VoxhatedDamian, and he had probably only survived so long because of his inability to talk about it. He was just as much of a slave to that man as I was. There were a handful of us whohad been plucked out of bad situations as children and groomed. Not all of us had lasted.
Vox and I had been the exception, and when I got old enough to realize that what Damian was doing to kids like us was grooming, I made enough of a stink about it that he stopped.
However, when I first came here, there had been a dozen or so of us. Being Damian’s favorite did have some perks. I had a small amount of sway with him. He would bend sometimes to keep me happy, especially when I had told him I would help him recruit more willing participants into Apex.
That being said, Vox’s sour mood wasn’t anything out of the norm.
Vox hated him so fucking much, and unlike me, he didn’t have any family that Ryker could hold over his head. I honestly didn’t know why he stuck around. Vox was a fucking prodigy when it came to hacking. I was pretty confident that, out of all of us, if Vox wanted to get out of here, he could pull it off.
However, every time I asked him about it, I usually just got a silent scoff or an eye roll in return.
We gotto Damian Ryker’s door, and I bit back a sigh at the sight of it. Vox stood beside me, and we stared at the industrial handle together for a beat. Then, I shook my head and forced myself to open the door.
I didn’t knock, as was the Apex custom. If you didn’t want someone to enter a room at Apex, you locked the door. Otherwise, a closed door meant nothing. Even if you were the big cheese.
Vox followed me into the office, close enough on my heels that it was a little annoying. Damian’s office was circular in shape and just as windowless and grey as the hallways that led to it. Curved screens lined the wall behind his desk, showing live feeds for every single inch of the facility, including bathrooms and showers. There was an ongoing joke that he sat in here and jerked off to us when he was alone, though no one ever let him hear that.
It would likely be the last thing they ever said.
The man himself was sitting behind his large, plain grey desk. He had three monitors set up that faced away from us, so I couldn’t see what he was looking at as he typed away on his wireless keyboard. He also had two picture frames on his desk. They also were facing away from us, but I knew who he had featured in those frames.
He made sure I knew every time I came in here.
He hadn’t changed much since the first day I had met him. He was the kind of man that just became more attractive with age. His chestnut hair now just had a few silver streaks in it, but his whiskey eyes were still sharp and full of cunning.
He was dressed in a grey Armani suit, complete with a tie, even though he was the only asshole in here. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at his obsessive need to look so put together. I think it was a power thing meant to make those around him feel underdressed and inferior.
He didn’t look up right away when we entered, even though he had made me drop everything to come to him.
Another common power move, and I heard the faint sound of Vox’s knuckles cracking next to me.
I shot him a look that said:calm the fuck down.
The last thing I needed was to be up all night patching Vox up for pissing off Damian… which happened more often than I would like.
Damian heard, however, and he glanced up from what he was doing, his eyes narrowing on my friend.
“Is there a problem, Mr. Moretti?” he asked, his voice dripping in honey and venom.
Vox didn’t say or do anything in return; he just stared right back.
I rolled my eyes.
“Jeeze, there’s no problem, Damian. You know he’s just a cranky bastard. What did you need? I told you I have an early start tomorrow,” I said, trying to get his attention away from Vox and back onto me. However, Damian held Vox’s gaze for another beat, the corner of his mouth tilting up in that sadistic way of his.
“You’re dismissed, Mr. Moretti,” Damian said, glancing at me briefly before shooting Vox a look I didn’t understand. “Leave Mr. Walker and I to chat.”
Vox’s lip curled, and his eyes flashed. He took a step closer to me, indicating that he wanted to stay. I frowned at him and brushed him off.
“Get out of here, Voxy. I’ll come find you after,” I muttered, not wanting him to push Damian past the point of no return. Vox met my gaze, and his lips set into a hard line. There was no mistaking the concern twisting in his silver eyes.
“I’ll be fine,” I said firmly. I could handle Damian Ryker, even when he was in a mood. Vox hovered for another beat before glancing back at Damian, who was staring at Vox like he was a cockroach he wanted to crush beneath his shoe.
It was a look he got that said:I’m your master, you bow to me.
He didn’t use it on me the same way he did on Vox. It was like he wanted to make Vox feel degraded. Maybe it was because Vox usually returned that look with the one he was wearing now.
Vox’s look said:Fuck around, and I’ll kill you. I don’t fucking care who you are.
