KasperXIII
Sworn To A Great Divide
-(Thalia Griffin/Angela Parker/Kenzie Andrews/Jeffrey Henrikson)-
It didn't take a genius to know Thalia's line of questions was not what this bald man was expecting or wanted to deal with, evident when she faced a slap to the face the second she finished talking. Nothing that hurt, but did knock her back slightly. Still, she was disobedient in that moment, perhaps by nature, and this wasn't her first slap; no, it was one of several that her rebellious, stubborn actions called for. He even gave her specific, clear instructions about his terms with the deal, and she marched to his face and deliberately broke her end while he seemed to be consumed in thought. About her trade? About the future? About the money? It wasn't something she could accurately guess, seeing his response wasn't very telling about his own thoughts. But what she could guess is that he was merely muscle in her situation. Just a powerful man who would kill for his partner - Angela - and help her achieve whatever greatness she was after. And the money, because it always falls back to financial prosperity. After all, that's all Thalia was to Lociato: a product in a line of many others, one that people never seemed to get sick of. But in general, Angelo seemed to want precious little to do with a slave like herself. He only wanted the price on her head, understandably. But soon enough they'd go their separate ways, and he granted her with answers as a sign of goodwill. And after hearing these things, Thalia wouldn't consider running away...
So it was Kenzie Brookes that wants her back. She kept her promise to protect Thalia and even came for her in the end. Maybe not in the most civil of ways, but she was willing to pay for her freedom. A college friend now paying for her freedom like this? It seemed like something much deeper than just a friendship, as she'd discover soon enough. Angelo had no knowledge of her family nor the exact price of her head, but those didn't matter. One critical question did get an answer, and in return, a more doubtful vibe had come over her: that things might get hostile. Complications might happen. And there was no such thing as reassurance that anyone in particular will surely live or die. Anything could happen. Hell, they might just kill her when they have their money. If that were the case, she was prepared to go down swinging. But obviously, she won't fight them now; too risky, and she'd earned her knowledge so far through her compliance and peaceful nature. So why throw it away now? Angela even specified that the slave was only needed alive. That could be in good health or in a coma. So best she doesn't push her luck any more than she already has. Said obedience persisted when Angelo stepped aside to take a phone call. The redhead didn't care who it was, whether it had to do with Kenzie or not, and instead, she stepped aside, wandering around the office passed the cubicles and the dull painted walls. So bland... but she did get a chance to see sunlight and just watch the world pass her by on more peaceful terms. She was in cuffs, sure, but it still counted for something. Soon enough, she'd be a free woman.
Perhaps Thalia's experience would soon become more pleasant. From behind, she heard a familiar shrill female voice. "Slave."
Instantly, the girl in cuffs spun around, as if it were instinctive to respond to that word. Behind her was Angela, who she simply looked at, no response to confirm she was listening. Her physical gesture was enough.
"No. Turn around," Angela ordered, twirling her finger in a circular gesture.
Confused at first, but again, Thalia followed her orders to the syllable and turned her back to Angela. Was this more of a punishment? Didn't she already receive her due punishment for making an advancement on her partner? She shut her eyes and waited for the incoming slap to the neck... but instead, she felt the cuffs being released from her wrists? Her eyes cracked open and her head slowly turned over her shoulder. "What is this? What do you want?" She whimpered, a bit worried about what this could mean. Was it over? Was Kenzie not coming for her?
"For you to be... more comfortable," Angela uttered. It gave her a horrible gut feeling to have to say those words. Giving Thalia comfort? She was a headache alone as is, and now her safety was a major concern? She was surprised in all honesty that this sudden feeling of sympathy had come over her. Then again, it wouldn't be long until Thalia is out of their hair for good. She gripped Thalia's forearm and spun her around, muttering, "Turn around." Once the two women were facing each other, she took Thalia's right wrist and bound it with the same handcuffs, but in front of her. She did the same with the left one. Not much of a difference, but it was a sign of good faith.
"Like that made it all better."
Groaning, Angela responded, "Don't push it. We're making contact with your buyer. And so you don't complain about being tired or hungry for the duration of our time together...." Now a safe distance from Thalia, she reached for her suit pocket and removed a bill in Mexican pesos. Decent enough with very few wrinkles, enough for a vending machine to accept, anyway. She extended the currency to the slave's hands and slipped it into her cuffed hands. "I figured it'd be easier to use a vending machine with your hands in front of you." She jolted her head to her right, cuing Thalia to look behind her to her left at the food dispensing device. "Go. Get something to eat. It's not a trap and there's no catch, so long as you stay quiet and don't do anything stupid while we negotiate terms for your head."
A kind gesture? Even Thalia was at a lost for words now, taking the bill in her fingertips. It'd been so long since she'd held money herself, at least like this. It was beyond the scope of her memories. "Um... Thanks?" How else would she answer. She was grateful for the motion. Maybe for once, she could eat something more tasteful than the food she'd been force-fed in the ring. She only had to get to the point of force-feeding due to her own hunger strikes in rebellion against the system. With the amount of times Thalia had landed herself in trouble, so many were surprised why she wasn't dead. Why she was preserved to the degree that she was with nothing more than a burn on her arm and weary, sleep-deprived eyes. A mystery to many up until now: she had use beyond Lociato. With this portion of money, it would be enough to get her something from the designated vending machine, so she helped herself to it, turning her back on Angela and just staring down the glass.
In the ex-Fed's mind, that should be enough to silence their pawn for the time being up until the trade, then they'd be done with her. Their future would be ensured, and she and Angelo could live up to their dreams and fantasies of being together. At long last. It all seemed so realistic. A life beyond Lociato and their old selves within reach. And all it took was getting rid of some pathetic redhead with no memories of her past and giving her back to some sorry doctor from Seattle who probably has a criminal record given the events that have unfolded over the past day. So why not let the two college lovers reunite, induct Kain into the organization that turned his life into a downward spiral, all so she could live her own happily ever after? After all, what did Kain still have? Dave was dead. Given her own analysis, Angela could guess that Kenzie would picked Thalia over him in a heartbeat. And he had no hope of a job anywhere in the world with his record. At this point, since he couldn't beat them, why not join them?
Once she returned to the desk, things were all set. She reached for a certain tool from the desk: a headset that fit one ear muff into one ear that looped around the back of her head with a microphone attached to the muffed end. She fixed it snugly over her her head and stared in front of her at the lines of code and command prompt listings. This was it. she was ready to move forward, and all she needed was Angelo by her side. A quick peek to Thalia revealed her struggling to get the machine to accept the bill she'd been given. Stubborn machines, and Angela wasn't to blame for that. She could've sworn she'd heard the redhead grumble curses under her breath as she saw her bald lover return to her side with news from the boss. She nodded in acceptance.
"Perfect... Demetri may not be satisfied at the moment with your choice of candidate, but he will in time. Kain's wild, unstable, but he can be tamed under the right circumstances. I'm sure you can persuade him to accept our guy as a replacement eventually. But we can focus on that later. We need Kain to agree first before he can sell his soul. But for now, our line to Kenzie is ready. All I need is a single click of a button, and we're ready to go..."
For once, after a grueling night of an epic failure from the Lociato industry, Angela had succeeded in her contingency. It all seemed so real. Unbelievable. But it was happening, all starting with her clicking the enter button and awaiting her half-sister's response.
...
Never before did Kenzie expect such a change of heart from Henrikson. From being an obsessive show-off who used his cocky words and threats to show his superiority, to a man who would eventually use those same words to set her and Luca free at long last? It still pestered her that he was deliberately excluding Kain from the deal, but surely, she could convince him otherwise. But what mattered most? He was on their side and would now cooperate. His stories couldn't be more believable in her eyes. Their theory about Thalia, the desire to do the right thing after all this time? It was something that directly connected to the doctor and only made her want to preserve Jeff in the end of all of this. At first, she intended to simply leave him behind and leave his life in the hands of fate, or if he could get his hand on a phone. But with the blood loss and weakness he'd begun to display, that seemed highly unlikely. So now, she made sure that she could restrict the bleeding as best as possible. No way in hell could she stitch his hand back as is, but she could sure as hell prevent an infection or complication in his condition. That was her job, after all: to help people, even the most sinister like the federal agent-gone-rogue by her side. She didn't remain distracted forever. And there was still plenty to discuss in terms of the pardon.
