Page 15 of Even Robots Die (Even Ever After #3)

Florentine

W hy did I say that out loud?

I don’t want to explain to Brice what Milton told me.

I might not know where to plug those probes in Brice’s brain if he ever gets his skull open, but Milton claims he does.

I know I’m not all knowing, but I sometimes forget that Milton isn’t an extension of myself. It’s much more. I plugged it into the interweb after all.

It just has my way of thinking, my deduction skills, my logic.

But it also has access to the full extent of the information on the interweb, which means, if Milton says it knows how to do something, it means it really knows how to do it.

But like I said, it has my skills, but I’m not always right, and this means there could still be a risk.

“So?” Brice asks again when I’ve been silent for too long.

“Milton thinks there is still a risk, but that it might be achievable,” I answer tentatively.

Of course, I don’t repeat what Milton said exactly.

I’m not stupid enough to tell the man my AI just told me that there is a ninety-nine point three percent chance of this succeeding if I plugged all the electrical probes exactly where it tells me to.

No, I don’t say that, because it would make the man believe it’s a done deal when there’s still so much more to take into account.

Like my ability to be exact or the fact I still have to make an entirely new code for the machine.

Because, oh yes, Milton snuck in and the code is shit and even if we modify it, there’s a risk it would blow everything out and I don’t mean just Brice’s brain, I mean the entire castle.

I’d like to live, thank you very much.

“I feel like there is a ‘but’ in here,” Brice tells me as he catches my finger that’s still pointing at his torso.

Oops.

I almost forgot I was in the process of threatening and yelling at him when Milton decided to take part in the conversation.

Why did I think it would be a good idea to give the AI a mind of its own? I’m thoroughly regretting it now.

It took me by surprise and I couldn’t build a believable lie in time.

“I’m still no surgeon. I don’t see why I should be tasked with the executive part of all this mess.

And even if you finally think things through, programming won’t take just a day.

I would need to run some tests so as not to fry your brain more.

I’ve never worked on the living, so I don’t know how long it will take.

It could take days, weeks, or even months.

I don’t have a single point of comparison. ”

“You keep saying that,” Brice answers me.

“But you’re delusional. You say you don’t work on the living, but you’re so used to lying to people that you can’t even detect a lie when it’s in your own mouth.

You do work on people and not just things.

You did it less than a day ago. You shot four of my men and stopped their heart in the process.

You used one of those fingerless gloves of yours on everyone to wake them up, but if I learned one thing from how it went, it’s that you have a built-in system to wake them up.

And that if you hadn’t been forced to lie and show off how to wake them up, Daniel would be dead. ”

It takes me a second to realize who Daniel is and then I remember the little freak out I had yesterday when the guy didn’t wake up after three shocks, when I had to shock him a fourth time for his heart to start again.

I really need to tinker with my bullets, and fast.

I didn’t have the material in my bag to do so last night and I was too tired.

It’s not like I have my guns, anyway.

“I didn’t lie,” I answer in a defensive tone.

“No,” Brice counters. “You believed you weren’t lying, and that’s something completely different.”

“How?”

“How do I know you lie when you lie?” Brice asks in answer. “Not going to give my little secret away. I might still need to use it.”

His remark is followed by a wicked smirk that I wish I could stare at all day long but is going to put my hormones on overdrive, so I take my hand back from under Brice’s and walk away, turning my back to him.

“Why would I help you, anyway?” I ask Brice.

I feel his hand wrap around my wrist and tug softly so I face him again.

“Because I studied you,” Brice answers, and that pisses me off. I’m about to bite back when he wraps a hand around my throat and tips my chin up so I have to look him in the eye again.

I gulp against his hand and I’m ashamed to acknowledge that the way he’s moving me with so much ease is turning me on more than it has the right to do.

Get your head out of the gutter, Flo. This isn’t a possessive move. It’s a power move, and your affection-deprived brain is just confused.

“Because I know you care deeply for your family. I know that some of your sisters, one in particular, needs to see someone about those night terrors, and that your family doesn’t have a lot of money, and that your father doesn’t make it easier with the way he lives his life.

I know you need money and I can give you enough that you wouldn’t have to worry or even work, at least for a few years. ”

He doesn’t know my dad if he thinks whatever he would give us would last us years. Because as long as there’s money, dad keeps using it. Until there’s none anymore.

Unless.

“What did you promise my dad when he was there?” I ask instead.

That seems to surprise Brice, and I feel his hand squeeze the side of my throat.

“Half a million.”

Dear god, I know now why dad didn’t look too sad when I saw him yesterday. He’s still hoping to get that money.

“I promised him half of that if you did the job,” he adds.

“He sold me out,” I mutter to myself. I know Brice heard me when I see his pupils dilate and his nostrils open. He looks like he doesn’t like what I just said, but doesn’t comment on it.

“I want more,” I counter.

Brice relaxes his hold against my throat and I feel suddenly naked.

“I want half a million.”

“Greedy,” Brice says, amused. “Maybe the apple didn’t fall far from the tree after all …”

I don’t even try to remark on the nastiness of what he just said.

“I want it divided into five equal parts, on five different accounts. One for me, and one for each of my sisters.”