Replica (29 page)

During the day, the garden was a beautiful oasis amongst all the glass and steel of the city. The wind was blocked by two tastefully low walls and by the bulk of the other two Lake Towers. Spring was in full bloom, beds of daffodils and early tulips making splashes of vivid color. A paved, circular path made its way through the flower beds, and at the far end of the garden were a pair of wrought-iron benches, one facing the beauty of the garden, one facing the breathtaking view of the city.

Now that the sun had gone down, it was a little too chilly to hang around outside, but Nadia had no interest in going back in. Instead, she kept warm by restlessly pacing the circular path, her hair whipping in the gusts that got past the wind breaks. Without the sun to shine on them, the flowers looked duller, less cheerful, and the panoramic view made Nadia feel very … isolated.

By 8:45, Nadia’s feet hurt from her restless walking, and she decided to sit on the bench facing the panoramic view. Moments after she sat down, she heard the sound of a footfall behind her, and she turned to look over her shoulder.

Relief flooded her when she saw Nate standing there, and she wanted to run to him and throw her arms around him. She hadn’t realized how afraid she’d been that he wouldn’t show up until he finally made his appearance. She rose to her feet, wrapping her arms around herself for warmth—and to discourage her desire to give Nate a hug.

“I thought you weren’t going to come,” she blurted.

Nate stuck his hands in his pockets and stood about an arm’s length away. “I don’t much want to be here,” he admitted bluntly. “I’ve had a sucky day.”

Nadia imagined being in the midst of that riot had been an ordeal for Nate, and she certainly pitied him the rude awakening he’d had this morning when she’d made her confession, but she was through making excuses for his self-centered attitude. Instead of acknowledging the hurt his words caused, she stood up a little straighter and looked him in the eye.

“Did you risk the arrest and torture of yourself and everyone you love, including two helpless children, today?” she asked, her voice as sharp as knives. “No? Then how ’bout you don’t talk about how rough you’ve had it, okay?”

Nate’s look of surprise would have been funny any other time. If he only knew how many times she’d refrained from telling him what she really thought through all the years they’d been friends … But that was over now. They weren’t friends anymore, not really, and she wasn’t going to censor herself anymore, either. They had made a pact together this morning, and he would hold up his end of the bargain even if she pissed him off.

Nate opened and closed his mouth a couple times as he floundered for something to say. Her natural urge to be the peacemaker made her want to let him off the hook, but she didn’t. Maybe the reason he was so self-centered all the time was because no one dared call him on it, and he didn’t know any better.

“I’m sorry,” he finally mumbled, rubbing the back of his head and looking down at his feet. “I know I’ve been unfair to you.” He scuffed his shoe against the paving stone, kicking at an imaginary pebble. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been going through.” He huffed out a deep breath and looked her in the face again. “I don’t blame you for doing whatever you need to do to protect your family. I just wish you’d trusted me enough to talk to me about it instead of going behind my back.”

For Nate, this was an abject apology, and Nadia should have been grateful for it. She
was
grateful. But it wasn’t enough.

“Tell me the truth, Nate: if I’d told you everything from the start, would you have kept quiet about it? Or would you have confronted Mosely on the assumption you could protect me from his retaliation?”

Nadia could almost see him restraining his knee-jerk first response, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he thought about it. There was a shadow in his eyes, and his shoulders hunched in a bit. Whatever he was thinking, he didn’t like it. Shaking his head, he moved past her and collapsed onto one of the benches, his head hanging low.

Nadia took a couple of tentative steps in his direction, wanting to give him a hug, or put a hand on his shoulder. Anything to rebuild just a tiny bit of the connection they’d once had. But she wasn’t sure she could bear it if he rebuffed her, so she merely stood there wringing her hands uselessly.

Nate raised his head and patted the bench beside him. “Come sit down. We have a lot to talk about.”

Nadia sat beside him, but not in touching range. To her surprise, Nate slid over and slung his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close until their bodies were pressed against one another from shoulder to knee. He was warm and familiar, and, without thinking about it, Nadia rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, trying to pretend nothing had ever gone wrong between them. She felt the press of his lips on the top of her head and smiled. For this one moment, she would take what he offered without thinking about what the future would bring.

She didn’t know how long they’d been sitting like that, neither one talking, before another figure wandered out from the tower and into the garden. Assuming it was one of the servants, Nadia hastily sat up and put some distance between herself and Nate. She and Nate had posed for photographs where they were holding hands and had even kissed in public to uphold the illusion that they were a couple, but she still didn’t want anyone speculating too much about what they did together when
not
in public. She trusted the servants’ discretion, and she and Nate were an acknowledged couple anyway, but she didn’t see any reason to take chances, especially now. But when the figure stepped into the light, she saw it was Dante.

“Dante!” she cried in surprise, standing up. “What are you doing here?”

Dante looked quickly back and forth between her and Nate. Trying to figure out if she’d been spilling any secrets, maybe? “Looking for you,” he said. “You didn’t seem to be in any of the usual places, so I thought I’d take a shot at the garden.”

Nate stood up too, moving closer to Nadia and putting his arm around her shoulders again. “Want to introduce me to your friend?” he asked, and there was a barely perceptible edge in his voice.

