^^Above, chapter title credit: Song by the Payolas.^^

{Raina}

Geoff thinks I don't know what happened after I left the city, but I do. He had another encounter with Felicia. There was a glazed look in his eyes, something that always happened every time he'd been around her. I try not to comment on it, because that'll spark an entire other conversation that I don't want to have. And I don't want to have any arguments about what the thing with Felicia looks like or doesn't look like, especially in front of Ettie.

I wake up when he does the next morning, as he gets up and heads towards the bathroom.

"Geoff?" I prop myself up on one elbow. "Where're you going?"

"I have to get to work, Raina."

"After what happened yesterday? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

His eye twitches. "Somebody has to."

I brush off that dig. Since I don't have a college diploma, there's a lot of jobs I can't do. But I have Ettie to keep me busy, although I can tell Geoff doesn't like me being here alone all day.

"If you feel faint at all, then come home right away," I tell him when he comes back out, a towel wrapped around his waist.

"You don't have to baby me, you know," he says, not looking at me.

"I'm not," I shoot back. "It's called concern."

"Look, Raina, I'm a big boy, okay?" He pulls his pants on and then takes the towel off to rub his hair. "I can take care of myself."

"So you'd rather I not say anything? Just let you go without a word?"

"Raina..." He exhales, rolling his eyes. "Don't be this way, please."

"What way?" Instead of being angry, though, my voice cracks. "You don't show up when you're supposed to, and when you do, you're injured?"

"That was out of my control, you know that."

"Do I?" I climb out of bed, facing off with him. "You don't believe you had any control of any part of the situation?"

"I don't understand why you're turning this into an argument," he says, pulling on a shirt and starting to button it up.

"I'm not arguing! I just worry, Geoff, when I see you do reckless things!" Against my will, tears well up in my eyes and spill out.

At the sight of them, all the fight leaves him. He comes up to me and pulls me into his arms, kissing the top of my head. I bury my face in his chest, breathing raggedly.

"Look, Raina, I'm a super. It's kind of the order of the day, to be reckless. I'm sorry I worried you. But truly, it couldn't be helped."

"As long as I know you'll always come back to me." I look up, flattening my hands on his shoulders.

"Yes." He smiles. "You're the reason I even have strength to resist Ridley."

I smile faintly back, and he catches my face and kisses me. I let him, sliding my arms around his neck. He weaves his fingers into my hair, taking control of the kiss. I let him do that too, because every time I kiss him, it's one more that Felicia doesn't get. And if it's one thing I want her to realize, it's that Geoff isn't hers, he's mine. And he always will be.

≈

Finally, Geoff reluctantly finishes getting dressed and leaves for work, saying he'd get breakfast on the way. He gave me a long lingering kiss at the door, only pulling away when Mila walks past with Ettie.

"Mister Geoffrey seems to be feeling very in love today," she says to me when I've followed her into the dining room, seeing her settling Ettie in her high chair.

"You saw that?" I blush. It's always a little embarrassing to have someone walk in on Geoff kissing me, especially when my daughter's with them. I hope she'll understand what that means when she's older.

She gives me a wink. "I see him kiss you, I think you two make a handsome couple. That is all."

I know it's not, but this is for Ettie's sake.

Right as I sit down to make sure she eats, the telephone rings. I get up again, despite Mila's protests that answering it wasn't a job for the lady of the house. But as much as I appreciate that, I don't want her knowing everything that's going on with Ridley.

"Hello?" I say when I pick it up, unused to people calling this early in the day.

"Raina," answers Ridley Green's voice, making my stomach plunge. "I was wondering when I'd have a chance to speak to you again."

"Ridley?" A chill sweeps over me, making goosebumps rise on my arms. "How'd you get this number?"

"That's none of your concern," he says, like I'm a kid that doesn't understand. "Listen, this has to do with your husband."

"What about my husband?" Ridley knew how to get at Geoff, by using me against him. And I knew he knew the reverse was true as well.

"I know what you two are to each other, Raina. I know he'd do everything it takes to keep you, and that's his mistake. Supers who act on love make stupid decisions."

"What's your point?" I snap. "If you're calling me just to threaten me—"

"It's not a petty one, I assure you," he says, cutting me off. "You can't protect him, Raina. Nor can he protect you. I have weapons that can bring the both of you down."

"I don't even know why I'm putting up with this—" I start, but he interrupts again.

"You're intrigued, aren't you?" His tone is taunting. "You want to know what they are."

