"As we agreed," the preteen said, "I poisoned my mother's mind with the idea that James would be better off as a suit."

She was seated on a huge, black leather chair in my home office, in front of me. My office was dimly lit, with a heavy oak desk at the centre, its surface cluttered with stacks of cash, burner phones, and a gleaming silver revolver. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lined the walls, but instead of books, they were filled with liquor bottles, luxury cigars, carefully organised weapons of different types and sizes, and nondescript ledgers. A state-of-the-art security monitor displayed live feeds from multiple hidden cameras.

"Good," I said, clasping my hands in front of my face. "How did it go? Did she make your father snap?"

"She did." She smirked. "It was somehow amusing. James had to intervene, of course... the bloody idiot." She rolled her eyes.

"He did? Interesting." My tone didn't show it, though.

"What I did won't be enough, I'm afraid." She tapped the leather arm of her chair impatiently. "And the suit you sent after Mia failed. Why did you only send one? I would've sent an army! I thought you adults had more guts." She tried to emulate the voice of the typical, evil antagonist in a low-budget film. Pathetic.

"Excuse me?" I chuckled. I narrowed my glare at her. "You did what you had to do, Athena. Now leave the rest to me," I added in a huskier voice that made her stop fooling around doing funny voices.

"I hope so," she whispered in a normal voice. "But let's face it: ever since we started this operation two years ago, I haven't seen much improvement. I'm not staying in this technology-phobic, misogynistic dump for the rest of my life."

Her honesty and bitterness shone then. That was much better.

"I agree. It's unacceptable, even for me."

"Good to see another woman with some guts to do what needs to be done." Athena sighed. "I really liked your original plan, though. It was perfect! I wonder why it failed.

"You got him to fall in love with you. You made a deal with that drug cartel's people to lure and tempt Ian Trennik, that former colleague of yours in the force. Then, you planned the mission's failure and James' accident. You had recently ended your love affair with him—that was a brilliant touch. He was devastated. I loved that. He must've wished with all his heart to become a suit, but our father wouldn't hear of it.

"Yes, that was unexpected," I admitted, frustrated like her. "I thought that, being his beloved son, he'd comply with his wish, opening the door for other suits to be accepted in Two Dawns, and therefore, create a domino effect to end these anti-progress tendencies."

"Yeah, but my father refused, no matter how much he insisted," she added. But she shook her head and said, "Anyway, you got quite far, though. Not every woman in Two Dawns can become a police officer, Vanessa—much less become part of the elite body."

I grunted mildly. I didn't like her to talk to me about my choices, analysing me as if she were in control. Stupid kid. "My career path was hard. My talent would've gone down the drain if I hadn't kissed many... manly arses."

"We need to change this," she said, leaning forward to emphasise her words. "A lot. You could become captain... or even get a higher promotion. And I'm not getting married to any of these pathetic men when I grow up with a bloody smile like Savanah did—or join those stupid whore-a-thons she invented to get her mind off things."

"Wise evil twin."

She sighed. "I wish Pearl was different. She thinks acting all... good and pure is going to make everything okay, but it won't. So, what's next?"

I put my palms open and flat ahead of me. "Don't be impatient, my dear poisonous flower."

She rolled her eyes at me. "Stop calling me that. If anything, I'd be a thorn."

"Good imagery." I sighed. "But this meeting is over. I've got a couple of calls to make. We will ensure that this pathetic healer, this Mia Tan, is not a nuisance anymore soon enough. And we will make sure that De Jong will be sent away as a suit, never to stain your family's honour anymore."

It was easier for me to refer to him as De Jong. Part of me still felt something for him—pity, for the most part. He was handsome, really. I wouldn't deny that. And the sex? It was great. I enjoyed myself immensely, not gonna lie. But my infatuation needed to be short-lived... and a plot device—nothing more.

My mind wandered to more peaceful moments in my story with him. I sighed.

That stupid healer could make my plans go astray. The candid way she looked at him and talked to him unnerved me. I got uptight when he praised her. She was like an angel to him. I could easily tell that both were infatuated with one another.

She handled the hospital crisis better than I could, making me look like a trigger-happy rookie. My current superior in the force told me off for the incident. That had never happened before, even though my behaviour was the same as usual.

I frowned. The sooner she was gone, the better.

"Anyway, last but not least, if everything goes as planned," I added, regaining Athena's attention, "the Lord Commander will open the gates to technology and an update in the lifestyle here, in Two Dawns. You will be rewarded for your services dearly, Athena."

"A dawn for women and our rights, at last." She smiled.

"And a profitable opportunity for us who have shares in Suits Robotics." I raised an eyebrow to her.

"Indeed." Athena's smile widened. "Will you call the Federal Governor for help?"

"Not yet."

"I would," she said as she stood up to leave.

"He would scold you for that. Don't be impatient."

"It's been two years!" she complained.

"It's been longer than that—you just weren't part of it." I smirk at her. "Now, go. Do what you can to poison your parents' minds to make De Jong become a suit... or be sent away in any way you can think of. You're a smart kid. Pitch your ideas to me first, though."

She nodded. "Goodbye then."

When she closed the door behind her, I turned to my laptop's screen. My shares in Suits Robotics were doing just fine in the stock market, but if the market expanded here, in Two Dawns, the company's profits would skyrocket. Thus, the stock market value of my shares would reach spectacular worth.