But what shocked Kenzie more than anything else: Luca refused to accept it. It instantly caught her ears and caused her deep brown eyes to turn to the Italian and ask the question that anyone would ask after hearing someone deprive himself of unconditional freedom: "You're not serious, Luca. This is your freedom you're talking about here, your chance to start over and put your past behind you..." His reasoning to decline was well in place, but she couldn't help but find it a tad too paranoid to be realistic. In his position, she couldn't blame him, either, but what man turns down a chance to put his criminal past to bed once and for all? Maybe it had to do with Kain's exclusion from the deal. "We can work something out for Kain, even if he doesn't want to help, if that's what you're so worried about. I still have my swing in the government, and I can get him some of the lawyers on speed dial right now if we so wanted to. This deal for us sets your future in stone. I'm sure you don't want to live in constant pursuit and fear of looking over your shoulder... do you think that's the life Sarah would want?"
Then again, saying that no girl would want a criminal for a lover would make her a hypocrite. She couldn't forget how she was in love with a prominent member of a criminal organization in Boston. And perhaps by now, Luca has picked up that Thalia was no saint. "Thalia turned her back on her criminal past so we could live in peace.... but she did it too late for it to matter," she admitted, in an attempt to convince her friend to take the deal. He compared her and Kain to family, and that appreciation hit right at home in her heart, and she was prepare to play on that and appeal to its weight to sway his decision. "Back when she was with those criminals she was with, The Clan? She'd come back every day severely injured, and I was treating her. And I kept asking, where did these wounds come from? She come up with excuses - climbing accident, tripped on the stairs... until I found out the truth: turned out she was robbing people with her buddies, and I only found out when she begged me to pay her bail when she got caught. From that moment on... we became distant, that is until she took the decision to leave it behind. It wasn't easy, though..." she gulped for a moment before continuing, formulating her words properly to explain the whole story. "She took a bullet for it. Almost died to it, too. All so that she could put me at ease that I wouldn't lose her. This was before we were even dating. Because she knew that being affiliated to something wicked your entire life isn't what your significant other would want from you. But it didn't end there." She felt a lump in her throat admitting all of this so desperately, but had the strength to carry on. "Three years after quitting, the FBI caught on to her, linked her to one of their more significant crimes - borderline terrorism or something - and arrested her on campus just a week before graduation. But because she cared about us too much than to let her past linger around, she struck a deal just like our own. Immunity for everything she knows about The Clan... and you know what she told me?"
It didn't take a genius to guess, but Kenzie said it anyway, "She told me that it was going to set us free, and no matter the backlash, she'd do it so we can be together happily and not let whatever was haunting us before interfere with our futures. Because she'd never put me in a position where I'd have to be worried about her going to prison. A position where she'd ever have to be found guilty of some crime. Or on the run from police. She couldn't do that to me, so she took the deal... You know what happens next? A week later, her parents get killed... the day after, she runs away. For so long, I thought it was remaining members of The Clan avenging her for testifying. That theory may be wrong now, but the meaning to her actions? It meant the world to me. I would never ask her to pick between me and her family; how could she expect that they'd come after her? Some things, we can't predict, Luca. And whether or not you get pardoned, you're still going to Mexico, whether Lociato likes it or not, whether you're an FBI target or not, and be it alone or with an army. It's going to happen, and you might as well go with a backup plan for when this is over: so you can come home, with Sarah in your arms, and live a normal life for once."
She'd rambled quite a bit, but maybe he'd lost the point. To sum it all up, she let go of Jeff's arm for the moment and looked Luca dead in the eye before telling him exactly what she had in mind: "If you think for one second, me and Kain won't be worried about you if you end up on the run, think again. I'm taking my deal, and I'm going to fight so Kain can be free as well. Just like I'd do for you. You have it easier. You can bury Sesler for good and never have that shadow haunt you again. I don't know Sarah, but I don't think she'd like that dark cloud over your heads. Thalia had it over hers for her four years in college: the cloud from The Clan, and from Lociato. She didn't get an escape until it was too late. Luca, this might be your only chance to ensure a normal life when this is over. I can't advise you any more than this to come with us and sign the deal. Please. I promise you, it'll all work out, and if it's not, you just have to get in contact with me, or Kain, and we'll help. Because... you said we're the closest you've had to family?" A thought that made Kenzie's, and even Jeff's, heart skip a beat. They'd become close after all this time, that close? It meant a lot that Luca even expressed himself in such a way, after giving the vibe of being such a stone-featured character for so long... he had a heart all along. "You can be free with your family, with your wife. Don't make me beg you to do this. Please."
It's not like his word would mean anything, but the barely-hanging-on director did lift his eyes to the man before them and speak his mind. "I'm not saying this because it's my job, Varundar. I say this because you'd be an idiot not to take this offer. I will even provide my statement without duress clearly specifying that you're pardoned of any offenses on your record, and I'll even make sure that there's no evidence pinning you to Sesler. The world can still think it's Aaron Stilinski, after all. All I need is your signature at the Governor's office... and boom. You're free to do whatever you and your wife please."
If only the conversation could progress further than it had already. But the vibration of Kenzie's phone cut the conversation short. She didn't think too much of it from the get-go, assuming it might be Kain, or someone asking about her in regards to the hospital incident. Because in all fairness, with Herman dead, they'd want to contact his closest of family and friends, and Kenzie was among them. To her disappointment, and even fear, it was a blocked ID. It couldn't be her father or Dave, with both of them dead.... that left two options: either Kain not wanting to come back inside and face them... or Nathan Wells trying to contact her again. He'd gone completely radio silent after Jose dropped her and Aaron off in the street. Did he already flee the country? Or did he have something else in mind, starting with yet another ominous phone call? Her heart sank just imagining who it was on the other side of this phone call.
"Kenzie...." Jeff noticed her concerned face, and tried to mutter something through his pain, feeling the weakness start to make him zone out. "Who is that?"
The brunette didn't answer the older man by her side... Instead, all she did was accept the call, ready to face the fear that this could potentially be Nathan coming back for her. She placed it against her ear, her expression a mixture of anger and woe as her voice sternly asked, "What do you want?"
That could've been Governor Hale for all she'd know... but she still answered in such a bitter manner with no sort of respect in her voice at all. Fortunately, it was nobody important. Well, not in the way she'd expect. A different voice answered, one she didn't recognize. Angela's. She'd finally made contact with her target, a smile coming across her face, nodding to Angelo in satisfaction. First part of their mission accomplished. Now for the next phase: reeling the doctor in. “Hello, Kenzie.”
Instantly addressing her by her name, and a voice she’d never heard before? It caused an eyebrow to arch on the woman, but it was certainly better than hearing Nathan Wells goad her on the phone again. Considering she’d need the counsel of either Kain or Luca for future conversations, she dropped the device from her ear and played it on speakerphone. She didn't care much for Henrikson in the room. He looked too weak to focus at this rate. “Who am I speaking with?”
“My name is not important. What I can tell you is that we have… a lot to discuss.”
“Explain. Because I’ve never met you. What business could we have? And how did you get a hold of this line?” Calling out the anomalies in this form of contact. This woman was clearly tech-savvy, possibly a hacker or backed by one. There’s no way a civilian or an innocent life had access to find her. Not to mention they were looking for Kenzie in particular. The red flags being raise were great in numbers.
Worse... Jeff was awake enough to recognize the voice. Angela. While he did keep an eye on the woman by his side, he remained silent.
Angela underestimated Kenzie. She knew more about her father’s police technology than she’d anticipated, but her questions would go upon deaf ears. “I think you need to stop asking me questions and let me do the talking. Let me start by giving my condolences for your son… it’s a shame that he’ll never be brought into your life. Not like his conception was… proper, in any way, shape, or form.” Angela’s background check into Kenzie’s past brought up the paternity test she’d done on her child. The only reason she’d do that? If the child wasn’t hers. She smirked in the cockiest of manners and continued speaking, “You know, does it even matter if the child was Dave’s or Phil’s? You weren’t going to tell them either way. What supposedly faithful wife does that anyway? Just… plays her husband for her foster brother.”
“Shut up,” she snarled. The personal attacks threw all sorts of hints in her direction as to who this mystery woman was. It had to be someone close, and someone connected. Herman would’ve never given away her test results like that. But Aaron Stilinski did get a hold of them and could’ve sold them to the highest bidder. Or multiple times, but it was too late to ask him now. “Did you just call me to insult my love life?”
