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Chapter Twenty-Five

Sera

As I make us some hot cocoa, I think about what he said in the car. First, amazingly enough, he seemed open to the idea of sharing our relationship with the world. I’m not sure why – maybe it’s some old self-esteem issues – but I didn’t think he’d be that keen to do it.

He was more than keen. To let the paparazzi see the love in his eyes, he said he would be happy to. His words came out so naturally, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. After yet another bat-shit day, it was like a balm on my soul. I wish I could tell him I’m ready to stay here, ready to begin our lives together, but I can’t shake the feeling I’m being a fool.

We sit together on the couch, in front of his laptop. It’s time for the call with Graham and Ellie.

Both of them have red rimmed eyes, but they’re not crying when they answer the call. Ellie looks despondent with her hands wrapped across her middle as though protectively.

“Thank you for doing this,” Ellie murmurs. “Both of you.”

“Yes,” Graham mutters. “Thank you, Sera. Mr. Cross.”

“So you can sabotage his company, but you can’t call him Luke .” The vitriol explodes out of me. I almost apologize when Graham flinches, but then his eyes turn calculating, and that causes my rage to return. “Graham, if you think we’re recording this, that we’re trying to trap you, then we should just end this here. If we can’t be honest and open, there’s no point to this.”

“Sera is right,” Luke says, taking my hand. “We’ve already proven that the code came from TechGuard. There would be no reason to entrap you.”

“Perhaps the code malfunction was an error, not sabotage.”

“Graham,” Ellie says, glaring at him.

Graham sighs. “I’m sorry. You’re right, Sera. I fucked up. I ruined what we had. Worse, I ruined what you and Ellie had. Mr… Luke, I sabotaged your product. I sabotaged your keynote speech. If you are recording this, send it to the authorities. It’s what I deserve.”

“We’re not recording,” Luke says with a sigh. “But after what you started, Graham, I ought to be. Sera has been through a lot.”

“That’s what I regret most,” Graham replies regretfully.

“Why the sudden change of heart?” I ask.

“I’ve always cared about you, but fear consumed me, Sera. Losing the love of my life has always been my greatest fear, and Damien used that. Soon enough I realized my mistake, but it was too late. I feared what Damien would do if I reneged on the deal. By the time he’d targeted you, I was in too deep.”

“He could’ve killed her, Graham,” Luke snarls, his protectiveness making his voice deep and husky. “You can’t understand the hellfire I’d have rained down on TechGuard, on you, if my woman hadn’t bravely found a way out of the fucked-up situations you put her in.”

“We’re so, so sorry,” Ellie whispers tearfully. “There’s no excuse for any of this.”

Graham groans. “Ellie’s right. I hate myself for what I did. But you have to understand, when he switched the numbers, he was threatening us. We didn’t do that for money. We did that because we were terrified.”

“You could’ve warned me.”

“I wanted to, I almost did at first. He must have been keeping tabs on me somehow. That day, I asked you to look over the code in Vegas. He realized I had saved the code intact onto your laptop. He came to me after and threatened Ellie. He said it was easy to slip into the hospital, hurt her.” Graham sounds desperate now. “I know there’s nothing I can say to make this right, but I was so scared.”

“You were the closest to family I ever had,” I tell them, my voice hoarse. “You know how much you meant to me.”

“Sera, I don’t want to…” Ellie stops herself, putting her hand over her mouth.

“Say it,” I whisper.

She shakes her head.

“Say it.”

“I don’t want to die with a rift between us,” she says, her voice tight with grief. “We’ve done wrong, but please, tell us how we can make it right. We’ll do anything.”

“Anything?” I ask pointedly.

Graham nods. “Anything, Sera,” he says firmly.

“Are you still in contact with Damien?”

“He hasn’t spoken to us since he threatened me,” Ellie murmurs. “But we have his number. Why?”

“There might be something you can do. Come to LA. Tell him you want more money. Tell him you’re ready to trick me… again,” I say a little too excitedly, exhilarated at the thought of finally turning the tables on the bastard.

Luke looks at me. “You want to set a trap?”

“I’m sick and tired of waiting around for him to do something,” I say fiercely. “First it was the laptop, then it was switching the numbers, the gun, the threats, threatening me this morning… It’s time for us to take the first step. He’s not in charge anymore.”

“What about Ellie’s treatment?” Graham asks hesitantly.

“If Sera is ready to work with you,” Luke says, “I’ll cover her treatment. I’ll cover your flights, your board, everything.”

