Page 20 of Even Robots Die (Even Ever After #3)

Florentine

I want to strangle Brice.

If I didn’t know I have absolutely no chance to even land a single slap, I would already be on him.

I have a feeling that if I could match his speed, I would claw at his perfect face so I don’t have to see him smile when he so obviously says things I don’t want to hear.

It’s not the first time I’ve heard people make assumptions based on how my dad behaves most days, but somehow him saying those things makes them so much worse.

It feels like he’s mocking me on purpose and it stokes something inside of me that only wants retribution.

“Are you done, now?” Brice asks me and now I’m past wanting to claw his face. Now I want to gouge his pretty green eyes.

“You’re a freaking insensitive asshole,” I tell him. “Maybe you deserve what happened to you.”

I immediately regret my last sentence.

I’ve seen the lab. I hated it. I still have nightmares about what might have happened there when it was in use.

I don’t wish that on anyone, not even my worst enemy. And Brice might be far from being an ally, but he’s not my worst enemy either.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have …” I start saying, but Brice cuts me off before I can finish my sentence.

“Save your breath. I am indeed an insensitive asshole. That’s part of the problem. They messed with my brain so much that I can’t feel anything. Be it physically or mentally,” he answers.

I remember that’s not the first time he’s told me he can’t feel, but it is the first time I finally understand what he really means by it.

When the birds played with his brain, they didn’t just ‘program’ him to attack Elhyor, they also removed his ability to feel retaliation, to care about retaliation.

They made the perfect killing machine, or so they thought.

Elhyor still being alive and Brice trying to find ways to get back to normal must be quite a pain in their asses.

Well, if the crazy man who ordered it and his minions are still in possession of an ass …

after all, what would they do with one six feet under?

Because I have no doubt that anyone who was holding Brice and his men prisoner is now dead.

I want to say more, to tell him that we’re going to find a way to get him back to normal, but I’m not even sure he wants to hear it. He doesn’t sound like he actually cares.

And I can’t forget the fact that he seems to be the only one in the world who can manage to decipher when I’m lying, and since I’m not completely sure yet that we can actually cure him fully, he might catch it.

I still don’t know how he does that, and I really want to know, but it’s not going to make this lie more believable just now.

So what is the point, anyway?

“Is that all?” Brice asks, and I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being dismissed.

“How much am I authorized to take as a deposit?” I ask because this is, after all, the reason I came here. I don’t care if he doesn’t want me here. I’ll get my answer .

“Whatever you want,” Brice says with his eyes back on the screen of his holo-puter.

I can’t see what he’s looking at from this side of the room, but he’s making it clear that whatever is on the screen is more important than me being in his office.

“You can take the whole sum if it pleases you. It won’t change a thing for me. ”

I don’t know whether to be vexed about his dismissal or happy that he didn’t make things difficult for me, so I just disappear through the door of his office without saying anything else.

If he wants to keep being an ass, I don’t need to stay around to see it.

“Milton, can you move five hundred euros from Brice’s account to the household account?”

“Right away, Miss F,” the AI answers, pauses, and then adds, “It’s done.”

“Perfect.”

I swipe on my holo and call ‘home’. It’s a setting on my holo that lets me call all my sisters at the same time, and whoever picks up first will be on the other side.

The vibration settings on the other three girls will change, telling them that someone answered the call and letting them join the call if they ever want to.

“Florentine?” I recognize Amélie’s voice through the holo.

“Yeah, it’s me. It’s all good. There’s five hundred euros on the account now. If you can, don’t tell dad, I would really like for it to last more than a couple days.”

“Oh, thank you,” Amelie answers. “I’ll make sure to warn the girls. Do you know when you’re coming back?”

I sigh. I have no freaking idea. I’ve tried to see what was wrong with the infernal device, but I see numbers even when I sleep now and I can’t seem to find what should be changed exactly to reverse the damage that has been done to Brice’s brain.

I don’t want her to worry, though.

“I'm doing all I can, but it might take a while. I’ll add money again as soon as I can,” I answer her .

That’s not completely true. I’ll add money when I see that they’ve run out, but I can’t say that or there’s a chance the money will be gone faster.

I might get mad when people say I’m like my father because I hate the comparison knowing I’m nothing like him, but I know some of my sisters like to spend almost as much as him. Luckily, Amélie is not one of them.

“Knowing you, it’ll be over in no time,” Amélie says, and there’s a pinch in my heart.

I know I can’t expect my sisters to ask me what is wrong with the job I’m doing or even understand what I do when I’m working, because this is very specific and Amélie doesn’t understand a single thing about electronics, but I was hoping for more support.

Maybe I’m asking for too much, though.

I don’t know.

“Love you,” I tell her before she repeats it and I hang up.

I managed to get what I wanted and my sisters have enough money to pay for food for at least two weeks, so I should feel good.

And yet I feel hollow as I walk back to my room.

Let’s go back to not frying brains.