Page 109 of Bound By Stars
“Seemed like the perfect plan. I even had someone to blame it on after the painted message in the elevator. But I didn’t factor in that goddamn robot.” He squats down beside me.
“And the cargo bay…”
“I’ll admit, kicking you away from the ladder was sloppy and impulsive.”
I push off the floor again, but he shoves me back down.
“Don’t bother getting up. That head wound looks pretty bad.”
“You’ve barely spoken to me. How could I have pissed you off enough that you want me dead?”
“You really have no idea who you are, do you?”
The door is only a few steps away if I can move fast enough.
He stands and circles me again.
I sweep my leg around his knees. They buckle, sending him to the floor, as I scramble toward the door, trying to get my feet under me.
He grabs my ankle, yanking me back down. I kick back but he dodges it, using the momentum to pull me closer and throw his weight on top of me. Slamming me down on my back, he pins my arms to my sides under his knees and laughs. “You have a lot of fight in you. That’s one thing we both got from Dad.”
“You are more confused than I am.” I squirm, but he squeezes his knees tighter against my body.
“I thought you were playing around, but you really don’t know.” He sits back on my thighs, so my bones ache under his weight. “Before we left on the Earth Experience Mission, we were all assigned a family history report. I wanted to go above and beyond, so I accessed my family’s company’s interplanetary databank and entered my DNA to create a bloodline map. Talk about extra credit, right?”
I sit up, throwing my forehead toward his.
He leans away, dodging the strike. “Careful there. You’ve already got a head injury.”
“Let me up!” I try to buck him off, but I can’t get any leverage with my thighs and hands pinned.
Behind him, text runs across the screen on the captain’s station:Warning: System reset. Loss of Artificial Gravity in 00:60.The timer replaces the message, counting down the seconds.
“So long story short, I’m from a family line that’s been on Mars since the habitat was first built, yet somehow, to my surprise, this ratty little Earther girl who entered a silly bot-building contest comes up as a 26 percent match.”
Forty-seven seconds. Keep talking, asshole.
I frown at him. “Am I supposed to know what that number means?”
“Do they not teach you basic genetics on Earth?” He rolls his eyes. “That makes you my half sister. My dad’s little secret.”
My heart seizes.
He’s wrong. My dad is Samuel Fleet. Could DNA results be wrong? If it’s all true, that means the man I’ve known as my father my whole life is my stepdad. No. Human error. Curran obviously made a mistake. “Sounds like bad information. Maybe you should investigate that when you inherit the company.”
“Not possible. DNA doesn’t lie. And since you were born thirty-seven days before me, if anyone found out you existed before I was appointed, you would be next in line to inherit.” He crushes my wrists together under one strong hand, his long fingers clamped tight around my bruised skin.
Twenty-three seconds.
“And here’s the kicker. You aren’t only a Nole. You’re 51 percent Aphelion, too. Two Big Six parents. Which makes your existence illegal by treaty laws, but it also puts you at the front of two inheritance lines.”
“Now I know you have it wrong. Both my parents are from Earth.” But could I have been adopted? No. I have my mom’s eyes, her nose, even her freckles. There’s no mistaking I belong to her.
Eight seconds. The warning flashes faster.
“Let’s say you’re not just a murderous sociopath under a wild delusion. How do you know all of this and no one else does?”
He leans over me and places his hands on my throat, haloed by the flashing red lights. “There’s no system for flagging relatives on Earth. You aren’t supposed to exist.”
