Nolan pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes. He was tired; he'd been fighting a headache for most of the afternoon and nothing he'd taken had helped. It wasn't the office cold that was going around, it was pure stress. David had refused visitation several times, even when Nolan had gone to the prison in person. David refused to speak with anyone except his lawyer, a man who was frustratingly committed to attorney-client privilege, even after Nolan had given the order to employ a clever prostitute in a honeypot ploy - through a third party, of course. This distasteful last-ditch effort came only after Nolan had come up empty on hacking the entire firm.
Still nothing.
He clenched his fist and slammed the desk. It had been months since David's confession in the the middle of the trial and months since Americon Initiative's last threat against the public. He was still monitoring the Graysons, however he was starting to think that David was mistaken in blaming Grayson Global. In the year and change since Nolan had begun his own investigation, they had said nothing about the Initiative or even of David himself. So David had an affair with Victoria and may have produced the daughter, Charlotte, but so what? An affair ending with a bastard baby wasn't on par with terrorism and mass murder.
Nolan felt he'd hit a dead end on all fronts.
Well.
He wasn't done yet, the tech wizard still had a trick up his sleeve.
A card trick, at that.
"Nolan?"
One of the few bright spots in his private life smiled at him from the doorway of his office. His Chief Financial Officer, Padma Lahari, was Marco's replacement in more ways than one. She'd started with NolCorp not long after Marco's departure the year before, but today she'd handed in her resignation. It wouldn't be prudent to continue working at the company while she and Nolan were involved. Besides, she'd already accepted a better offer on Wall Street. They would pay more, but lacked the one benefit she'd enjoyed most at NolCorp: namely, the man himself.
He smiled back at her and then glanced at the time. They had a meeting to hold, of course. It was 2:30 on a Monday, and business never slept.
Not even for him.
"I miss seeing you every day, but I think some distance is good for every couple. NolCorp is doing better than ever, and so are we." Padma remarked as she looked out over the view from Nolan's apartment. New York was shaking off the last of the winter chill and coming alive under the warmth of the spring sunlight.
Nolan handed Padma a drink and lightly kissed her lips. "I'm inclined to agree. The office isn't the same without you, though."
He liked this, having her here with him in his city apartment. They weren't living together but they frequently alternated between each other's spaces. This was Nolan's night.
Padma smiled coyly. "I don't think your office will ever be the same after everything we did in there."
"Ah, fond memories. Want to christen your office next?" He asked, smoothing a hand down her thigh to inch up the hem of her skirt.
She swatted away his misbehaving hand. "Somehow I don't think that'd make such a great impression. Remember, I'm not a CFO anymore, just a humble hedge fund manager."
"How could I forget? You've only been waving that big paycheck in my face every few minutes." He rolled his eyes and stepped away.
"Jealous?"
Nolan nodded. "Of course! Here I am, barely making ends meet, meanwhile Wall Street gave you a 30% raise."
"I'm worth every penny." Padma asserted.
"I knew that the first day we met." Nolan took her hand and lead her away from the windows. "Now, do you want to go out to dinner or stay in?"
"Oh, we can stay in. Let me cook for you, I have a recipe I want to try." Padma loved to show off her skills in the kitchen. The way to a man's heart, and all that...
"I can't say no to that! You know where the kitchen is." Nolan checked his watch. "You get started, I'll be in to help you in a few minutes. I have to make a call."
As Padma busied herself in the kitchen, Nolan retreated to his home office - careful as always to shut and lock the door. The room wasn't professionally soundproofed. There was no need yet given that Nolan hadn't had any relevant information to share with Emily in so long. Their exchanges felt awkward, even through the screen. Their quarrel in the winter was still hanging over them as they hadn't fully addressed it or healed from each other's stabbing words.
He missed Emily, and he was genuinely looking forward to having her home for the summer. Perhaps just being back in each other's physical presence would put things right, perhaps David would agree to see his daughter and some kind of progress could be made. Anything would be better than this...this too-tense, false friendship that had become something Nolan had come to dread.
No.
No, for Emily, he had to push forward and keep trying to help David. More than the gratitude he owed the man, Nolan loved the Clarke family. Many mistakes had been made from the very first day, but there was no guidebook to consult when it came to their situation. Denise advised him to maintain the guardian/friendship dynamic Nolan had with Emily, but she'd also cautioned him against being overbearing. Emily was close to sixteen years old, a young woman who had already been through so much and had so few outlets in which she could work through her feelings. Nolan had to respect that.
The man had made some progress on an avenue to reach David, that at least was something he could tell Emily with confidence and he was sure it would lift her mood.
Nolan took a deep breath and then a sip of his drink, typing in the familiar command to open the interface with Emily's computer. He was sorry for the gulf that had opened between them, the ugly words he'd snarled at her out of the frustration he'd been holding in for months. A part of him had meant what he'd said, a piece of him deeply resented how his life had been upended by everything that had happened...but none of it was Emily's fault and he so regretted implying that he blamed her for any of it.
It wasn't her fault that David had been drawn into this, and it wasn't her fault that Marco had left. it wasn't her fault that Nolan still longed for him, that despite his brief heartfelt summer affair with Catherine, despite the few casual bodies that had graced his bed since, and despite this new budding relationship with Padma, Nolan still missed Marco and the beautiful life that almost was.
Only almost, and perhaps it had never been meant to be.
Nolan would fully move on, in time.
To what, he had no idea.