“Oh no,” Angela made a ‘tsk’ noise over the line, gently biting at the nail of her left pinky finger, overly confident in her dominance over her half-sister. A strong woman with a plan, indeed she was. “On the contrary, I’d like to give your love life another chance.”
“Why should I believe you, a woman I barely just met?” she scoffed. “And how would you know a damn thing about who I care about?”
“I’ll give you a hint: Thalia Griffin.”
Instantly, Kenzie’s heart sank, and her pupils shot forward with a slight drop of her jaw. That name, the one that was supposedly erased from public record. And she knew who it was. Though she knew of her beloved’s fate not being death, she played dumb. “Thalia’s dead. What are you talking about?”
“Oh, no, ‘Kenz’… you don’t mind me call you that, right?”
“Stop changing the subject. Where did you heard that name?”
“She was a registered student at Yale after all, and she was paying half your rent through a good part of your time, right?”
Silence came from Kenzie’s end. That alone was all it took?
“She’s quite a keeper, Kenzie. It’s been less than an hour, and I already see what you saw in her.” As she spoke, her eyes lingered to Thalia in the corner of the room by the vending machine. She'd pulled out a packaged chocolate bar from the machine and was eating it as if she'd never seen food before. Well, not food this tasteful at least. So this is what Kenzie fell in love with. Well, probably less 'primitive'.
Her language sounded very provocative, almost as if, if she weren’t bluffing and Thalia was with her, she’d do harm. And Kenzie would never stand for that. “I swear, if you’re lying to me, if you touch a hair on her head…”
“Trust me, I have no reason to scratch a pretty face. BUT, don’t expect that I’ll just give her back to you.”
“Excuse me?” she gulped, starting to feel a cold sensation at her neck and the feeling of her heart taking a freefall down her body.
Angela’s technique of manipulating the topic of the conversation truly came to her advantage, and she planned to continue: “Ahhh, Kenzie, I feel like the last name ‘Brookes’ never fit you well enough. Just look at your father. You look nothing alike.”
Mention of Edward was only getting under her skin further, her eyes looking back to the bathroom door where her father’s body lay, as she firmly instructed, “Don’t talk about my father. He was a good man, and don’t try to defame his legacy.”
“Legacy? Kenzie, he was a co-conspirator in a human trafficking ring in Seattle and beyond. And you call him a hero? Pssh. Not a chance.”
The director with a missing hand knew that Angela was talking from her ass. Because she was no better. Little did Kenzie did know about this. “He didn’t want to do what he did. He did those things to protect me.”
“Well… clearly you think more like him than I thought, or at least you want to make yourself believe you do. But deep down, you would’ve never accepted to serve a man like Demetri Lociato. That sort of attitude of doing the 'right thing'... It sounds... familiar. I think that the last name ‘Sinclair’ would’ve suited you better. You have the looks, and you think a lot like Maria, too.”
Nobody had used that last name around her in a long, long time. As her grip intensified on the mobile phone, her eyes widened further as she glanced down at the device. “H-How do you know – ”
“…Your mother’s maiden name? Because you and I are much closer than you think, Kenzie. I told you that you don’t resemble your father in the slightest, right?”
“That doesn’t dissociate myself from him. It doesn't mean I'm not his daughter.”
“Well, I do look like your father… and not only that, but we think alike. Not like you.”
A strange itch of curiosity and fear traversed Kenzie’s body from the questions surrounding her words. She looks like him whereas Kenzie doesn’t; she knew her mother’s maiden name, her affair with Dave, and odds are, she knew so much more. “Where are you getting with all of this?”
“You’re smart, Kenzie. Use that free-ride-to-Yale brain of yours to take a guess… but I’ll throw you a hint. Does the name Stephanie Parker ring a bell to you?”
She shook her head, despite how it wouldn’t be visible for Angela. “No, not really…”
“Well, she was with your father for the first year of his service in the US military, and let’s just say… they were close. Withdrew a month later.”
“So? I don’t think my father knew my mom yet at the time, so you can't call him out for cheating on her.”
Angela sighed. Was revealing her name a good idea? Kenzie hadn’t put two and two together yet. No more stalling. “Keep thinking. Again, try to draw a conclusion.”
But it wouldn’t be Kenzie piecing the story together. Of all people… it was Jeff, who recognized the voice the second it came from her mobile. He couldn’t even believe it as it kept threatening the woman by his side. He shook his head in slight strokes in hope of getting someone’s attention. When that failed, he spoke out in whispers in his weakened state so Angela wouldn’t hear him from her end of the call. Not like he could do much more with his arm in a tourniquet and his pulse growing weaker. “Kenzie… that’s my agent that was working for Lociato.” He paused as his eyelids felt like they were on the brink of falling over his face. “Her name is Angela Parker… and Stephanie Parker is her mother. But her father is unknown… At least, not until now.” It seemed as if the crooked direction had already picked up on the pattern, keeping his head afloat for as much as possible. Kenzie, in a bit of starstruck shock, turned to him, trying to process this whole situation before her. “But Eddy? Her father? Huh… it makes sense. They look a lot alike. She looks more like her father than you do, I must say.”
That’s why Angela mentioned the last name Sinclair and associated it with Kenzie. The resemblance to her late mother more than her father. The woman on the call was the exact opposite: less of a Parker, more of a Brookes. It all made sense now, her once centered gaze now dropping to her lap. She had a sister? One that also worked for Lociato? Quite a shocker; it was literally only Kenzie who didn’t succumb to what could now be called a family business. And it all made sense. As much as she refused to believe this twist of events, it was all too convincing. Scarily convincing. She inhaled deeply and brought herself back to reality, now focused on the ball once again. She needed to show that she understood, her other hand running over her forehead and through her hair, her eyes closing in an attempt to try to relax herself. Shocked she was, indeed.
“Oh, my god…”
“Not exactly the way to greet your sister, hm?”
Her eyes shot open again, still looking to the ceiling. “You’re holding Thalia like a hostage. What kind of sister does that make you?”
“One who wants what she deserves. I know for a fact Lociato paid Dad, which I hope you don’t mind me calling him, a large sum of money to keep his mouth shut and not pull a stunt like he did last night. And I want that money. The money that you are supposed to inherit.”
“So this is about money.”
“For me. For you, isn’t it about love?”
Kenzie sighed and looked to the ceiling, resting her hand holding the phone in her lap. “You may know about me on paper, but you don’t get to talk about my personal life off the bullshit on a meaningless paper. So shut up before I hang up the phone.”
“Oh, but I do. Especially because I’m looking at the woman who could’ve been your wife right now, and I must say… she’s alright at the moment. And the more you pay me from the inheritance, the better condition I’ll return her to you. Of course, hanging up means I'll have to kill her.”
“Now you’re threatening to cut her to pieces if I don’t hand over every penny my father has.”
“That’s the ticket, Sis.”
Kenzie might’ve been a stranger to dangerous situations, but she wasn’t naïve. “I want to speak to Thalia. Prove that you have her, or I swear, I’ll hang up and you’ll get nothing.”
This woman proved to be no pushover, and Angela was ready to live up to her demands. She wanted proof of Thalia's life before proceeding with any sort of exchange. A good sign, but still, she expected her half sister to be an easier catch. A rather quiet groan came from her as she peeked over to the slave, who was just finishing her chocolate bar and throwing the wrapper away in a trash bin. Thalia hardly paid attention to herself as she quietly minded her own business, but then she heard the calling of a master, "Slave, here, now."
What had she done wrong? She didn't know at this point. Instead, she looked both ways across the office at the skeleton crew around her and approached Angelo and Angela at the desk. "What?" she asked, evident fear in her voice. Was she going to be beaten again? "I did what you asked. Stayed quiet, not interfered in business that's not mine. What do you still want?"
Now that Thalia was in reach, Angela reached from behind her head and removed the simple headset from around her head and held it in the redhead's direction. How long had it been since she'd had contact with technology? Did she know how to use that thing? "It's Kenzie Brookes. She wants proof that you're alive."
Just the name of the caller alone caused Thalia to instantly swipe the headset from Angela's fingertips and scramble to put it over her head. Eventually, she managed to fix it properly with one ear covered and the mic in front of her mouth. A strange feeling to someone who'd been distant from technology for so long. And surely, her fumbles were heard as cracking sounds to Kenzie, Luca, and Jeff on the other side. But eventually, it became a voice. Thalia's. "Kenzie?"
