That makes me bristle. “No! I mean—God, Frankie. No. I just need the job. I barely exist to him. I wish I could just blend into the wall and collect my paycheck.”
Frankie laughs, softer now. “Sure, Zee. Whatever you say. Just don’t let him drive you nuts. You’re better than that.”
Before I can answer, another text lights up my screen—a reminder from Jake, my other boss.Hey Zee, got a last-minute request. Can you record a ten-minute session for me? Clients love the new stories. Need it before Monday if possible!
I type back a quick response, keeping my voice neutral for Frankie’s sake. “I’ll be in this weekend. No problem.”
Frankie is watching me. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. I’m just… tired. It’s a lot. I’ll figure it out.”
She blows me a kiss through the screen. “You always do.”
I hang up, suddenly more alone than before, wishing I could believe her.
7
ALEKSEI
“What am I looking at?”Yuri asks, squinting at the waveform on his oversized monitor, fingers hovering over the keyboard.
“I told you,” I say, unable to keep the impatience from my voice. “I need to find more of that voice.”
He swivels, raising an eyebrow. “Where is this from, anyway?”
I don’t answer. Just hold his gaze, cold and flat, until he looks away.
Yuri clears his throat, nervous now. “Never mind. I don’t need to know all the details.”
I slam my palm on the edge of his desk. “Find the source, Yuri. Tracks, recordings, anything that exists on the internet.”
Yuri gulps, then nods, hands already flying over the keys. “Right, right. Okay. It’s, uh, usually called audio fingerprinting. I’ll extract the voice signature, cross-check against public and—well, less public—databases. Sometimes metadata in the file can point to a studio, user account, even IP history…”
He’s muttering half to himself as windows and code scroll by in dizzying columns. He keeps at it, but I’m already restless, pacing behind him, my skin prickling with urgency.
I can hear her in my mind—Zatanna, though he doesn’t know her name. That voice, dark and soft, wrapping around every frayed nerve. I need more. Ihaveto hear more. It’s not enough, not nearly enough, to just remember.
Yuri glances back, unease in his eyes, but I don’t say a word. I don’t need to explain myself. I’m the boss. He knows better than to ask again.
My obsession is an ache now, humming in my blood. It’s not just curiosity anymore. It’s hunger. I want to unravel every secret she’s ever whispered into a microphone. I want to know if that voice is only for strangers, or if she’d ever use it for me.
Yuri mutters to himself, code and waveforms reflecting in his glasses. “Why does this sound so familiar…?”
“Focus,” I snap, my voice enough to shut him up.
Yuri pauses, a frown creasing his brow. He clicks, then listens. The speakers fill with the sound of her again—her, Zatanna, though he doesn’t know her name. That velvet-dark, achingly honest voice.
My voice.Mine.
The memory of her voice threads through my thoughts, wrapping tighter every time I try to push it away. I want to hear her say something else—anything else. I want to know if she ever loses control, if she ever sounds the way she did in that recording, or if I could make her sound that way in person.
I shouldn’t want this. It’s dangerous. Stupid. She’s my employee, not a toy, not a fantasy. And yet, my thoughts circle her like a wolf scenting blood. I want her voice. I want her secrets. I want to possess the pieces of her no one else knows exist.
Yuri keeps muttering, a nervous tic. He’s piecing together bits of metadata, cross-referencing usernames and audio tags, scraping the deep corners of the web for any trace of her. He doesn’t dare look back at me now.
I know I’m pushing the edge, maybe even breaking it. But I don’t care.
All I want is more. More of her voice. More of her.
