Gifted Connections [Book 2]

by SM Olivier

  The guys were all attractive, and I knew I was cute, maybe even pretty, but I still struggled with the fact that I was supposed to capture their attention. In the beginning, I had thought I would be fine with the guys carrying on relationships with others, but the more I got to know them, the more I wanted them all to myself. I was selfish.

  I reached out and ran my fingers through his hair, unable to resist any longer. He groaned deep in his throat before finally stirring.

  He blinked up at me. His gaze puzzled and scrutinizing. He finally sat up and stretched. The bottom of his shirt rose up, and I could see the little trail of hair that started at the bottom of his belly button. He told me once he kept his ‘happy trail’ but shaved his chest and pubic area, daily. He even went as far as to keep his armpits, legs, and arms groomed. He wasn’t too crazy about inheriting the ‘hairy’ side of his heritage. I found it highly attractive.

  He cleared his throat as he leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, then steepled his fingers together so they rested on his sensual lips. “A couple of nights ago, I felt my tattoo burn and felt this overwhelming urge to call Noah. Noah seemed really…evasive when I finally talked to him. Which is truly out of character for him. That very night, I had a dream of taking a girl on this romantic horse carriage ride in Central Park.” I looked at him expectantly, not knowing how to proceed. “I don’t do romance,” at my raised speculative eyebrows, he laughed. “Don’t get me wrong. I do my share of wining, dining, and hooking up, but I don’t do romance. I’m very upfront with any girl. They know the rules. They know I’m unavailable.”

  I nodded, waiting for him to continue. I had a feeling I knew where this was going. “Why did I dream about you?” he asked, as if he already knew the answer. “Last night, I saw you protectively holding Chip, even though he was bent on destruction, and in that moment, I knew it wasn’t a dream at all.”

  “It wasn’t,” I said quietly. I looked down at my hands, trying to figure out the best way to continue this conversation. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I wasn’t sure if he was ready for the truth. The guys had taken it in stride the last time. I had struggled with it. Things had changed. Would they still take it so well?

  I had a feeling Troy would and could handle it, but I was unable to let him know as Collin came into the room. A cup of coffee in his hand, flowers, and balloons. He stopped short as he saw Troy, his smile dying on his face.

  “Ricci, what are you doing here?” he was frantically eyeing us. He looked panicked, but I wanted to reassure him.

  After knowing my sister was clinging to life, it made me even more determined to blow his little operation up. I just needed to find out how much he truly knew.

  “His team found my sister last night,” I finally said.

  His eyebrows knitted. “Which one?” He must have realized his mistake, because he laughed uneasily. “I mean…Emma?” He turned to Troy. “Is that why you left the party early?” He was such a jerk; I know I had told him her name was Ella.

  My eyes narrowed on him. I wanted to make sure he dug his grave deeper. “You went to a party last night? Which one?”

  Collin looked like he was inwardly cursing at himself. “Look, babe, I’m sorry. I know you were laying here sick and all, but I was so worried about you, and I needed to get my mind off things, so I went to Jaxson’s celebration party. That was a great game, wasn’t it man?” His smile didn’t even reach his eyes.

  Troy stood, and he looked at us contemplatively. “I wasn’t aware you were dating anyone.”

  Collin had the audacity to blush. “Yeah well, it’s new and we’re still getting to know each other again.”

  “So, there’s nothing going on with you and Rose?” Troy asked, although I could see he already knew the answer.

  Collin’s eyes widened in surprise, before he stammered. “No, man, she’s still dating Drake, isn’t she? Besides,” he looked over at me. “With a girl like her living with me, why would I want anyone else? Anyway, I just talked to the nurse. She said you’re free to go home. Do you want to go home, grab a movie, and recuperate on the couch together all day?”

  I resisted the urge to snort as Noah came walking into the room. He stopped short when he saw Collin in there. “Hey man,” he said coolly as he exchanged a look with Troy. I knew they were secretly communicating with each other.

  “Was he hooking up with Rose last night?” I projected my thoughts to Troy.

  Troy didn’t even react in surprise as he looked over at me and barely nodded.

  “Did Remy confirm that she hit on him?” I asked.

  Again, he nodded.

  I sighed in satisfaction and sadness. I was glad that I was proven right, but sad Drake may have to have his heart broken once more.

  I was brought out of my thoughts as I heard Collin saying, “Great, so get dressed, babe, and we can go home.”

  I was brought out of my thoughts as I looked over at Noah. “How’s Ella doing?” I asked, making sure to emphasize her name. Then I looked over at Collin to see what his reaction would be to my following words. “Did you know they found my sister and a few other children locked up in dog kennels? They were severely dehydrated and malnourished. One of the children said if they were lucky, their caretakers remembered to give them some bread and water once a day.”

  Collin flushed white. From his expression I knew he wasn’t faking it. I knew then he had no clue that these children were being taken or bought and forced to live in horrible conditions before being moved to Horatio’s facility. Horatio was building his own ‘army,’ but why were they treated so horribly before they were transported to goodness knows where? What was the purpose of it all? “What-” he stammered. “You’re joking, right?”