That voice of a damaged girl that Kenzie had heard six months ago... now blessing her ears once again, and even creating a semi-smile on her face. Six months ago, she was only assuming this was her Thalia by the circumstances, with a great possibility of a match. Now she knew for sure that it was. She couldn't say all of the feelings going through her mind and heart at the moment, because she knew that the amnesiac on the other side of the line wouldn't understand anything. But her reply did confirm for Luca that this young woman's voice was her once-girlfriend's voice. "Thalia.... are you okay?"
She shook her head, holding the muffed end of the headset to hear Kenzie's voice properly and clearly. Boy, did Thalia have a lot to say before the headset was taken back and she was deprived of her rights to speak with this girl she knew to be a close friend. So many truths to express. "No, Kenzie, I'm not. After I got taken, that woman I told you about? She burned my arm after she took me from that hospital." Angela already didn't like what Thalia was saying on the line. It already incriminated her a good deal as is. With that, she stood up to grab the headset from the slave, who instantly jolted away from her. She couldn't let her take it away just yet. "Kenzie, I remember things... I remember you! We went to Yale together, lived together! I don't know why I'm remember this but I..."
As if by brute force, Angela grabbed the back loop of the headset and yanked it straight out of Thalia's ear, causing her to yelp in response. The damage was done: Kenzie knows that Thalia is getting her memories back, and that she'd tortured the girl with fire. Not looking good for her case now. "That's enough, you little bitch! Go back to your corner!" she scowled, shoving Thalia away from her face and fixing the headset back on over her head. At this point, Angela would've happily ended this little rebel. But she had a far greater purpose than to deliver dead, so she resisted the temptation. But the way she pushed Thalia away and growled at her, as well as the truth about her burn wound... revealed in front of Angelo. It's not like he didn't know she had a wicked side, but it wasn't flattering for two people trying to start over to bring these sorts of facts up. It was Thalia's fault anyway.
"Thalia?..... Thalia, are you there?" Kenzie tried to call for her friend after hearing the scream from her friend and the distant voice of Angela barking orders at her. Those words.... Angela was torturing Thalia, and she now had a burn wound from six months ago. She could only imagine what kind of shape her beloved was in now. But she was alive, and even stranger: she was regaining her memories. She remembers that they went to Yale together and shared a flat, but does she remember that they were lovers? Was it at all possible? All such shocking words in just ten seconds of a conversation... but they meant so much in Kenzie's heart, her head leaning in and her eyes becoming slightly watered. This was Thalia. And she was being offered up for her father's inheritance. That money she was going to use to preserve herself, Kain, Luca, and Sarah someday. Now, was she ready to throw it away so that Thalia could be free? It seemed like that was where her priorities lied. She would've happily given up every last penny of her riches so that the girl she loved so dearly in college could have her life back. If she was getting immunity, odds are, she wouldn't lose her medical license. She probably won't have a job to go back due to the negative publicity, but she could find another very easily. So money would never be a problem. There was always assistance from whatever Phil had in his name to keep her financially above water for a short time. Not to mention: she could always sell some of Edward's non-liquid assets. After all, all Angela demanded was the inheritance money. The chief had much more than just that after all.
As Kenzie was consumed in thought, Angela continued speaking, still a bit furious at the renegade's words of warning, "You have proof that your bitch is alive. Now.... what's it gonna be? Deal or no deal?"
Before the doctor could even start speaking, Jeff whispered to her once again, overhearing everything on the line and analyzing from his point of view. And he cared to share his opinion. Angela was his underling after all. "Kenzie, don't trust Angela. She's a snake. She might just be leading you into a trap. You can't trust that it was really Thalia that was on the line, or about being half-sisters..."
Even with the warnings, Kenzie's mind was made up, and a single word showed the decision. "Deal. Thalia for Dad's inheritance.... 'Sis'. You're the eldest. It's yours after all. But it's not going to be that simple." Of course, she wasn't going to let the deal go that easily. She had her own plans. "You can't put a price on the head of the woman I love. You can't put it on anyone's loved ones. But you are lucky. You're going to put a price on two. The Brookes inheritance... for not just Thalia..." Her eyes peeked upward directly to face Luca's. A decision that would benefit them both. "You're also going to find and deliver Sarah Kenmore. Two lives, for more money than you'll be able to dream of. That's my counter offer."
Would Luca approve of putting Sarah's name on the table? How could he say no to THAT? She only gave Luca a nod of approval, one that told on its own that she was pursuing this deal with his wife in on it whether he accepted or not. Luca kept an eye on Kain and kept him alive, even saved him from Nathan Wells with a nasty bullet wound. It's the least she could do to thank him. While Jeff remained a stranger to the bond and a bit disappointed in Kenzie blindly trusting Angela, it seemed like the doctor and boxer were both in this together and would get their loved ones back to this deal one way or another.
But Angela might have to pass on the counter. Getting Thalia was a pain in the ass on its own. Acquiring another one of Lociato's assets in such a short time? That would be near impossible. He'd soon find out about the raid in one of his Mexico-based holding chambers, and tighten security. Sarah was gone with the wind, but it wouldn't hurt to ask Angelo. The ex-Fed removed the headset from its position around her head and covered the microphone with her palm so the men on the other side of the line wouldn't hear her negotiating with her partner. With a groan and a roll of her green eyes, she explained, "Kenzie wants Sarah Kenmore... I take it that's your cousin's lovely lady?" Whether or not it'd been mentioned before, Angela could take a lucky guess, especially judging how tight Luca had been with the Saunders/Brookes family lately. Their roads had to have crossed at some point. "I assume she's a no-go, right?" She then removed the headset from around her neck and held it to her bald lover. He may not be the most negotiable of men in the world, but he could certainly knock some sense into Kenzie. It's that sort of cruel side that Angela admired. They both had it, and both knew how to use it to full capacity. "If you want to have a word with her? I bet your cousin is there as well.... I bet that it's a worthwhile conversation."
Thalia, though.... after being pushed away, couldn't help but feel a sting to her head. Yet another flashback to a moment of her past had spurred from just one word from Kenzie, her name. How was that slight interaction enough to trigger yet another spark of her memories kept in a shell? Maybe there was more to her and this doctor than meets the eye. Once again, this was between the two roommates at that same time in college, but it was back to the sort of on-edge terms, like the beginning of the previous flashback. Kenzie was mad. Thalia apologetic.
"Kenzie... are you mad at me?.... Look, you didn't speak to me the entire bus ride home. Just tell me, are you mad?"
"What do you think?"
"Look, I didn't want you to find that out about me. I never thought I'd get caught."
"You rob people, Thalia. With some gang of thugs who don't give a care in the world for others. You ruin their lives, scare them... do you even take into consideration whose lives you're harassing?"
"Of course that matters to me..."
"Bullshit. Don't give me that. Don't you DARE give me that. If that's really how you felt, you would never be up to this sort of thing.... Why?"
"What?"
"Why do you do this?"
"I... I guess it was the thrill so many years ago. And it just never left me?..... I'm serious, Kenz, the people I work for, they won't let me just up and leave."
"You can always leave, T. There's no such thing as 'they won't let me.' You can always come clean and get away from this."
"You just don't get it do you? You see this tattoo?"
"Oh, so that's what it is? It's clan ink?"
"Yeah. So is the cross on my neck."
"You told me it was because of your Christian background."
"It is, but it's deeper than that."
"Have you ever been honest with me?"
"Oh come on, don't be like that. Just give me a chance to explain, please!"
"You better thank FUCK I paid bail for you! I'm making this go away to give you a chance to make amends! Next time you get caught, I'm going to deny I know you!"
"Kenzie, please, just listen to me! If I could leave, I would!"
"Shush. You're full of shit. I don't want to hear your excuses. I gave you a shot to fix things. Don't talk to me until you make your decision."
"I wasn't lying when I said I wanted to be your friend! That day we were drinking and such on the floor? I wasn't lying about that... I meant it."
"Did you?"
"You... you don't believe me, do you?"
"Huhh.... Good night, Thalia."
"W-Wait, Kenzie... Please!"
The sound of a door slamming shut concluded this flashback. This time, there was no happy ending for these two girls. So Thalia was a thief in her past life. Was this the deal with this other organization she was a part of? Whatever it was, she clearly had her regrets in this flashback, and Kenzie didn't appreciate her ways. It killed the redhead's heart to know this. As she squinted to try and forget that argument, she looked around at the dull office around her, at the desks and braindead people, trying to distract herself and await for the deal to go down.
