The Six: Genesis | A Reverse Harem Novel

Twenty-Five

The smug look on Catrina's face left a worse taste in the back of my throat than her threat.

She's confident, standing in front of me with her arms crossed. With her chin tilted upward in pride and a glimmer in her eyes, she's ever more the conniving woman I was believing she was. Ryker and Gatlin are right.

She's not what I thought she was. She's not who I thought she was. How could I have been so blind before?

Was it her beauty? Her words? The undeniable desperateness clawing inside of me, begging for love from someone other than my father?

I hate it.

I hate her.

I hate this hold she's had over me, but no more. Her abandoned bags rest on the bed behind her, halfway filled to the brim. After this is over, she needs to keep packing, get out and never speak to me again.

"Don't threaten me."

"I didn't." She sighs, shaking her head. "I am encouraging you to make the right decision. I'm the best thing for you. Gatlin isn't, but Ryker doesn't see it. He's blinded by his exterior, and so are you."

"Like I was with you?" I ask, tilting my head to the side. She pauses, blinking widened eyes at as her mouth drops open. My reply wasn't what she was expecting or wanting. A hardness settles over her features and she balls her hands into fists.

"You know how much I love you, Blue." She says, but her words don't have the same effect. I'm not simpering for her attention or begging her to look at me like she used to. In fact, I want nothing more to do with her violent nature. "Chris Gatlin is a poison. I tried to tell you both in the beginning. The only thing he wants from you is between your legs."

"I could say the same about you."

"Excuse you?" She spits, taking a threatening step toward me. "What are you talking about? I've been at your side for years! I did what others couldn't have hoped to do and helped you through times when you were frightened, haunted by vicious nightmares and kept you out of trouble!"

"Yes, and at what cost?" I yell. "What did it cost to get your support? What did I have to give up? Practically everything! You isolated me and filled Ryker's head with so many what-ifs, I barely had any opportunity to see the outside world!"

"And what has the outside world done for you, Blue? Hmmm...?" She leans close, mouth firmly frowning. "What has it done for you? Every time you step out of my sight and leave your compound, somebody gets hurt! Think about Gatlin! He's paralyzed because of you!"

"He's not!" I deny it, curling into myself as the confidence I had wilts like a flower in the dark. "He's not paralyzed because of me! We were attacked, and it wasn't my fault."

"Wasn't it though?"

Despite knowing I couldn't control what Darcy's company did, it still eats at me. What would have happened if we'd never gone? If Gatlin and I decided it was best for me to remain at the other compound?

Would he have the ability to walk? Would he be himself or would something else have come along and robbed us of our happy bubble? Oh fuck, was I kidding myself hoping he didn't blame me later down the line?

"No, it wasn't!"

I'm sure of my answer, right? This is the reality. We'd gone to solve a problem made larger by a mess of a corporation. And while they'll pay the price, be stripped of their contracts, contacts, and lose access to tech worth billions, Darcy was nowhere to be found.

Sadly, I think she was caught and killed in the destruction. I'm sure Ryker thinks otherwise and is doing all he can to hunt her down. If she's living, he'll bring her back.