But I never placed all my eggs in the same basket, so to speak. I wanted more and had planned for more. I was simply biding my time.

"You still there?" I asked.

"Of course, I am," a baritone male voice said on the speaker of my phone. "Athena is a bright young lady—and a worthy asset. Nice touch in letting her think you were not going to call me."

"Need-to-know principle. An employee only needs to know the necessary information to carry out a specific job—nothing more."

"I love this policy."

So did I—and I was sure he did the same to me. The only difference? Athena was a naïve, sweet, ambitious, little girl who didn't suspect that I was hiding things from her—but it was crystal clear that the Federal Governor hid important things from me.

I smirked. I knew what those dirty little secrets were, though.

"My friend Melnik has got a... worrisome marriage life," he went on playfully. "I think I will need to offer him a way out."

I raised an eyebrow. "In exchange for a more lenient policy as regards suits, maybe?"

"Clever girl."

I frowned. "I'm not a girl, sir." I cleared my throat. "Governor, if I may. Cocaine is running out. We need another shipment."

"Already coming. It should arrive in a few hours."

"Good."

"Take as much as you want for yourself." His tone was that of a benevolent master. How much I hated that!

"Sure. Thank you, Governor," I replied like a good bitch.

It was great that he thought I was addicted to cocaine and that I was a compliant little bitch to him. When he started to bribe me four years ago to get all those drug shipments into Two Dawns in exchange for a better job in the astroguards' force, he put a parcel of cocaine in my hands and told me it was a gift.

It wasn't. That was a trap, an instrument to gain control over me. It was a test—and I let him believe I had willingly bitten the bait.

I sold the cocaine I was supposed to consume and kept the money—investing it in a front company, Wasted Potential, a business that appeared to be legitimate but it wasn't. I conducted some real operations in the field of waste disposal with it, but it was primarily used to conceal my illicit activities in money laundering.

I never got wasted on the drugs—but on the profits of that fake waste disposal company. I loved the irony.

"My boss loves this batch in particular. It took a lot more work to produce, and the quality has been improved, so the selling price needs to go up by a third," the Governor added.

"No problem. Most of the clients can afford it. And those who can't will get the shitty stuff cut with baking soda, lidocaine, levamisole, and fentanyl, as usual."

"Perfect."

"Governor, about my rewards for this operation..."

He let go of a short giggle. "You will become Chief of the Astroguard Force in Two Dawns, as promised. Be patient."

"I am."

"I'm going to deal with that stupid Melnik and his technology blockade," he added in a playful tone. "If you get rid of that doctor or Melnik's bastard soon, the captain job will be yours in a few days' time. You will then get promoted higher up after that."

"I understand why you want that healer gone, but De Jong?" I frowned. "Why?"

I had always found it suspicious that such a powerful man would want a mere bastard dead or banished. What was the Governor hiding from me?

"That's not your concern, Miss Om," he said, his voice going down an octave.

The only piece of information that was still elusive to me. Damn.

"The bastard's just a piece in my game, honey," a female voice said, then.

A leather strap sound being tied in a buckle was heard over the phone. Then, a masculine mumbled something, but I couldn't make out anything. The female voice giggled darkly.

"Now, be a good boy and stay quiet, will you?" she said with naughtiness. "Let your mistress do all the talking from now on."

Okay, they were at it again. He and his boss. She had gagged him. The Governor was having rough sex with her while being on the phone with me. Couldn't he just wait until they were done? I guessed being heard turned both of them on. I rolled my eyes.

"I will never understand why getting laid with a man that could be your father turns you on... Savanah."

"Oh, this? This is just for fun. Our real relationship is a business one, isn't it, my pet?"

Rich folk and their vices. Her lust feeds her greed, and vice versa. I swore to any god that might be listening to my thoughts that I would never be that dumb if I made that much money. I would never mix business with pleasure—ever.

"I secretly own all transport-related businesses," she said. "He's into hardware and robotics. We need each other, don't you see?"

Plus, her husband did business in the extraction of rare minerals and metals, which both of them needed, so that was why they hid their affair from him. The Governor's wife was a TV gossip diva. Therefore, I stored as much evidence as I could of their affair just in case I needed to use it in the future, to send it to either of them.

But if the Governor and Savanah held their end of the bargain, I'd shut up for life. I'd become Two Dawns' Chief of the Astroguard Force, and they would gain access to a vast new market here, in this colony.

That was the plan—unless they thought about betraying me somehow just as I was. I could not be too prepared. What if I didn't succeed in my task? What would they do to me? We had never discussed that.

"Savanah, what if I get either of them kidnapped? Or both, De Jong and that healer? Would that be suitable for you? Or too striking to your liking?"

A long sigh filled with tiredness echoed at the other end of the line. "Do you know what I would like?"

She made a dramatic pause.

"I'd love imaginative subordinates, Vanessa," she went on in a demanding and patronising tone. "People who can handle their problems dutifully. So... surprise me, honey. Let me see what you're really made of."

I frowned. My strategy would need to be fancier than a mere kidnapping, then.

Hello, my sugar cubes!

Did you like this chapter's revelations and secrets? 
Athena playing evil? 
Vanessa plotting? 
The Governor's still secret hate towards James? 
Savanah's role as boss of this whole enchilada? 

Stay tuned!

XOXO

Mar