Maybe she could tell Kenzie she was sorry...
It didn't take a genius to know Thalia's line of questions was not what this bald man was expecting or wanted to deal with, evident when she faced a slap to the face the second she finished talking. Nothing that hurt, but did knock her back slightly. Still, she was disobedient in that moment, perhaps by nature, and this wasn't her first slap; no, it was one of several that her rebellious, stubborn actions called for. He even gave her specific, clear instructions about his terms with the deal, and she marched to his face and deliberately broke her end while he seemed to be consumed in thought. About her trade? About the future? About the money? It wasn't something she could accurately guess, seeing his response wasn't very telling about his own thoughts. But what she could guess is that he was merely muscle in her situation. Just a powerful man who would kill for his partner - Angela - and help her achieve whatever greatness she was after. And the money, because it always falls back to financial prosperity. After all, that's all Thalia was to Lociato: a product in a line of many others, one that people never seemed to get sick of. But in general, Angelo seemed to want precious little to do with a slave like herself. He only wanted the price on her head, understandably. But soon enough they'd go their separate ways, and he granted her with answers as a sign of goodwill. And after hearing these things, Thalia wouldn't consider running away...
So it was Kenzie Brookes that wants her back. She kept her promise to protect Thalia and even came for her in the end. Maybe not in the most civil of ways, but she was willing to pay for her freedom. A college friend now paying for her freedom like this? It seemed like something much deeper than just a friendship, as she'd discover soon enough. Angelo had no knowledge of her family nor the exact price of her head, but those didn't matter. One critical question did get an answer, and in return, a more doubtful vibe had come over her: that things might get hostile. Complications might happen. And there was no such thing as reassurance that anyone in particular will surely live or die. Anything could happen. Hell, they might just kill her when they have their money. If that were the case, she was prepared to go down swinging. But obviously, she won't fight them now; too risky, and she'd earned her knowledge so far through her compliance and peaceful nature. So why throw it away now? Angela even specified that the slave was only needed alive. That could be in good health or in a coma. So best she doesn't push her luck any more than she already has. Said obedience persisted when Angelo stepped aside to take a phone call. The redhead didn't care who it was, whether it had to do with Kenzie or not, and instead, she stepped aside, wandering around the office passed the cubicles and the dull painted walls. So bland... but she did get a chance to see sunlight and just watch the world pass her by on more peaceful terms. She was in cuffs, sure, but it still counted for something. Soon enough, she'd be a free woman.
Perhaps Thalia's experience would soon become more pleasant. From behind, she heard a familiar shrill female voice. "Slave."
Instantly, the girl in cuffs spun around, as if it were instinctive to respond to that word. Behind her was Angela, who she simply looked at, no response to confirm she was listening. Her physical gesture was enough.
"No. Turn around," Angela ordered, twirling her finger in a circular gesture.
Confused at first, but again, Thalia followed her orders to the syllable and turned her back to Angela. Was this more of a punishment? Didn't she already receive her due punishment for making an advancement on her partner? She shut her eyes and waited for the incoming slap to the neck... but instead, she felt the cuffs being released from her wrists? Her eyes cracked open and her head slowly turned over her shoulder. "What is this? What do you want?" She whimpered, a bit worried about what this could mean. Was it over? Was Kenzie not coming for her?
"For you to be... more comfortable," Angela uttered. It gave her a horrible gut feeling to have to say those words. Giving Thalia comfort? She was a headache alone as is, and now her safety was a major concern? She was surprised in all honesty that this sudden feeling of sympathy had come over her. Then again, it wouldn't be long until Thalia is out of their hair for good. She gripped Thalia's forearm and spun her around, muttering, "Turn around." Once the two women were facing each other, she took Thalia's right wrist and bound it with the same handcuffs, but in front of her. She did the same with the left one. Not much of a difference, but it was a sign of good faith.
"Like that made it all better."
Groaning, Angela responded, "Don't push it. We're making contact with your buyer. And so you don't complain about being tired or hungry for the duration of our time together...." Now a safe distance from Thalia, she reached for her suit pocket and removed a bill in Mexican pesos. Decent enough with very few wrinkles, enough for a vending machine to accept, anyway. She extended the currency to the slave's hands and slipped it into her cuffed hands. "I figured it'd be easier to use a vending machine with your hands in front of you." She jolted her head to her right, cuing Thalia to look behind her to her left at the food dispensing device. "Go. Get something to eat. It's not a trap and there's no catch, so long as you stay quiet and don't do anything stupid while we negotiate terms for your head."
A kind gesture? Even Thalia was at a lost for words now, taking the bill in her fingertips. It'd been so long since she'd held money herself, at least like this. It was beyond the scope of her memories. "Um... Thanks?" How else would she answer. She was grateful for the motion. Maybe for once, she could eat something more tasteful than the food she'd been force-fed in the ring. She only had to get to the point of force-feeding due to her own hunger strikes in rebellion against the system. With the amount of times Thalia had landed herself in trouble, so many were surprised why she wasn't dead. Why she was preserved to the degree that she was with nothing more than a burn on her arm and weary, sleep-deprived eyes. A mystery to many up until now: she had use beyond Lociato. With this portion of money, it would be enough to get her something from the designated vending machine, so she helped herself to it, turning her back on Angela and just staring down the glass.
In the ex-Fed's mind, that should be enough to silence their pawn for the time being up until the trade, then they'd be done with her. Their future would be ensured, and she and Angelo could live up to their dreams and fantasies of being together. At long last. It all seemed so realistic. A life beyond Lociato and their old selves within reach. And all it took was getting rid of some pathetic redhead with no memories of her past and giving her back to some sorry doctor from Seattle who probably has a criminal record given the events that have unfolded over the past day. So why not let the two college lovers reunite, induct Kain into the organization that turned his life into a downward spiral, all so she could live her own happily ever after? After all, what did Kain still have? Dave was dead. Given her own analysis, Angela could guess that Kenzie would picked Thalia over him in a heartbeat. And he had no hope of a job anywhere in the world with his record. At this point, since he couldn't beat them, why not join them?
Once she returned to the desk, things were all set. She reached for a certain tool from the desk: a headset that fit one ear muff into one ear that looped around the back of her head with a microphone attached to the muffed end. She fixed it snugly over her her head and stared in front of her at the lines of code and command prompt listings. This was it. she was ready to move forward, and all she needed was Angelo by her side. A quick peek to Thalia revealed her struggling to get the machine to accept the bill she'd been given. Stubborn machines, and Angela wasn't to blame for that. She could've sworn she'd heard the redhead grumble curses under her breath as she saw her bald lover return to her side with news from the boss. She nodded in acceptance.
"Perfect... Demetri may not be satisfied at the moment with your choice of candidate, but he will in time. Kain's wild, unstable, but he can be tamed under the right circumstances. I'm sure you can persuade him to accept our guy as a replacement eventually. But we can focus on that later. We need Kain to agree first before he can sell his soul. But for now, our line to Kenzie is ready. All I need is a single click of a button, and we're ready to go..."
For once, after a grueling night of an epic failure from the Lociato industry, Angela had succeeded in her contingency. It all seemed so real. Unbelievable. But it was happening, all starting with her clicking the enter button and awaiting her half-sister's response.
...
Never before did Kenzie expect such a change of heart from Henrikson. From being an obsessive show-off who used his cocky words and threats to show his superiority, to a man who would eventually use those same words to set her and Luca free at long last? It still pestered her that he was deliberately excluding Kain from the deal, but surely, she could convince him otherwise. But what mattered most? He was on their side and would now cooperate. His stories couldn't be more believable in her eyes. Their theory about Thalia, the desire to do the right thing after all this time? It was something that directly connected to the doctor and only made her want to preserve Jeff in the end of all of this. At first, she intended to simply leave him behind and leave his life in the hands of fate, or if he could get his hand on a phone. But with the blood loss and weakness he'd begun to display, that seemed highly unlikely. So now, she made sure that she could restrict the bleeding as best as possible. No way in hell could she stitch his hand back as is, but she could sure as hell prevent an infection or complication in his condition. That was her job, after all: to help people, even the most sinister like the federal agent-gone-rogue by her side. She didn't remain distracted forever. And there was still plenty to discuss in terms of the pardon.
