Free True Born by L.E. Sterling Page B

they’ll come after us?”
    Storm cocks an eyebrow at Torch. For the first time I notice the small box he carries in his hands, like a miniature banker’s box. He sends me a lopsided grin and shrugs.
    “Recording devices and security are kind of my thing,” he tells me with sheepish pride, picking up what looks like a mini disc.
    “For crying out loud, Malcolm, don’t burn it.” Mohawk slaps his hand so the disc falls back into the box. “We need that.” His fingers smoke and leave tarry blue afterburns on the disc.
    “It’s Torch .” He glares at Mohawk, who flips him a dimpled smile.
    “ Whatever, Einstein. ”
    As the elevator beeps I catch her glancing at me, undisguised curiosity stamped on her exotic features. Her sharp eyes linger on Jared’s firm grip on my arm, his body closer than it needs to be. Jared ignores her. I decide to do the same, repressing the blush creeping its way onto my face.
    We’re alive. Right this minute, that’s all I can handle.
    ...
    It seems like days later, rather than hours, that Margot is finally settled and Storm calls me into his office. I haven’t slept, and at the moment I wonder if I ever will again. Every few seconds terrible scenes flash behind my eyes, each more incredible than the last. I sleepwalk over to the couch and stumble to a sitting position to stare at walls a color our mother would describe as “ buff. ” My face is numb, covered in grit. I rub at it, hoping to stir myself enough to get what I need. Answers.
    “It will get easier,” a gentle voice tells me. “You need some sleep.” Cracking open my eyes I see a pair of ultra-expensive brown leather men’s dress shoes poking out from under black tailored slacks. I crane my head up to see Storm peering down at me. Around his head floats a ball of energy, crackling lines of lightning that dart out from his brain. I blink. The faint luminescent glow fades. Storm frowns and sits across from me.
    “You must have a lot of questions,” he says.
    “Do you know where my parents are? Have you called them?”
    I don ’t like the way he studies me. “Do you want me to?”
    “ I don ’t think… Margot…” I bite my lip.
    He nods like he understands. Maybe he does. “They’re in Europe. An emergency business trip,” he lies smoothly.
    We both know the real story goes so much deeper. “This is the first time they’ve both gone away without telling us,” I reply like a true politician’s daughter. And hanging in the air between us is the unspoken question of a business partner, someone from Russia that we’re supposed to be impressing. Look how impressive we’re being now , I think with bitterness. If word of this gets out, it could put whatever plan our father is cooking up in jeopardy. And then he will kill us.
    I start a silent staring contest with Storm, but I’ll lose every time. The merciless winter of his eyes is terrifying. But then a small smile breaks across his handsome face. “You’re a very smart young woman, Lucy. I think if your parents knew how brave you’ve been, how you protected your sister, they would be very proud.”
    My fingers clench into bloodless balls in my lap. “I think we both know better, Mr. Storm,” I tell him frankly. I obey the rules. That’s what I do. And in this case I messed up. “And I didn’t exactly save my sister, did I?”
    “Nolan. Call me Nolan,” he says. He places one big hand over my hands. His flesh crackles with a kind of heat I don’t understand. “Or Storm if you prefer. She’ s alive, ” he tells me in a grim voice. “She’ll survive.”
    But I wonder, how much did they steal from her? And fresh on the heels of that tumbles another, more troubling thought: what is the price of living?
    ...
    Once we arrived at Storm’s we were taken straight to a guest room, where they parked Margot in a queen bed. It looked huge in the little room with its floor-to-ceiling windows across one wall. The walls were cheerful pale yellow and