  I stood up on weak legs. I had this gut feeling that I would no longer have to spy on Collin. I think with the right push, he might be able to be won over to our side. I was beginning to suspect that Horatio had various levels of minions working for him. I had a feeling people like Collin and Mr. Young was willing to work for him, for whatever reason, and they truly didn’t know how Horatio fully operated. I had seen it in Mr. Young’s eyes, and I was seeing it now in Collin’s.

  Troy was quick to grab one of my arms.

  “Do you think this is a good idea?” Noah murmured quietly.

  I nodded. “He needs to know.”

  I walked over to the door. “I think there’s something you need to see.” I looked at Collin. I was going to lay all my cards out on the table and hope I was right.

  We walked over to the room next door, where my sister still laid unresponsive on the bed, but Chip was sitting up playing with a hand-held video game while cartoons played from the TV on the wall. He looked up with a smile as he held up the video game for us to see. “Look, Noah!” he said excitedly. “I beat four levels already.”

  I looked over at Noah and saw a blush on his cheeks, and I had a feeling he had purchased the video game system for Chip to get his mind off his ordeal.

  I smiled at him.

  “Good job, buddy!” Noah said with genuine excitement.

  I walked over and pushed the curtain open where my sister was.

  “We removed her feeding tube this morning, but still have fluids going to her through the IV,” Noah said. “She’s still unresponsive, though.”

  “What happened?” Collin gulped, his eyes round with horror.

  “We had to rescue a group of children from a couple that was holding them for Horatio,” Troy explained solemnly.

  “When I last saw her, she was happy and healthy,” I tried to compose myself, so I wouldn’t cry. I pulled the sheets out from under her chin and revealed the scars covering her arms. “She wasn’t battered and broken either,” I whispered. I felt like yelling at Collin and telling him it was his fault and everyone else that had a hand in all of this.

  “Ella and I didn’t listen,” Chip said with sadness as he hung his head. “We wanted to go home to our mother and sister. She hated the dog ca
ge. The wires made her uncomfortable. She couldn’t sleep. She was hungry. They moved us all in other cages when I tried to get us free. My cage was made of plastic, I can’t move plastic.”

  “He can manipulate metal,” Troy quietly explained.

  “How do you know Horatio is behind this all?” Collin asked with disbelief. “Doesn’t he just want a world where the gifted can be free? Where we didn’t have to live in hiding anymore?”

  “That’s his ultimate goal, in a way,” Will said quietly from the doorway. “But first he needs likeminded people to help him eradicate or convert the ungifted. He ran out of people willing to work for him. After I worked with him, I realized our goals were different. I want a world where we can peacefully co-exist, and he wants power.” I was shocked to see Will wasn’t alone. Remy, Jace, Drake, Jaxson, Gavin, Jemmy, and Rachel were with him. “Adults are harder to convince, but if you had young impressionable minds like, say, children, they can be trained to hate. Trained to want to follow whoever rescued them.”

  “That doesn’t make sense!” Collin insisted. “How can he abuse children and then expect them to willingly work for him?”

  “When they are taken from their parents, or bought from their parents,” Will patiently explained. “They are given to nefarious individuals. Eventually they are moved to another facility, where they are ‘rescued.’ They are fed, clothed, and given pretty much anything they want. They are groomed to the point that they are willing to do pretty much anything for Horatio. After all, he rescued them.”

  Collin paled and stumbled to find a seat. I suspected that he had seen some of these children. “How-” his voice broke. “How do you know all this? How do I know that this isn’t all lies?”

  “They aren’t,” Rachel finally spoke up. “My father could not be bought. Horatio tried to convince my Dad and brothers to work for him on several occasions, and when we wouldn’t, he blew up my house.”

  Collin rubbed his eyes wearily and then looked up at Will. “You know, don’t you?” The unspoken question was clear. He wanted to know if Will knew that he was working for Horatio.

  Will nodded.

  Collin looked over at me, I could see he felt ashamed. “After I injured myself...I couldn’t play football anymore. I had a taste of that rich life. I loved that life. Horatio found out I could block people. Make people unable to use their gifts. Occasionally, I would be asked to go sit outside of a house and use my gift. Then I would get a phone call and be told to leave. I was never told why or whose powers I was suppressing. I never saw what happened after I blocked powers. I just received a nice transaction in my bank account. I didn’t think anything of it. When they asked me to block you, Blake, I thought it was an easy gig. I had a crush on you in high school. I had always been curious to know what it would have been like to be with you. You were different when I saw you again. You were more confident, more carefree, more beautiful than I remembered, and you had a voice of an angel.”

  I looked down at my hands. “Did they tell you why they wanted you to use your gift against me?”

  Collin nodded. “Your dad felt it was right if you took your rightful place by his side. If you fell in love with me, and I introduced him to you, then you could see that his idea of us being free to be who we are, without fear, was a better concept than hiding. We have a large community here, but we are still forced into hiding.”

  I stared at him in stunned silence. “My father?” I asked quietly with dread.

  He nodded. “Yeah, Horatio. At least, that’s who he says he is.”

  It was my turn to stumble. I was glad Troy was nearby to catch me before I fell.