But what shocked Kenzie more than anything else: Luca refused to accept it. It instantly caught her ears and caused her deep brown eyes to turn to the Italian and ask the question that anyone would ask after hearing someone deprive himself of unconditional freedom: "You're not serious, Luca. This is your freedom you're talking about here, your chance to start over and put your past behind you..." His reasoning to decline was well in place, but she couldn't help but find it a tad too paranoid to be realistic. In his position, she couldn't blame him, either, but what man turns down a chance to put his criminal past to bed once and for all? Maybe it had to do with Kain's exclusion from the deal. "We can work something out for Kain, even if he doesn't want to help, if that's what you're so worried about. I still have my swing in the government, and I can get him some of the lawyers on speed dial right now if we so wanted to. This deal for us sets your future in stone. I'm sure you don't want to live in constant pursuit and fear of looking over your shoulder... do you think that's the life Sarah would want?"
Then again, saying that no girl would want a criminal for a lover would make her a hypocrite. She couldn't forget how she was in love with a prominent member of a criminal organization in Boston. And perhaps by now, Luca has picked up that Thalia was no saint. "Thalia turned her back on her criminal past so we could live in peace.... but she did it too late for it to matter," she admitted, in an attempt to convince her friend to take the deal. He compared her and Kain to family, and that appreciation hit right at home in her heart, and she was prepare to play on that and appeal to its weight to sway his decision. "Back when she was with those criminals she was with, The Clan? She'd come back every day severely injured, and I was treating her. And I kept asking, where did these wounds come from? She come up with excuses - climbing accident, tripped on the stairs... until I found out the truth: turned out she was robbing people with her buddies, and I only found out when she begged me to pay her bail when she got caught. From that moment on... we became distant, that is until she took the decision to leave it behind. It wasn't easy, though..." she gulped for a moment before continuing, formulating her words properly to explain the whole story. "She took a bullet for it. Almost died to it, too. All so that she could put me at ease that I wouldn't lose her. This was before we were even dating. Because she knew that being affiliated to something wicked your entire life isn't what your significant other would want from you. But it didn't end there." She felt a lump in her throat admitting all of this so desperately, but had the strength to carry on. "Three years after quitting, the FBI caught on to her, linked her to one of their more significant crimes - borderline terrorism or something - and arrested her on campus just a week before graduation. But because she cared about us too much than to let her past linger around, she struck a deal just like our own. Immunity for everything she knows about The Clan... and you know what she told me?"
It didn't take a genius to guess, but Kenzie said it anyway, "She told me that it was going to set us free, and no matter the backlash, she'd do it so we can be together happily and not let whatever was haunting us before interfere with our futures. Because she'd never put me in a position where I'd have to be worried about her going to prison. A position where she'd ever have to be found guilty of some crime. Or on the run from police. She couldn't do that to me, so she took the deal... You know what happens next? A week later, her parents get killed... the day after, she runs away. For so long, I thought it was remaining members of The Clan avenging her for testifying. That theory may be wrong now, but the meaning to her actions? It meant the world to me. I would never ask her to pick between me and her family; how could she expect that they'd come after her? Some things, we can't predict, Luca. And whether or not you get pardoned, you're still going to Mexico, whether Lociato likes it or not, whether you're an FBI target or not, and be it alone or with an army. It's going to happen, and you might as well go with a backup plan for when this is over: so you can come home, with Sarah in your arms, and live a normal life for once."
She'd rambled quite a bit, but maybe he'd lost the point. To sum it all up, she let go of Jeff's arm for the moment and looked Luca dead in the eye before telling him exactly what she had in mind: "If you think for one second, me and Kain won't be worried about you if you end up on the run, think again. I'm taking my deal, and I'm going to fight so Kain can be free as well. Just like I'd do for you. You have it easier. You can bury Sesler for good and never have that shadow haunt you again. I don't know Sarah, but I don't think she'd like that dark cloud over your heads. Thalia had it over hers for her four years in college: the cloud from The Clan, and from Lociato. She didn't get an escape until it was too late. Luca, this might be your only chance to ensure a normal life when this is over. I can't advise you any more than this to come with us and sign the deal. Please. I promise you, it'll all work out, and if it's not, you just have to get in contact with me, or Kain, and we'll help. Because... you said we're the closest you've had to family?" A thought that made Kenzie's, and even Jeff's, heart skip a beat. They'd become close after all this time, that close? It meant a lot that Luca even expressed himself in such a way, after giving the vibe of being such a stone-featured character for so long... he had a heart all along. "You can be free with your family, with your wife. Don't make me beg you to do this. Please."
It's not like his word would mean anything, but the barely-hanging-on director did lift his eyes to the man before them and speak his mind. "I'm not saying this because it's my job, Varundar. I say this because you'd be an idiot not to take this offer. I will even provide my statement without duress clearly specifying that you're pardoned of any offenses on your record, and I'll even make sure that there's no evidence pinning you to Sesler. The world can still think it's Aaron Stilinski, after all. All I need is your signature at the Governor's office... and boom. You're free to do whatever you and your wife please."
If only the conversation could progress further than it had already. But the vibration of Kenzie's phone cut the conversation short. She didn't think too much of it from the get-go, assuming it might be Kain, or someone asking about her in regards to the hospital incident. Because in all fairness, with Herman dead, they'd want to contact his closest of family and friends, and Kenzie was among them. To her disappointment, and even fear, it was a blocked ID. It couldn't be her father or Dave, with both of them dead.... that left two options: either Kain not wanting to come back inside and face them... or Nathan Wells trying to contact her again. He'd gone completely radio silent after Jose dropped her and Aaron off in the street. Did he already flee the country? Or did he have something else in mind, starting with yet another ominous phone call? Her heart sank just imagining who it was on the other side of this phone call.
"Kenzie...." Jeff noticed her concerned face, and tried to mutter something through his pain, feeling the weakness start to make him zone out. "Who is that?"
The brunette didn't answer the older man by her side... Instead, all she did was accept the call, ready to face the fear that this could potentially be Nathan coming back for her. She placed it against her ear, her expression a mixture of anger and woe as her voice sternly asked, "What do you want?"
That could've been Governor Hale for all she'd know... but she still answered in such a bitter manner with no sort of respect in her voice at all. Fortunately, it was nobody important. Well, not in the way she'd expect. A different voice answered, one she didn't recognize. Angela's. She'd finally made contact with her target, a smile coming across her face, nodding to Angelo in satisfaction. First part of their mission accomplished. Now for the next phase: reeling the doctor in. “Hello, Kenzie.”
Instantly addressing her by her name, and a voice she’d never heard before? It caused an eyebrow to arch on the woman, but it was certainly better than hearing Nathan Wells goad her on the phone again. Considering she’d need the counsel of either Kain or Luca for future conversations, she dropped the device from her ear and played it on speakerphone. She didn't care much for Henrikson in the room. He looked too weak to focus at this rate. “Who am I speaking with?”
“My name is not important. What I can tell you is that we have… a lot to discuss.”
“Explain. Because I’ve never met you. What business could we have? And how did you get a hold of this line?” Calling out the anomalies in this form of contact. This woman was clearly tech-savvy, possibly a hacker or backed by one. There’s no way a civilian or an innocent life had access to find her. Not to mention they were looking for Kenzie in particular. The red flags being raise were great in numbers.
Worse... Jeff was awake enough to recognize the voice. Angela. While he did keep an eye on the woman by his side, he remained silent.
Angela underestimated Kenzie. She knew more about her father’s police technology than she’d anticipated, but her questions would go upon deaf ears. “I think you need to stop asking me questions and let me do the talking. Let me start by giving my condolences for your son… it’s a shame that he’ll never be brought into your life. Not like his conception was… proper, in any way, shape, or form.” Angela’s background check into Kenzie’s past brought up the paternity test she’d done on her child. The only reason she’d do that? If the child wasn’t hers. She smirked in the cockiest of manners and continued speaking, “You know, does it even matter if the child was Dave’s or Phil’s? You weren’t going to tell them either way. What supposedly faithful wife does that anyway? Just… plays her husband for her foster brother.”
“Shut up,” she snarled. The personal attacks threw all sorts of hints in her direction as to who this mystery woman was. It had to be someone close, and someone connected. Herman would’ve never given away her test results like that. But Aaron Stilinski did get a hold of them and could’ve sold them to the highest bidder. Or multiple times, but it was too late to ask him now. “Did you just call me to insult my love life?”
“Oh no,” Angela made a ‘tsk’ noise over the line, gently biting at the nail of her left pinky finger, overly confident in her dominance over her half-sister. A strong woman with a plan, indeed she was. “On the contrary, I’d like to give your love life another chance.”
