The Future Chosen [was Anti-Dynasty/Extraordinary]

Broken Chapter 14

Lourdes was often right, and that was the case again. Her comment about the city council in Andres's home district was fairly accurate. Ten seats, all occupied, everyone able to seek another term next year. The family decision to switch gears, push him toward the legislative instead, was sudden to some, threatening to at least three of those councilors. It ruffled feathers.

He pretended he didn't want to know all the details. The family was "negotiating" things, "unruffling" said feathers, and that was the politics that they didn't teach at 513. This was the older kind. When the Javenijks did this, it was best for him to stand back.

But he was watching them.

"Liberio?" Lourdes asked.

"Not them."

"Then who?"

It was a sunny day. He'd taken Lourdes out to have her afternoon snack on the viewing deck on the eighth floor. The building within the Callemara compound that she'd been staying in was not the closest to the water, but when at the viewing deck, it seemed close enough. It wasn't private, but the other patients and nurses weren't as fond of dining alfresco on a hot afternoon. Andres and Lourdes had the place to themselves, mostly.

He checked his surroundings before replying. "Jess Lan."

"No."

"I'm not joking."

"But...he's a great guy. He's a good guy."

There were good ones. Many of them were. Sadly, Andres and Lourdes didn't consider themselves part of that bunch, no matter what their own intentions were. They were poisoned fruit and they knew it.

"And that's a good family," Lourdes continued. She frowned at him. "What do you have on them?"

It wasn't just a frown, but a glare. It didn't merely hit him; it went right on up through his family tree. Good families...now that was a joke. All families were good to each other, especially their kind.

And you still couldn't legislate friendships and "meaningful collaborations." Last he checked. They couldn't make laws against every single instance of bad behavior.

"We might have the results of a paternity test," Andres said. It immediately made him feel dirty.

"No."

"I'm not saying we do. Just that we might."

"No."

"It's not confirmation of anything."

"That's foul. That's a...that's throwing a grenade at his campaign! Why does he have to be disqualified?"

But they knew why. Because he can win, even against me.

Lourdes continued, skipping over the obvious. "So what if he's not a Lan by blood? All the family needs is to continue to back him. Unless--"

And then she got it.

"Who's the father?"

Andres couldn't look at her just then. "I'm not saying I know the result, if we do have it."

"Oh god. Someone currently serving?"

He didn't say anything.

Lourdes would say all the words for him anyway. "That's disgusting. Not the infidelity and child-out-of-wedlock thing. I mean this."

She meant what his family was planning to do with this information. Threatening someone with lifelong automatic disqualification from public service.

"And you don't even have the actual results, do you?" she said. "You're just going to threaten them with it. They won't go public; they'll cave instead. Can't risk the scandal. They'll push another candidate instead. And let me guess, it won't be for city council?"

Andres shrugged. "Sounds like something my dad would come up with."

"He's the worst." She didn't like his parents either, so they were even. "I'm almost glad I'm not expected to marry into that."

"Your family's not the warmest bunch either, Lucky."

Then she laughed. "No they're not. But you win this round, for now. Hey--I met a nurse earlier. She told me that someone's been tampering with my meds and food, but the other nurses have been fixing it before it's served to me. Do you...know anything about this?"

It was too sudden, this shift, and it was as if he had been kicked. "What? No, I didn't—when?"

He didn't notice because he wasn't an actual nurse, despite reading and learning as much as he could in a few days. Wouldn't have been able to tell what wrong and right looked like. He picked up the food trays as scheduled and brought them to her. He could have been bringing her something meant to harm her?

"Since I arrived, probably. I think. Based on what she said."

"Who is she?"

"No idea. But she took a risk telling me, and I told her they could trust you. So who do you think wants me taken out so badly, Andres? I'm just a baby shark in this tank."

"That's why they want to do it now," he answered. "If they waited any longer you'd chomp their limbs off."