  Chapter 13

  I was walking on auto pilot as we went to a private lounge room. I was shocked into near paralysis. I sat down in an oversized armchair and folded my legs to my chest and hugged my knees. Everyone took a seat on the other pieces of furniture or on the floor, facing each other.

  “Is he my father?” I asked Will. Somehow, I knew he would know.

  He nodded. “Considering recent events, Judge Myers has decided to get involved in your case. He has been helping me try to figure out your story. He had met your mother through the court system. He had met your uncle through the court system. Since he has met you, he feels more compelled to get to know you.

  “When Horatio, Greg, and I were young and dumb, we decided to mess with genetics, in a way. We wanted to reinvent the wheel. We wanted to find out why some gifted were sterile or restricted to producing only one or two children. We couldn’t understand how two gifted people were producing non-gifted children.

  “My goal, when we got together, was to fix our current problem. Horatio’s focus was to create children with stronger gift levels.

  “Judge Myers found out Horatio was finding homeless gifted people on the streets and paying them to carry his children. He didn’t care if they were minors or unable to make a decision like that. Fifty women were inseminated with his children over a 5-year period. They would get paid at the time of the insemination. Then they were paid when the woman went to one of his medical facilities and confirmed pregnancy. After that, they would move into another one of his facilities and receive all of their medical care. When the child was born, he would pay them to sign all their rights away to him.

  “In the event that he had a child, he had a lawyer who helped couples who were desperate for a child. He would have his child adopted by another family. These families were so desperate for a child, they would sign any type of adoption. With their adoptions, the biological parents—in this case Horatio—could come back into the child’s life and have contact with the child at any time.

  “Somehow, and I don’t know how, he was capable of having 10 children. Some of those children were tested through the institute. He continued running the institute after I left.

  “After you were taken, Blake, my boys weren’t the same. I knew, because of my actions, I was driving my own sons away from me. They were all that I had left. I had to leave him. Especially after Greg was murdered.

  “I think Greg, our best friend, was suspicious of Horacio’s activities. Before Greg died, I think he tried to warn me. I’m not certain.

  “Your sister, Ashlynn, went through the institute, years after I left. I had heard rumors about her abilities, but I didn’t know she was his. She was the only child of his to show signs of a gift. She was 13 at the time. While she lived with her foster parents, she was supposed to find other gifted people. She was supposed to help him bring the gifted over to his side.

  “He didn’t know of your existence. He hadn’t realized that your mother had gone through his office, twice, for a payout. She had used two different aliases. I think when she went in the second time, she was desperate for the money like she had been the first time, but we believe somewhere along the line, she decided to keep you. She never went back in to confirm her pregnancy.

  “She had you. On her own. One of the nurses found some discrepancies with her paperwork and called the police. Your mother had a police record. She called your uncle to get you, but he didn’t get the message in time. She was taken away, and you were put into the foster care system.

  “Your uncle fought for five years to get you. The courts were leery about placing a young girl with a young, single male.

  “In your foster home, you started exhibiting signs of a gift. Your foster parents were freaked out. They started taking you to different medical facilities. Someone who was independently working for Horatio, let him know about you. He was able to convince your foster parents to allow him to continue your testing at the institute.

  “The institute was created to protect the gifted, to test the gifted, to make the gifted stronger. I didn’t realize it was also a cover for Horatio to bring in his children. To test his children. He had no clue you were his child when you were in the institute.

  “Your uncle finally got the opportunity to get closer to you. He was tired of waiting. He knew you didn’t ‘exist’ anymore. Horatio had
started the process of making sure Amanda Lynn Cornwall never existed, just in case your foster parents wanted to get you. He didn’t know about your uncle’s persistence.

  “Your uncle got a job working for us. He waited for the perfect time to take you, and he did. He went into hiding. He changed your name. He had hidden you so well, that Horatio couldn’t find you. Whenever he got close, your uncle was able to use his gift and hide you once more.

  “He was able to finally find your uncle, but he never found you. He killed your uncle out of anger. Your uncle wouldn’t let him know where you were. He wanted you because of your gift, not because of who you are.

  “Recently, he was able to get a DNA sample from you and found out you were his daughter. He went delving into his old files. He found out you carried the same DNA as Ashlynn. It shed new light on his experiments. He must have seen the picture attached to his files. You look like your mother.

  “I believe that you and your sister are strong, not because of your father, but because of your mother. Your mother, Rachel’s father, and maybe some other people we are not aware of yet, may be the answer to our sterility issues. They may be the answer to producing higher level gifted children.

  “Now it’s a matter of finding and securing your other sibling before he harms and uses them and then find out how he found out about them.”

  We all looked over expectantly at Collin. He looked even more disturbed by the recent revelations. “I don’t know. I’m not that far up on his food chain. I never gave him any DNA samples of Blake, and I wasn’t even aware of her other siblings, blood siblings,” he clarified. “Other than…”

  “Ashlynn, or should I call her Bridgette?” I stated quietly, seeing varying degrees of surprise. “He must have been made aware of my gift through Tom. Maybe he started connecting the dots. My gift is rare. He could have had Tom use anything of mine for a DNA sample.”