“What did he say?” Eli repeated.
I frowned. “I... I’m not quite sure what he meant. He said that this was for his brother.”
“Does he have any family?”
“No, Rob brought him into the Agency young. All he told me was that his family were gone.”
“So what did he mean?” Eli asked.
I shrugged. “Who knows. He had just had his head smashed into a mirror, his mind was all over the place. Now, shut the hell up, you’re giving me a headache.”
“No, that would be the fight you just had doing that,” Eli muttered, but I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
I was sat opposite Richard’s desk staring at an empty chair. I was told he wanted to talk to me, and based on the number of times I had been sat opposite Rob’s desk in my life, I was usually told off.
I had been allowed to leave from medical soon after I had woken up the second time, and after changing into a pair of blood free jeans and a t-shirt, I had made my way to Richard’s office.
“Daisy!” I braced myself for a mixture of yells and swearing when Richard walked in. He walked up to me and stood in front, his eyes looking over me carefully. “Stand up,” he said slowly.
I raised my eyebrows but stood. “If you’re going to yell just do-”
Richard hugged me.
“Um... cool. Okay. Wasn’t expecting this,” I said, but I slowly wrapped my arms around him.
“God, you had me worried sick,” Richard muttered. “I was watching the whole thing on the security camera. He could’ve killed you!”
“Oh, he would have done everything but kill me,” I said and pulled away from Richard.
“Don’t ever pull a stunt like that again!” Richard said and he winced when he looked at the stitches on my cheek.
“So, you’re not mad?” I asked.
“I’m mad that you hurt yourself!” Richard said.
“But not about anything else?”
“God, no! Your safety is the most important thing,” Richard sighed. “Daisy, I saw him taunting you. You and Jasper both have short fuses, you’re easy to wind up. I’m not mad at you for that.”
“Oh,” I said. “Okay.”
“You thought I was going to be mad at you? After you were hurt?” Richard asked after a few moments. He cocked his head to the side.
“I’m used to Rob being pissed at me,” I shrugged. “I guess I assumed you were going to be the same.”
“I’m nothing like that man,” Richard said sternly. “I would give my life for you, Daisy. And Jasper.”
“It’s sad to say that Rob wouldn’t do that,” I said.
Richard sighed and sat down behind his desk. “I am so sorry, Daisy. It breaks my heart that you were raised by him.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I just shrugged.
“I want you to go home, get some rest,” Richard said. “I know if I ask you to stay here and recover instead of going on the mission you’ll refuse, so I need you to rest to make sure you’re ready for it.”
“I need to talk to Adam first,” I said, but I couldn’t help but smirk at Richard’s assumption, he knew me well already.
“No, I think you’ve had enough for today,” Richard said softly. “Adam will still be here tomorrow, or the next day. You can talk to him then.”
“But-”
“This is where I draw the line,” Richard said. “Please go and recover.”
“If you were Rob I probably would have ignored what you just said,” I told Richard.
“But I’m not Rob.” Richard raised an eyebrow. “So, what are you going to do?”
I pursed my lips and stood up. “I’ll be back tomorrow to talk to Adam.”
“Goodbye, Daisy,” Richard said. He was smiling at me.
I turned on my heel and walked to the door, heading out into the quiet hallway. I made my way down the long, winding halls, hoping to find somebody I knew, and I smiled ever so slightly when I spotted Eli through a window. He was standing outside smoking a cigarette.
“He didn’t yell at me,” I said as I walked out of the emergency exit and went up to Eli. “I was expecting swearing and yelling. I got neither. I got a hug.”
“A hug?” Eli repeated, flicking ash from his cigarette.
“I know, I was shocked too,” I nodded. “He told me to go home and rest. I told him I wanted to see Adam-”
“That can wait,” Eli said. “He’ll still be here, he’s locked up, he’s not going anywhere.”
“Did you and Richard rehearse lines together?” I asked.
Eli rolled his eyes at me. “I called Tom and he’s sent Mason and Jack to come and pick us up. They should be here by now.”
“He sent the most annoying two,” I muttered.
“Come on,” Eli said and grabbed my hand. He discarded his cigarette to the ground and led me across the outside grounds of the Agency and to the main carpark. Mason and Jack were waiting for us, parked by the exit.
“What the bloody hell happened to you,” Mason said when Eli and I got into the car. “You’re more bruised than you are normal skin!”
“Blake,” I said simply and slumped back in the car seat. I did feel completely run down.
“Did Blake happen to have a hammer and smash it into your face?” Jack wondered.
“I don’t know, I’ll ask him and see if I can borrow it to use on you,” I snapped.
“Don’t be stroppy just because Blake kicked your ass,” Jack said and raised his eyebrows at me.
“She’s always stroppy when Blake beats her,” Mason said.
“Blake is currently lying unconscious in a cell,” I said. “Because he didn’t beat me.”
Mason paused, his hand on the gearstick and foot on the clutch. “You beat him?”
“Nearly blew the whole mission in the process,” Eli muttered.
I glared at him. “Yes, I beat Blake.”
“Wow,” Mason said. “I never thought I’d see the day, sweetcheeks.”
“Wow, thanks,” I said sarcastically.
“Blake knew you inside out,” Jack said. “He trained you. He knows every move you’re going to make before you do. He’s the one who first realise you wanted to run away-”
“Okay, we get it, Blake’s basically God reincarnated,” Eli snapped. “He lost.”
“Why did you fight in the first place?” Jack asked, rolling his eyes at Eli.
“He chose Rob,” I said.
Mason gasped softly. “He didn’t.”
“He did. Now let’s just go.”
Mason put the car into gear and drove away. Jack turned round in the front seat and frowned. “I’m sorry, Daisy. I know Rob has done a lot for Blake, but I really thought he would choose us.”
“I always knew he’d end up on Rob’s side,” I sighed. “Whatever, let’s forget about him.”
“How did kidnapping Adam go?” Mason asked.
“Oh, fantastic,” Eli said.
“We got arrested,” I explained.
“You really need to work on your definition of fantastic, mate,” Mason said to Eli.
Eli rolled his eyes. “He ended up at the Agency. That’s all that matters.”
“So, do you need me to work on the voice manipulation anymore? There’s no need to fake Blake’s voice to Adam when Adam is locked up at the Agency,” Jack said.
“No, do it, it might be useful,” Eli said. “Adam was bound to have been in contact with Rob, we may need to pretend to be Adam if Rob gets in touch.”
“Okay,” Jack nodded. “Did you speak to him, Daisy? Adam?”
I sighed. “No, I didn’t get the chance.”
“So, we don’t know who’s side he’s on yet?” Mason said.
“Oh, no, we do,” I said bitterly. “And I’ll confirm it when I speak to him tomorrow.”