“Why should I believe you, a woman I barely just met?” she scoffed. “And how would you know a damn thing about who I care about?”
“I’ll give you a hint: Thalia Griffin.”
Instantly, Kenzie’s heart sank, and her pupils shot forward with a slight drop of her jaw. That name, the one that was supposedly erased from public record. And she knew who it was. Though she knew of her beloved’s fate not being death, she played dumb. “Thalia’s dead. What are you talking about?”
“Oh, no, ‘Kenz’… you don’t mind me call you that, right?”
“Stop changing the subject. Where did you heard that name?”
“She was a registered student at Yale after all, and she was paying half your rent through a good part of your time, right?”
Silence came from Kenzie’s end. That alone was all it took?
“She’s quite a keeper, Kenzie. It’s been less than an hour, and I already see what you saw in her.” As she spoke, her eyes lingered to Thalia in the corner of the room by the vending machine. She'd pulled out a packaged chocolate bar from the machine and was eating it as if she'd never seen food before. Well, not food this tasteful at least. So this is what Kenzie fell in love with. Well, probably less 'primitive'.
Her language sounded very provocative, almost as if, if she weren’t bluffing and Thalia was with her, she’d do harm. And Kenzie would never stand for that. “I swear, if you’re lying to me, if you touch a hair on her head…”
“Trust me, I have no reason to scratch a pretty face. BUT, don’t expect that I’ll just give her back to you.”
“Excuse me?” she gulped, starting to feel a cold sensation at her neck and the feeling of her heart taking a freefall down her body.
Angela’s technique of manipulating the topic of the conversation truly came to her advantage, and she planned to continue: “Ahhh, Kenzie, I feel like the last name ‘Brookes’ never fit you well enough. Just look at your father. You look nothing alike.”
Mention of Edward was only getting under her skin further, her eyes looking back to the bathroom door where her father’s body lay, as she firmly instructed, “Don’t talk about my father. He was a good man, and don’t try to defame his legacy.”
“Legacy? Kenzie, he was a co-conspirator in a human trafficking ring in Seattle and beyond. And you call him a hero? Pssh. Not a chance.”
The director with a missing hand knew that Angela was talking from her ass. Because she was no better. Little did Kenzie did know about this. “He didn’t want to do what he did. He did those things to protect me.”
“Well… clearly you think more like him than I thought, or at least you want to make yourself believe you do. But deep down, you would’ve never accepted to serve a man like Demetri Lociato. That sort of attitude of doing the 'right thing'... It sounds... familiar. I think that the last name ‘Sinclair’ would’ve suited you better. You have the looks, and you think a lot like Maria, too.”
Nobody had used that last name around her in a long, long time. As her grip intensified on the mobile phone, her eyes widened further as she glanced down at the device. “H-How do you know – ”
“…Your mother’s maiden name? Because you and I are much closer than you think, Kenzie. I told you that you don’t resemble your father in the slightest, right?”
“That doesn’t dissociate myself from him. It doesn't mean I'm not his daughter.”
“Well, I do look like your father… and not only that, but we think alike. Not like you.”
A strange itch of curiosity and fear traversed Kenzie’s body from the questions surrounding her words. She looks like him whereas Kenzie doesn’t; she knew her mother’s maiden name, her affair with Dave, and odds are, she knew so much more. “Where are you getting with all of this?”
“You’re smart, Kenzie. Use that free-ride-to-Yale brain of yours to take a guess… but I’ll throw you a hint. Does the name Stephanie Parker ring a bell to you?”
She shook her head, despite how it wouldn’t be visible for Angela. “No, not really…”
“Well, she was with your father for the first year of his service in the US military, and let’s just say… they were close. Withdrew a month later.”
“So? I don’t think my father knew my mom yet at the time, so you can't call him out for cheating on her.”
Angela sighed. Was revealing her name a good idea? Kenzie hadn’t put two and two together yet. No more stalling. “Keep thinking. Again, try to draw a conclusion.”
But it wouldn’t be Kenzie piecing the story together. Of all people… it was Jeff, who recognized the voice the second it came from her mobile. He couldn’t even believe it as it kept threatening the woman by his side. He shook his head in slight strokes in hope of getting someone’s attention. When that failed, he spoke out in whispers in his weakened state so Angela wouldn’t hear him from her end of the call. Not like he could do much more with his arm in a tourniquet and his pulse growing weaker. “Kenzie… that’s my agent that was working for Lociato.” He paused as his eyelids felt like they were on the brink of falling over his face. “Her name is Angela Parker… and Stephanie Parker is her mother. But her father is unknown… At least, not until now.” It seemed as if the crooked direction had already picked up on the pattern, keeping his head afloat for as much as possible. Kenzie, in a bit of starstruck shock, turned to him, trying to process this whole situation before her. “But Eddy? Her father? Huh… it makes sense. They look a lot alike. She looks more like her father than you do, I must say.”
That’s why Angela mentioned the last name Sinclair and associated it with Kenzie. The resemblance to her late mother more than her father. The woman on the call was the exact opposite: less of a Parker, more of a Brookes. It all made sense now, her once centered gaze now dropping to her lap. She had a sister? One that also worked for Lociato? Quite a shocker; it was literally only Kenzie who didn’t succumb to what could now be called a family business. And it all made sense. As much as she refused to believe this twist of events, it was all too convincing. Scarily convincing. She inhaled deeply and brought herself back to reality, now focused on the ball once again. She needed to show that she understood, her other hand running over her forehead and through her hair, her eyes closing in an attempt to try to relax herself. Shocked she was, indeed.
“Oh, my god…”
“Not exactly the way to greet your sister, hm?”
Her eyes shot open again, still looking to the ceiling. “You’re holding Thalia like a hostage. What kind of sister does that make you?”
“One who wants what she deserves. I know for a fact Lociato paid Dad, which I hope you don’t mind me calling him, a large sum of money to keep his mouth shut and not pull a stunt like he did last night. And I want that money. The money that you are supposed to inherit.”
“So this is about money.”
“For me. For you, isn’t it about love?”
Kenzie sighed and looked to the ceiling, resting her hand holding the phone in her lap. “You may know about me on paper, but you don’t get to talk about my personal life off the bullshit on a meaningless paper. So shut up before I hang up the phone.”
“Oh, but I do. Especially because I’m looking at the woman who could’ve been your wife right now, and I must say… she’s alright at the moment. And the more you pay me from the inheritance, the better condition I’ll return her to you. Of course, hanging up means I'll have to kill her.”
“Now you’re threatening to cut her to pieces if I don’t hand over every penny my father has.”
“That’s the ticket, Sis.”
Kenzie might’ve been a stranger to dangerous situations, but she wasn’t naïve. “I want to speak to Thalia. Prove that you have her, or I swear, I’ll hang up and you’ll get nothing.”
This woman proved to be no pushover, and Angela was ready to live up to her demands. She wanted proof of Thalia's life before proceeding with any sort of exchange. A good sign, but still, she expected her half sister to be an easier catch. A rather quiet groan came from her as she peeked over to the slave, who was just finishing her chocolate bar and throwing the wrapper away in a trash bin. Thalia hardly paid attention to herself as she quietly minded her own business, but then she heard the calling of a master, "Slave, here, now."
What had she done wrong? She didn't know at this point. Instead, she looked both ways across the office at the skeleton crew around her and approached Angelo and Angela at the desk. "What?" she asked, evident fear in her voice. Was she going to be beaten again? "I did what you asked. Stayed quiet, not interfered in business that's not mine. What do you still want?"
Now that Thalia was in reach, Angela reached from behind her head and removed the simple headset from around her head and held it in the redhead's direction. How long had it been since she'd had contact with technology? Did she know how to use that thing? "It's Kenzie Brookes. She wants proof that you're alive."
Just the name of the caller alone caused Thalia to instantly swipe the headset from Angela's fingertips and scramble to put it over her head. Eventually, she managed to fix it properly with one ear covered and the mic in front of her mouth. A strange feeling to someone who'd been distant from technology for so long. And surely, her fumbles were heard as cracking sounds to Kenzie, Luca, and Jeff on the other side. But eventually, it became a voice. Thalia's. "Kenzie?"
