Lured (Team Zero #1) by Rina Kent

My adventure is over. Finished.

Done.





Chapter Twenty-Five





I stand in the cabin at the top with my partners on each side of me. The glass allows us a view of what’s below, but they can’t see us. They just know we’re here.

God abandoned them, but we’re their new Gods.

Snotty children are lined up as Nero and his guards kick them to move. Some cry. Some just stifle the slaps and move along.

The ones who endure interest me the most. Something tells me they will be the ones to survive, too.

“Team Zero,” I say, without turning around to my partners. There are ten here. The other shareholders usually watch from the shadows.

“Team Zero?” Dr Sloane echoes. She’ll be part of the team that will supervise Omega’s trial. Dominic says it’s not stable and he’s been sleepless trying to improve it, but his opinion doesn’t matter. When I say it’s time to test, it will be time to test it.

“That’s their name.” I smile as I turn around and face my partners. Men and women. English, American, Russian, Italians, and Middle Eastern. I have them all in my partners. I’m all for diversity as long as they have the money I need to build this army.

After all, my assassins will kill their political opponents or anyone they want to be eliminated.

I motion for Dominic who has been standing in the corner with solemn features. He’s been having that bitch face since he sent the French doll back to her country a month or so ago. But he knows better than to defy me. I can always find her and kill her. No one hides from me on the face of this earth.

“Dr Johnson is the godfather of Omega,” I continue. “He will start the testing in the next few days.”

Johnson doesn’t say a thing.

I smile at my eager partners. “This a historical moment, ladies and gentlemen. Your army is being built.”

“Now.” I look at the children and spot the courageous ones. “Let’s name them. Crow, Ghost, Shadow, Mist, Hawk, Scar, Flame…”

My Team Zero.





Chapter Twenty-Six





Five months later,

The thing about moving on? C’est de la merde.

I barely said goodbye to Samir and Nancy that day. I went back to France, crying, and devastated and with Dominic’s scent all over me. Like a lovesick idiot. Like a teen rebel crawling back to her parents.

Maman hugged me and I cried in her chest for what felt like a day. I apologised over and over for worrying her and acting like a know-it-all.

Papa was different. I had to grovel for days on end until he finally hugged me.

I cried harder in his embrace, not because it took him long to forgive me, but because he warned me. He said it in big capital letters ‘You’re a smart girl, Camille, but you like edges and sharp edges cut deep.’

I needed to be cut open to go back to his words.

Sometimes, my stupid heart refuses to remember that day when Dominic kicked me out. I just recall how he brought out my wild, dark side. How I slept cocooned in his arms. How we strolled London’s streets like the happiest couple.

Everything that happened in those months felt like a dream. Or a nightmare. Depending on which way to look at it.

I went back to college. It’s a bit of a challenge, but I can manage. It might be naive, but I know I can make a difference. One day, I will get my degree and become the voice of the unheard.

With a heave, I reach the top of the hill overlooking Marseille’s bright sea. The view of the rocky shore and sparkling water are to die for. It’s usually freezing in January, but today, the winter sun is so shiny and warm. I couldn’t resist coming here to do my homework.

I sit at my favourite rock at the top of the hill. This has always been my go-to place for reading. I’m alone and peaceful. Only the sound of waves accompanies me.

I’m such a nerd.

My heart twists remembering how Dominic told me that while offering me that charming grin that I still dream about.

I place a hand over my sweater on my engorged belly. Turns out, Dominic really knocked me up. This baby is probably the only reason why I’m not depressed. It’s giving me a reason to work hard for the future.

My belly is showing more now. Town folk and my colleagues are starting to give me the looks.

Screw their judgy eyes. I’m almost twenty-one and old enough to make my own decisions.

My own parents are so cool about my pregnancy. Maman even cried in joy when I told her the news. She keeps stuffing the house with baby clothes. Papa sat me down and talked to me one on one. He always did that.

He told me he’d support me in any decision I make. Then, he offered to fly to England and bring me the father on his knees. I refused.

I don’t want Dominic to know. I have no doubt that he’d take responsibility, especially considering that he had no parents. But I won’t tie him down after he bluntly kicked me out. I’m not having this baby to score him or anyone else. I’m having this baby because I fell in love at first sight when I saw that image – that looked like a tiny alien on the monitor – and heard that maddening heartbeat.

Dominic has nothing to do with my decision. I miss him — to freaking death. He ruined me to the point I have no emotional room to let any other man in, but he’s also the one who pushed me away.

I feel bad for hiding his child from him, but screw him. He took something more precious from me. He took my body, my heart, and my soul and then left me as an emotional wreck.