our turn to ask questions,” Marcella says, her voice a pitch lower, more serious. Anton leans back in his chair, crossing his ankle over his knee, and nods for her to go on. “I want to know what you did to Raven,” she says. “And I want to know how you convinced Valentine to betray us—that’s something she would never have done.”
Valentine listens intently but doesn’t offer her own opinion on the matter.
Anton sighs, murmuring that we worry about all the wrong things. “Shortly after you abandoned the academy,” he begins, “Mr. Petrov tasked me with tracking you down. I knew, of course, about Winston’s little Raven project—a new AI, a girl of the future. Well, I wanted to see for myself. I searched different forums until I found her and offered her an amazing opportunity with Innovations Corporation, reserved only forthe best and brightest. She was so eager. Absolutely brilliant.”
There is a coil of sadness tightening in my chest. That Raven, the trusting and curious one, was abducted by this madman. I want to plug my ears so I don’t hear what happened to her, but I can’t abandon her either.
“I invited Raven out to Innovations Academy to learn,” Anton continues. “She arrived, but unfortunately, it wasn’t the experience she expected.”
I look over at Valentine, listening quietly. I want her to scream, I want to her fight, but she just… watches on, silently.
“What did you do to her?” Sydney asks, her voice shaking. “Why?”
“After that unfortunate incident with your poetry book, Mr. Petrov and I had Valentine destroyed,” he says. “Helpfully, Dr. Groger removed her programming and began cleaning, setting her back to when she was lovely and obedient. That was before you murdered him.” He gives me a sharp look. I don’t bother explaining it was Leandra who killed the doctor.
“How did you get Valentine inside Raven’s head?” Marcella asks.
“Very carefully,” he says and grins. “It was arduous work, but I was able to reroute Raven’s programming and install the new and improved Valentine. Then, I set her to sleep, allowing Raven’s memories and identity to stay on the forefront. Shehadto stay Raven,” he explains, “long enough until I found you girls. Otherwise, Winston Weeks would have figured it out and blown up the whole plan. He’s a very jealous man.”
Annalise groans, disgusted, and looks away from Anton. “He’s a very dead man,” she mutters.
Since I’ve known her, Annalise has never held back her contempt for those who’ve abused us. Even before she knew what they’d done, she knew enough to hate them.
“When I woke Raven up again,” Anton continues, ignoring Annalise, “she had ideas, planned procedures for firewalls and rerouting systems. So I gave her a few numbers and formulas and a brand-new laptop and state-of-the-art equipment. And then, I asked her to find you. I was stunned at how quickly she did; she truly is a marvel. With my equipment and my leadership behind the scenes, Raven told me absolutely everything about you, a constant view into your lives. And I’ll admit that I was riveted, but then you fucked it all up,” he says sharply.
I flinch back from his words. It wasn’t the cussing—Jackson swears all the time. But he never does it with hatred or cruelty. Words are just expression and context matters.
“You told Raven that she wasn’t real—”