That voice of a damaged girl that Kenzie had heard six months ago... now blessing her ears once again, and even creating a semi-smile on her face. Six months ago, she was only assuming this was her Thalia by the circumstances, with a great possibility of a match. Now she knew for sure that it was. She couldn't say all of the feelings going through her mind and heart at the moment, because she knew that the amnesiac on the other side of the line wouldn't understand anything. But her reply did confirm for Luca that this young woman's voice was her once-girlfriend's voice. "Thalia.... are you okay?"
She shook her head, holding the muffed end of the headset to hear Kenzie's voice properly and clearly. Boy, did Thalia have a lot to say before the headset was taken back and she was deprived of her rights to speak with this girl she knew to be a close friend. So many truths to express. "No, Kenzie, I'm not. After I got taken, that woman I told you about? She burned my arm after she took me from that hospital." Angela already didn't like what Thalia was saying on the line. It already incriminated her a good deal as is. With that, she stood up to grab the headset from the slave, who instantly jolted away from her. She couldn't let her take it away just yet. "Kenzie, I remember things... I remember you! We went to Yale together, lived together! I don't know why I'm remember this but I..."
As if by brute force, Angela grabbed the back loop of the headset and yanked it straight out of Thalia's ear, causing her to yelp in response. The damage was done: Kenzie knows that Thalia is getting her memories back, and that she'd tortured the girl with fire. Not looking good for her case now. "That's enough, you little bitch! Go back to your corner!" she scowled, shoving Thalia away from her face and fixing the headset back on over her head. At this point, Angela would've happily ended this little rebel. But she had a far greater purpose than to deliver dead, so she resisted the temptation. But the way she pushed Thalia away and growled at her, as well as the truth about her burn wound... revealed in front of Angelo. It's not like he didn't know she had a wicked side, but it wasn't flattering for two people trying to start over to bring these sorts of facts up. It was Thalia's fault anyway.
"Thalia?..... Thalia, are you there?" Kenzie tried to call for her friend after hearing the scream from her friend and the distant voice of Angela barking orders at her. Those words.... Angela was torturing Thalia, and she now had a burn wound from six months ago. She could only imagine what kind of shape her beloved was in now. But she was alive, and even stranger: she was regaining her memories. She remembers that they went to Yale together and shared a flat, but does she remember that they were lovers? Was it at all possible? All such shocking words in just ten seconds of a conversation... but they meant so much in Kenzie's heart, her head leaning in and her eyes becoming slightly watered. This was Thalia. And she was being offered up for her father's inheritance. That money she was going to use to preserve herself, Kain, Luca, and Sarah someday. Now, was she ready to throw it away so that Thalia could be free? It seemed like that was where her priorities lied. She would've happily given up every last penny of her riches so that the girl she loved so dearly in college could have her life back. If she was getting immunity, odds are, she wouldn't lose her medical license. She probably won't have a job to go back due to the negative publicity, but she could find another very easily. So money would never be a problem. There was always assistance from whatever Phil had in his name to keep her financially above water for a short time. Not to mention: she could always sell some of Edward's non-liquid assets. After all, all Angela demanded was the inheritance money. The chief had much more than just that after all.
As Kenzie was consumed in thought, Angela continued speaking, still a bit furious at the renegade's words of warning, "You have proof that your bitch is alive. Now.... what's it gonna be? Deal or no deal?"
Before the doctor could even start speaking, Jeff whispered to her once again, overhearing everything on the line and analyzing from his point of view. And he cared to share his opinion. Angela was his underling after all. "Kenzie, don't trust Angela. She's a snake. She might just be leading you into a trap. You can't trust that it was really Thalia that was on the line, or about being half-sisters..."
Even with the warnings, Kenzie's mind was made up, and a single word showed the decision. "Deal. Thalia for Dad's inheritance.... 'Sis'. You're the eldest. It's yours after all. But it's not going to be that simple." Of course, she wasn't going to let the deal go that easily. She had her own plans. "You can't put a price on the head of the woman I love. You can't put it on anyone's loved ones. But you are lucky. You're going to put a price on two. The Brookes inheritance... for not just Thalia..." Her eyes peeked upward directly to face Luca's. A decision that would benefit them both. "You're also going to find and deliver Sarah Kenmore. Two lives, for more money than you'll be able to dream of. That's my counter offer."
Would Luca approve of putting Sarah's name on the table? How could he say no to THAT? She only gave Luca a nod of approval, one that told on its own that she was pursuing this deal with his wife in on it whether he accepted or not. Luca kept an eye on Kain and kept him alive, even saved him from Nathan Wells with a nasty bullet wound. It's the least she could do to thank him. While Jeff remained a stranger to the bond and a bit disappointed in Kenzie blindly trusting Angela, it seemed like the doctor and boxer were both in this together and would get their loved ones back to this deal one way or another.
But Angela might have to pass on the counter. Getting Thalia was a pain in the ass on its own. Acquiring another one of Lociato's assets in such a short time? That would be near impossible. He'd soon find out about the raid in one of his Mexico-based holding chambers, and tighten security. Sarah was gone with the wind, but it wouldn't hurt to ask Angelo. The ex-Fed removed the headset from its position around her head and covered the microphone with her palm so the men on the other side of the line wouldn't hear her negotiating with her partner. With a groan and a roll of her green eyes, she explained, "Kenzie wants Sarah Kenmore... I take it that's your cousin's lovely lady?" Whether or not it'd been mentioned before, Angela could take a lucky guess, especially judging how tight Luca had been with the Saunders/Brookes family lately. Their roads had to have crossed at some point. "I assume she's a no-go, right?" She then removed the headset from around her neck and held it to her bald lover. He may not be the most negotiable of men in the world, but he could certainly knock some sense into Kenzie. It's that sort of cruel side that Angela admired. They both had it, and both knew how to use it to full capacity. "If you want to have a word with her? I bet your cousin is there as well.... I bet that it's a worthwhile conversation."
Thalia, though.... after being pushed away, couldn't help but feel a sting to her head. Yet another flashback to a moment of her past had spurred from just one word from Kenzie, her name. How was that slight interaction enough to trigger yet another spark of her memories kept in a shell? Maybe there was more to her and this doctor than meets the eye. Once again, this was between the two roommates at that same time in college, but it was back to the sort of on-edge terms, like the beginning of the previous flashback. Kenzie was mad. Thalia apologetic.
"Kenzie... are you mad at me?.... Look, you didn't speak to me the entire bus ride home. Just tell me, are you mad?"
"What do you think?"
"Look, I didn't want you to find that out about me. I never thought I'd get caught."
"You rob people, Thalia. With some gang of thugs who don't give a care in the world for others. You ruin their lives, scare them... do you even take into consideration whose lives you're harassing?"
"Of course that matters to me..."
"Bullshit. Don't give me that. Don't you DARE give me that. If that's really how you felt, you would never be up to this sort of thing.... Why?"
"What?"
"Why do you do this?"
"I... I guess it was the thrill so many years ago. And it just never left me?..... I'm serious, Kenz, the people I work for, they won't let me just up and leave."
"You can always leave, T. There's no such thing as 'they won't let me.' You can always come clean and get away from this."
"You just don't get it do you? You see this tattoo?"
"Oh, so that's what it is? It's clan ink?"
"Yeah. So is the cross on my neck."
"You told me it was because of your Christian background."
"It is, but it's deeper than that."
"Have you ever been honest with me?"
"Oh come on, don't be like that. Just give me a chance to explain, please!"
"You better thank FUCK I paid bail for you! I'm making this go away to give you a chance to make amends! Next time you get caught, I'm going to deny I know you!"
"Kenzie, please, just listen to me! If I could leave, I would!"
"Shush. You're full of shit. I don't want to hear your excuses. I gave you a shot to fix things. Don't talk to me until you make your decision."
"I wasn't lying when I said I wanted to be your friend! That day we were drinking and such on the floor? I wasn't lying about that... I meant it."
"Did you?"
"You... you don't believe me, do you?"
"Huhh.... Good night, Thalia."
"W-Wait, Kenzie... Please!"
The sound of a door slamming shut concluded this flashback. This time, there was no happy ending for these two girls. So Thalia was a thief in her past life. Was this the deal with this other organization she was a part of? Whatever it was, she clearly had her regrets in this flashback, and Kenzie didn't appreciate her ways. It killed the redhead's heart to know this. As she squinted to try and forget that argument, she looked around at the dull office around her, at the desks and braindead people, trying to distract herself and await for the deal to go down.
Maybe she could tell Kenzie she was sorry...