"No, I don't." I notice the catch in my voice, and he must have too, because I hear him sigh.

"I can't tell you over the phone, but here's some food for thought. If I have your compliance, both yours and Geoff's, we can not only make more supers, but make existing ones better."

"You can't do this. You can't blackmail us into—"

He doesn't let me finish. He just hangs up.

"Dammit!" I slam the phone down and then pound the wall with both fists. Ridley wasn't ever going to grow up. He's still stuck in the past, bent on destroying Geoff no matter who it hurts. I know this is Geoff's fight, but Ridley's left me with no choice. He was a super, just like Geoff. And just like him, he has a weakness. I just have to find out what it is.

≈

Soon afterward, I find a short, one-line e-mail from Hugo in my inbox. He may be more adept at computers than I am, but now at least I know where we stand. Besides, after Geoff and I got married, I was dropped into a crash-course for a fast, technologically advanced life.

He's hoping for the midterms next year. Governor's office.

"Mama?" Ettie's voice comes from the doorway, making me look away from the monitor.

"Hi, honey." I give her a smile as I get up, not wanting her to know how much this thing with Ridley has unsettled me. "Kept yourself busy?"

"Big man," she says as I pick her up. "At door."

"A big man?" I try not to sound nervous. Keeping my daughter safe might be harder than I thought. "It must be important."

"Asking for Dada." She wriggles in my arms, trying to adjust herself on my hip.

"What did you tell him?" I slow down as we reach the front hall, noticing there's definitely a big barrel-chested man standing on our front steps. He's dressed in a plain black suit and sports a military-style haircut.

"I go get Mama," she says, sounding proud of herself.

"Thank you, Ets." I kiss her forehead and then set her down, shooing her off with Mila before addressing the issue. "Can I help you?"

"I need to speak to Geoff Cromwell," he says.

"He's at work right now." I cross my arms and block his path inside. "But I'm his wife, and you can speak to me. I'll tell him you came by."

"It's a business matter," he says dismissively. "His business."

I bristle. "I can talk business too, you know."

Rather than replying, he reaches inside his suit jacket and pulls out a card. Then he holds it out to me. I scowl at him and pluck it out of his fingers.

"You have a nice day, ma'am." He gives me a single nod and then turns away.

I don't move until his car starts and glides away. Then I shut the door and lean against it, finally looking down at the card in my hand. Dominic Pascal, Campaign Manager and Head of Security. I mutter a curse under my breath, crumpling the card in my fist as I stalk back to the computer. Ridley's web just seems to get more complicated by the day.

≈

"Governor?" El says when I call her later that afternoon. "He's the epitome of a Napoleonic complex."

"Can't say I disagree," I say as I squint at the crumpled business card on the coffee table in front of me. "Ever heard of a Dominic Pascal, by the way?"

"Pascal." I hear a chair squeak and papers rustling. "No. Who is it?"

"Ridley's campaign manager. And the head of his security detail." I scowl when I think of his presumptuousness. "I think it was just another way for Ridley to try and influence Geoff."

"Yeah, I'm sure it was. But you want to know what else?" El's voice drops, and I imagine her cupping her hand around the receiver.

That can't be good. "What?"

"One word, Rains: Money. If Geoff's got it, you know Ridley wants it. And I have a feeling nothing will stop him until it's in his dirty little hands. Knowing Ridley, he'll find a way to put Geoff's company in a chokehold."

I shudder. I don't like the sound of that. "Meaning what, exactly?"

"Follow it. The money. A lot of crooks are politicians, but not all of them. Some, like this Pascal you mentioned to me, sounds like one slippery character." She sighs heavily, and her chair creaks again.

"How do you suggest I do that?" Numbers have never been my strong suit, but if we want any chance of beating Ridley, I have to figure out something.

"Well, your husband's the CFO, persuade him."

"El..." Geoff doesn't like to talk about work while at home, and especially not around me.

"Raina. Honey. Remember when you told me you were pregnant? It's like that. You just have to come right out and say it, so he has no room to shut you down before you start. Men need things to be blunt like that. Understand?"

I lean up against the wall, curling my hand into a fist. My ring glints at me from my finger, leaving spots in my vision. I remember the day Geoff gave it to me, kissing me as his other hand rounded over my baby bump.

"Rains?" El's voice comes to me from far away. "Still there?"

"Yeah. I'm here."

"Don't worry too much, Rains. I'm sure Ridley won't even know what hit him."

I sigh, closing my eyes. "I hope you're right."