Nolan blinked out of his thoughts as the screen opened and he blanched at what he saw. He slapped a hand over his mouth to muffle his shout of shock and quickly cut the connection between their screens. Nolan got up from his desk and paced the office, feeling unnerved, disturbed, upset, disgusted! He wanted to reach into his own brain and pull out the image of what he'd just seen, shred it into oblivion and restore his blissful ignorance of Emily's sex life. Moments ago he hadn't known she'd even had a sex life, but now he'd seen for himself that she did...and if her position was any indication, then she wasn't exactly a novice.
How long has she been-?
Nolan shook his head, cutting off the question. He didn't want to know, didn't want to explore the topic, he felt sick for even thinking of it.
And yet, here he was.
Immediately, he thought of Denise. His legal eagle, his rock, surely she would know what to do. She could talk to Emily as a woman, she would know what questions to ask to ensure that Emily wasn't being pressured, exploited or taken advantage of. Nolan continued to pace, trying and failing to banish the thoughts but they wouldn't stop. His mind was torturing him with his own innate logic - questions that had to be asked over an uncomfortable topic.
How long has this been happening? Who was she sleeping with? Were they being safe? Was he the only one?
If David were to find out about this - oh, God!
Nolan felt unbalanced, disturbed again to find himself faced with yet another obstacle where Emily was concerned.
Emily paused her movements as she heard the subtle ping from her computer and saw the flicker of light on the screen from the corner of her eye.
It was Nolan, right on time.
She moved harder against Aiden, hoping Nolan got an eyeful of what she was doing. The connection between their screens was immediately cut, and she bit her lip to hide her smile, satisfied that her point had been made against him.
Emily wasn't a girl any longer.
She was a woman, an operative, an agent. She was being trained to observe, to steal, to trespass, to alter her appearance, to fight, to manipulate - all of it going toward the goal of exposing Americon Initiative. Between the facade she lived in school and the outside training, Emily was becoming an industrious, if monstrous, little machine.
Takeda had sent Aiden to act as a guide in her training. In addition to their observations and sparring, he had made himself available to her whenever she needed him, for whatever whim. Emily regarded him as a shade of a friend; he was a man she could speak with freely and show a slice of her real self. She didn't know how he truly regarded her, and she hardly cared. She was maintaining her guard against him despite the mutual loyalty their circumstances demanded.
Emily had pushed herself to approach him sexually.
In her opinion, virginity was nothing to cherish; it was only a physical fact that could be exploited. She'd been made to understand that during her time in Millhouse. With Aiden, she had taken this step in life on her own terms. Above all, she craved control and Aiden understood that in a way no one else could. That first night, he had allowed her to explore him, first with her eyes and then with her hands. He made no move to touch her until she expressed her permission. He guided her way when she faltered, he allowed her to use his body as a tool for her new learning experience.
That first night had been weeks ago.
Emily moved again, finishing the man. There was a measure of satisfaction in watching his expression as the rush took him to his moment of bliss, something she had yet to feel in their encounters. She didn't care. She could bring that feeling on herself, alone at night, thinking of Nolan in Aiden's place.
"Think he enjoyed your little show?"
Emily looked down at Aiden's bemused expression. She furrowed her brows as she moved off of him, his body withdrawing from within her own. It was a strange sensation. She took her patterned robe off the desk chair and slipped it on, belting it tightly. "I don't know what you mean."
"You're too smart to play dumb. You called me to come here, and I saw that someone was on your computer for a second, just long enough for them to see us. It was him, wasn't it? Your...guardian?" He remained laying back on her bed, yawning deeply.
Emily shrugged at the word. It was the truth, or a part of it, at least. "So what if it was?"
"You must really love him to want to hurt him like that." Aiden said it with a smirk, unfazed at being used as a pawn. Why would he care? He wasn't losing anything in this.
"I do. But it doesn't matter. He doesn't love me like that. He can't love me that way."
Standing there, speaking about this with Aiden...whatever flash of victory she'd felt a moment ago was already gone. In its place? She just felt dirty.
"Then why bother setting it up so he would see us? There's no changing men like him."
"I just...I wanted to show him I wasn't a girl anymore. I'm a woman now."
Voicing her private assertions suddenly felt petulant - no, worse.
She sounded stupid.
Aiden outright laughed at that, fueling her humiliation. "Sex is just sex, Emily. It doesn't change you from a girl into a woman any more than what you ate for lunch today would." He moved off her bed and reached over to pull on his jeans. "If you want to be a woman, then adjust your priorities. That man has the connections and resources stateside that you'll need to accomplish our mission. He will be very useful, very soon."
Emily wasn't sure she liked the sound of what Aiden was saying.
"What should I do?"
He stood up. "Whatever disagreement you had with him before, bury it. Let it be over. It's true that love is a weakness. We all have one, so you can let him be yours - in secret. Cultivate him as an asset, or even better, you could come clean and let him play a part in what will come next."
"What happens with Nolan will be my choice."
Even Emily was surprised at the finality in her voice.
A moment later, she was soft once more. "Where does this leave us?"
"You and me?"
"Yes."
Aiden shrugged lightly. "It leaves us in the same place, training for whatever Takeda has planned."
She tilted her head. "Even after what I just did?"
"I told you, sex is just sex. You opened the door to this, whether we continue or not is up to you." He stepped in closer, crowding her, his hand seeking into her robe. "I don't mind the practice and from the feel of things, neither do you."
"Stop."
As always, Aiden obeyed.
The man removed his hand, stepping back to find the rest of his clothes. "All right, fine. Make up your mind, Emily. A girl plays games, a woman wins the war."