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“Suffering would end,” she snaps, turning her glacial green eyes to me. There really is no soul in there. “And this planet would thrive. If humans had real law and order, we could do so many things. End world hunger, close the gap between the poor and the rich, and lessen poverty and homelessness.”

I shake my head. “You’re trying to make taking away people’s free will sound virtuous.”

“It is,” she retorts.

I blink, absolutely confounded. “Are we in a movie? There’s no way you’re serious.” Turning to Zade, I find him staring at Claire, absently rubbing his fingers together, his brain churning. “She’s serious, isn’t she?”

He cocks a brow. “It would appear so.”

More than anything, I’d love to know what he’s thinking. This is something you only see in theaters or books. Some new world order shit that seems so far outside the realm of possibility, people turn it into fiction for entertainment. I’ve literally written books like this myself.

“You’re exchanging one form of slavery for another,” he says finally.

“I’m exchanging human suffering for a new, better world,” she argues. “The technology you could create would advance us into an entirely new era.” She turns her attention to me, and I realize she is a fucking reptile. She’s a goddamn snake. “No one would ever suffer through what you have ever again. No more children sacrificed. No more women sold. I would

dismantle it all.”

“What’s stopping you from doing this now?” I argue. “What’s stopping you from trying to take over?”

“Zade,” she answers simply, turning to address him. “You’ve been a thorn in my side since you created your organization and have set out to destroy everything I’ve worked hard for. And I’ll admit, you’re quite good at it, which is why I want to form an alliance where we’re working together, not against each other. I will give you what you want so badly, and in return, you help me with what I want.”

“Talk to me like I’m stupid, Claire,” Zade says dryly. “You want me to stop exposing the government? No, you want more than that. You want me to create some type of technology to implant in people’s brains and make them actual robots? Make it to where they have no fight?”

She raises her brows, a smile forming. “Now there’s an idea. I can create a new world with laws and consequences for breaking them. Your technology could advance us and make it easier to enforce these laws. We could force people to walk in a straight line, wherever we draw it. But taking away their ability to think for themselves? My God, that’d be wonderful.”

Her eyes alight with excitement. “Could you do that?”

I can only gape at her, utterly speechless. Does ending human trafficking sound like a dream? Absolutely. But in exchange for some fantastical idea to rip away people’s free will and turn them into zombies.

I’m not even sure what exactly she’d do with them all, but I don’t care to know. I want the same thing Zade has always wanted. To eradicate the skin trade. But that desire has never come with unrealistic expectations.

“Technology can do anything. Its only limitation is its creator,” Zade says.

She grins, and I see something twinkle in her eye that she’s stolen from so many. From me.

Hope.

But it doesn’t belong to her—it belongs to the souls she’s responsible for breaking.

“You see? We can do anything,” she breathes. “I believe you have no limitations.”

Zade’s stare darkens, and the tightness in my chest eases.

“You’re right, Claire. I don’t.”

She completely misinterprets his meaning because her smile only widens, too blinded by the possibilities to see what’s lying in wait.

“You already have power,” I remind her. “You’re a shadow government that controls the entire country. More so now with your partners dead. That’s not enough for you? Now you want world domination?”

She leans forward, baring her teeth as she hisses, “Maybe your puny brain isn—”

“You know what your problem is?” Zade cuts in. “You don’t know the first fucking thing about forming an alliance. Do you really think insulting her is going to get you anywhere?” Zade stands, and though I can see Claire fighting with herself, she forces her spine straight. Her bodyguards take aim, but Zade moves as if he’s encased in bulletproof armor.

My heart picks up speed, adrenaline surfacing because the bozo does not, in fact, have on bulletproof armor, and if one bullet comes anywhere near him, I’m going to fucking lose it.

“Belittling those who support you isn’t smart. Haven’t you read the history books? Using fear to demand respect is a fragile construct. It doesn’t last because no one can trust you, and the first opportunity they have to betray you, they take. Z isn’t built on fear, Claire. It’s built on the mutual desire to kill people like you. And you know what? My organization trusts me to do that.”

Her eyes widen, sensing the incoming doom before it happens. A line of bombs is planted along the front of the distillery, right below where Claire’s men are standing. In seconds, the explosives detonate, creating a deafening blast.