Rising Tomorrow (Roc de Chere Book 1) by Mariana Morgan (essential reading txt) 📕

her ribcage. There was just this gentle rush of adrenaline that made her feel superior and clever.

In reality, however, it all felt wrong. Some of the water splashed out of the glass as she shivered, and she put it down before more could spill. She was becoming a useless, shaking bundle of nerves, and her head, starved of oxygen, was starting to pound as her brain became covered in fog. But even that amount of stress didn’t prevent her from picking up on the demanding tone to his voice, and she felt herself bristle. She looked at him sharply, her eyes narrowing in the anger typical of an Elite being snubbed.

‘What I would appreciate, Mr Wagner,’ she said, just a tad sharper than she really wanted to, ‘is to know what the hell is going on. I was perfectly happy minding my own business when one of your inspectors showed up at my place uninvited. As a good citizen I agreed to help, and the next day my life was thrown upside down. I was shot at while being taken home in one of your XSTs. I was dragged out of the aircar by the scruff of my neck by your gendarme and taken into the slums. The freaking slums! Only to be drugged and taken through the worst hell hole I could imagine… No, strike that—it was worse than anything I could possibly have imagined. The Leeches are fucking insane! You have no idea what the slums are like! Then I was kept against my will somewhere underground until I managed to escape when they tried to transport me. I have nowhere to go since someone has been trying to break into my home. No one but you to ask for help. So you’d better start telling me what the fuck is going on before I ruin you and your precious career. You have no idea the resources I have!’

‘I’m sorry, Ms Moretti, but is it my imagination or did you just say in one breath that you have no one but me to turn to and that you are going to ruin my career?’

Eloise blinked. She had done it right. She knew she had, just like Rivas and Gonzalez had told her to. Be a cocky Elite. Be panicked. Be irrational. So why?

‘I know what I said! I also know that there is a battalion of lawyers on retainer working for NanoC that will be delighted to know what the hell has happened to me. You do not want to get into a pissing contest with me!’ The words felt unnatural, but something had prompted her to say just that. She must have heard it somewhere.

‘Oh, but I do, Ms Moretti. I really do,’ Wagner drawled. He made a show of taking a sip of his wine, exaggerating his relaxed enjoyment of the confused look Eloise was giving him.

‘Who the fuck are you!?’ she squealed, recoiling from his bloodthirsty glare. Suddenly, she realised with painful accuracy just how safe she really had been at Roc de Chere. Gonzalez was a rough sonofabitch, but his protection was better than anything the psychopath in front of her had to offer.

‘I’m someone who can snap your pitiful neck in a heartbeat. Where is he?’ Wagner demanded.

‘What? Who?’

‘Colonel Mathias Larsen. Or DCI fucking Gonzalez. Whatever he calls himself these days.’

‘I don’t—’

‘He is the one who kept you against your will, isn’t he? Underground, was it? Where?’ The demand cracked like a whip, and Eloise flinched.

‘I don’t know. North slums. Outskirts. I don’t know! I don’t remem—’

‘If you want your pretty little neck to continue supporting your pretty little head you are going to take me back to where they held you. Do you understand me?’

Eloise swallowed hard. Her brain felt even more sluggish and it was hard to stay focused. She shook her head hard, hoping to shake the fogginess away, but it only increased the headache and made her feel more woozy. Nausea twisted her stomach.

‘It was you, wasn’t it? You tried to shoot the XST down,’ she murmured eventually. There were so many scattered thoughts racing through her misfiring brain that she didn’t know which one to focus on. She didn’t realise that her vocal cords had activated until she heard her own voice. At least she thought it was her own voice.

‘Ms Moretti, your VR talent is a royal pain in the ass. Your VRPs gave us quite a lot of trouble before we broke the locks. The last thing I need is you meddling, finding something in the code we weren’t able to remove after the necessary modifications were made.’

‘Who’s we?’ Gonzalez growled in Eloise’s earpiece.

‘Fuck you! You fucking asshole, you set me up!’ Eloise shouted to Gonzalez, emotions pushing her to her feet.

Somehow the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place—she could feel it, but it was still chaotic.

Gonzalez might be a better choice than Wagner, but he never cared about me. He used me to get information out of Wagner knowing this fucking psychopath would never fall for my story. He knew it was only a matter of time before Wagner turned against me. He knew!

I was always the disposable one.

‘Of course I set you up,’ Wagner said. ‘It wasn’t really that hard. Outside of your precious VR you have the brain of a five-year-old. Gullible, naive and dumb. Now tell me where I can find Gonzalez, or that gullible brain of yours won’t get a chance to mature.’

‘Who’s we?’ Gonzalez repeated icily. ‘Moretti, get your shit together!’

Eloise collapsed back into her seat and crossed her arms. Her head was pounding so hard her vision had clouded. The voice coming through the earpiece was making it infinitely worse, like red-hot knives stabbing under her skull. But then words spilt out of her. Words she didn’t remember thinking, but there they were, pouring through her vocal cords and out of her mouth.

‘Fine, I’ll show you what I remember. I ran in panic until I noticed a