I find myself chuckling quietly to an empty room at the thought that maybe they had planted my mother with my father in the hopes that it would thin out the shadow creatures and instead, they had ended up with two more shadow manipulators in the world, both of us more powerful than our father, thanks to the extra abilities our mothers had given us.
Serves the sadistic assholes right.
I tuck the paperwork under my arm and stalk back out of my office without another word, ignoring Penelope when she tries to smile at me again. The fact that she has removed her work jacket and is wearing nothing but a lacy camisole underneath is all I need to see to know that she is going to be fired and I will have to find someone else to fill the role. Preferably someone male, competent, and uninterested in social climbing; so basically a fucking unicorn.
Rafe meets me at the elevator, once having been Transported in, and I enjoy the trip down to our car together catching up with him. He and his family had lived in our mansion for more than two decades, and I had watched his children grow up, move out to go to college, and travel the world. Neither he nor his wife are Gifted, but they are some of the most loyal and kind people I have ever met. When everything had happened with the Resistance, I knew there was no way I could leave them behind. Even if we weren't close, they would be targets for what they might have seen from being in our household for so long.
“Two new grandchildren, congratulations! You must be so eager to visit them.”
Rafe grins and shrugs. ”We're hoping that things will settle down soon and we can go see the twins, but we're not going to rush there and potentially put targets on our family.”
I frown and nod, stepping out of the elevator with him and walking over to the car together. “I’m sorry it's come to that, Rafe. I would never ask this of you, and it kills me that you have to stay with us and miss out on this moment.”
Rafe opens the back door for me and as I slide in, he smiles his same warm smile at me. “This is what family does. We don't just stick together when things are happy and fruitful. You have always taken care of us, and we will stick by you now for as long as we need to. My Maria and I are safe with you. And we're more than happy to video chat with the babies until it is safe.”
I nod, still not happy about it, and let him shut the door behind me, pulling my phone out again as it buzzes in my pocket. There's a stream of news articles and questions from reporters about today's summit waiting there for me, and I have to take a deep breath before I open any of it.
It's going to be a long day.
“We cannot ignore the significant threat that the Gifted have become to this country. For too long, we have stood by and allowed this portion of the population to govern itself, but time and time again, we have been shown that they are unable to live harmoniously as a community without being a threat to themselves and to others. We cannot allow this to continue. There needs to be heavier regulation, more policing of those people of interest who have abilities beyond the norm, and there needs to be a register of some kind to keep tabs, the same way that many other countries have implemented.”
Senator Oldham dips her head as if she is bowing to the table of non-Gifted community members and the crowd before turning her back on the Gifted representatives and stalking back over to take her seat.
It's very clear what her dismissal means, but I clap along with everybody else in the room as though she hasn't just dribbled a load of bullshit and prejudice for the last half an hour against my community in an obvious power play to win over her more trigger-happy constituents.
I have been in her presence a few times already, and every inch of my being loathes being close to this woman. Even my bond is repulsed by her and, naturally, she just keeps winning favor with those around her, putting her in my path more and more often.
Lucky fucking me.
I have already spoken here at the summit, discussing the ways in which we are trying to neutralize the Resistance and fight back against everything that they're doing, as well as pointing out how many non-Gifted charities we support. I also made a point to speak about our efforts to purchase at least fifty percent of all of the Sanctuary supplies, both for building it and for our resources that we consume each and every day, from non-Gifted businesses so as to spread the wealth around.
While that may have gotten us some brownie points with some of the people here today, especially those with businesses themselves who just see dollar signs above my head, Oldham had sat there with a sneer on her face.
She is the bane of my existence.
Enemy Number Two immediately after Silas fucking Davies, and he tops the list for daring to physically torture, as well as mentally torment, my Bonded.