Graham gasps. “A-after everything I’ve done?”

“I won’t be doing it for you,” Luke snaps. “I’ll be doing it for her.”

“This is the only way,” I mutter. “I’m asking a lot – but you’ve done a lot. And I can’t stand the thought of him out there, waiting for his next chance to pounce.”

Graham and Ellie exchange a look. The moment becomes heavy with how pivotal this moment is. This is where they show if they truly care, if they ever did. Finally, Ellie whispers, “We’ll come. We’ll do the right thing. Thank you for giving us this chance, Sera. You’re like the daughter we never had.”

“Luke, can you arrange the details?” I ask, standing, avoiding her last words.

“Sure,” he replies. When I walk away from the laptop, he throws a ‘I’ll be back’ over his shoulder as he follows me. He gently grips my shoulder when he reaches me and turns me toward him. “Are you sure about this?”

“We need this to end so we can begin our lives together.”

He gently brushes tears from my cheek, then leans down and kisses me softly. “My life began the moment I laid eyes on you.”

I love you. I almost say the words aloud, but I can’t cross that line, not yet, not until I know we’ve got a serious future together.

“Arrange the details,” I murmur. “I’m going to get some more work done. I feel like I’m close to a breakthrough.”

“Sera, it’s almost midnight.”

“Please.” I press my hand on his chest, my fingernails bending as I claw against his firm muscles through his shirt. “I need to do this. All of this – life – sometimes it gets too much.”

He leans down, kissing me again. “Okay, Sparkplug. Don’t worry. Soon, this will be over. Then we can decide what the rest of our story looks like.”

I step into his office and switch on the computer, then log into my NeuroDrive Cloud account. Recovering my work, I slip on my headphones and play some music to help me drift into that perfect fluid state.

I only realize I’ve been sitting for so long when Luke gently slips his arms around me and massages my shoulders. I let my head fall from side to side, stretching my neck out as he rubs out the kinks in my neck.

“It’s four AM,” he whispers when I take off my headphones.

I spin to him, smiling despite everything. My heart pounds – not with fear, but with excitement. “Luke, I think this is going to work. We need to go to the office now . We need to upload this to the prototype car. I honestly think this is it. The empathetic model fits right into the existing framework. Luke, this is it.”

He wraps his arms around me. “First thing in the?—”

“No, let’s go now. Let’s make it happen. Don’t you get it? This is it. ”

He smiles and kisses my cheek. “The office is closed. Even if I opened up, I don’t want to take you there without security. Let’s grab a few hours’ sleep. I promise, as soon as the office opens, we’ll head in and upload your program. Not that we need to.”

“What do you mean?”

He squeezes my hips. I love when he does that. Before Luke, I never would’ve imagined feeling so confident about curves. “Your passion is enough to tell me this is going to work.”

“It is,” I say breathlessly. “This AI, this personality, it wouldn’t dream of saying the things the sabotage caused the other model to say. Listen to me. Dream . I’m not saying it’s sentient, but the algorithm wouldn’t produce those responses.”

“Right, that’s it,” he says, then scoops me off my feet.

I laugh, throwing my arms around him. “What are you doing?”

“Taking you to bed. You need some rest before your big day tomorrow. I love seeing you like this, but if you had your way, you’d get no sleep, I’m sure.”

He carries me to the bedroom and places me down. Together, we walk into the en-suite and brush our teeth. He smiles at me in the mirror.

“I like brushing our teeth together,” I tell him after. “It feels very couple-like, doesn’t it?”

“That’s because we’re a couple, Sparkplug. You’re mine and I’m yours.”

We climb into bed. I lay with my head against his shoulder, my hand on his hard chest. My mind won’t stop whirring with anticipation for tomorrow.

“I can hear that,” he says.

I chuckle. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to. I can hear your mind spinning around and around.”

“I can’t help it. I never thought I’d have time to try my ideas on this scale…”

He rolls onto his side, so we’re face to face, our noses touching. His smile is magnetic. “You’re the most resilient person I’ve ever met. After everything, to be this passionate, this excited… it means something, Sera. It means you’re going to be an incredible wife and mother one day.”

“Wife and mother,” I whisper.

“Did I go too far?”

“There’s nothing as too far with us, remember…”

I kiss him with meaning. He groans and pushes against me, his manhood bulging through his briefs.

“I won’t get any sleep anyway,” I whisper between hungry kisses. “Unless you’re not in the mood?”

He laughs savagely, digging his finger into my ass. “Not in the mood? For you? Are you kidding me?”