“Um, sure,” Nadia said, though she wasn’t sure what to say. “This is Dante. He’s my dad’s new personal assistant.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Nate said insincerely, holding out his hand. Most Executives wouldn’t offer to shake hands when meeting a low-level Employee, but Nate had always ignored the snobbiest of the social conventions.

“You too,” Dante said, and Nadia suspected the handshake that ensued was of the bone-crushing variety. She was tempted to ask who won.

“So, you were looking for me?” she prompted, a little surprised that Dante had approached her out here when Nate was with her. She would have thought he’d want to talk to her in private. If he was going to try to separate her from Nate to have a private conversation now, she had a feeling it wouldn’t go very well. Nate might not be attracted to her, but he was still sizing Dante up like a rival.

“Yeah,” Dante said, giving Nate a sidelong glance. “About that matter we were discussing this afternoon. I’ve arranged a meeting. For
both
of you.”

Nadia’s eyes widened in surprise. After all Bishop’s resistance, she hadn’t expected him to be willing to meet. “Really?”

Dante nodded. “That’s the plan as of now, anyway. He might not show up, especially if he gets a bad vibe.”

“All right, what are you two talking about?” Nate asked.

Dante waved his hand at Nadia, silently giving her permission to explain.

“Dante’s the one who put the note from Bishop in my napkin this morning,” she said. That was meant to be only the beginning of her explanation, but Nate didn’t give her a chance to continue.

“That so?” he asked, then hauled off and punched Dante in the jaw.

Dante went sprawling, and Nate gave a shout of pain, clutching his right hand to his chest and cursing. Nadia was paralyzed by shock, but only for a moment. Ignoring Nate and his cursing, she dropped to her knees beside Dante, who was rubbing his jaw as he shook his head as if to clear the cobwebs.

“Are you all right?” she asked, unable to believe that Nate had just thrown a punch. He just … wasn’t that kind of guy. She couldn’t help thinking about the opinions she’d seen touted on the net, the ones that suggested Replicas might have violent tendencies. They were making something out of nothing, of course, extrapolating wildly based on one brief loss of poise with a reporter. Everything that had happened since the night of the reception was enough to put
anyone
on a short fuse, Replica or not.

“Yeah,” Dante mumbled, eying Nate warily as if primed for another attack.

Nadia gave Dante a hand up, then turned to glare at Nate, who was still nursing his sore knuckles. Nadia wondered if that was the first punch he’d ever thrown. It would serve him right if he’d broken some fingers.

“What the hell was that all about?” she demanded.

“He’s a sneak, and he terrified you,” Nate responded, looking both sullen and stubborn.

It was Mosely’s call that had terrified her this morning, not the note Dante had tucked into her napkin, but she hadn’t specifically told Nate that. She wondered if he’d have gone all protective and alpha male on her if Dante weren’t so good-looking. He was acting positively territorial, although Dante was hardly of a class to be a rival. Nadia opened her mouth to give Nate a piece of her mind, but Dante forestalled her.

“Time out,” he said, making the requisite hand gesture. Nadia noted that although he was still acting wary, he was taking Nate’s unprovoked attack with a surprising level of calm, as if it didn’t bother him. “I’m willing to let bygones be bygones. We have more important things to talk about.” The look in his eyes hardened as he fixed his gaze on Nate. “Try that again, though, and I’ll fight back. You wouldn’t like that, especially when you’re already sore.”

Nadia got ready to jump in between the two, thinking that Dante’s calmly spoken words were more of an invitation to further fighting than a conciliation. “You may call me Mr. Hayes,” Nate said, low and menacing. “And how would you know I’m already sore?”

“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Nadia said in exasperation. “Dante is a friend of Bishop’s. Now, why don’t you sit down, shut up, and
listen
for once in your life.”

Nate gave her a shocked look, but he was just going to have to get used to her standing up to him from now on. She had to fight a smile, proud of herself, when Nate meekly sat on one of the benches and made a zipping-his-lips gesture. Taking a deep breath, Nadia sat beside him and told him everything she’d learned from Dante, who stood off to the side, silent. The only thing she
didn’t
mention was her suspicion that Bishop had been planted in his household by the resistance. The idea would no doubt occur to him anyway, but perhaps not right away.

For a long time after Nadia finished talking, Nate didn’t say anything. He sat forward with his elbows on his knees, staring at the paving stones beneath his feet as he took it all in. The look on his face told her he was lost in thought, but it didn’t tell her anything about what he was thinking, and she thought he might be guarding his expression because of Dante’s presence.

Eventually, he sat up straight and glanced over to Dante.

“Explain this,” he said. “Why is it that yesterday, Bishop was trying so hard to keep me away that he had me beaten, and today he wants to see me?”

It was a good question, and Nadia’s suspicious mind immediately suggested it was a trap of some kind.

Dante shook his head. “He’ll explain when and if you see him.”

“No,
you’ll
explain,” Nate insisted, “and right now.”

“Or what?” Dante asked, raising an eyebrow. “You need me to take you to the meeting.”

“How do I know anything you’re saying is true?” Nate countered. “You could be trying to set me up for … something.”

“You’re just going to have to take it on faith, I suppose. Nadia was under the impression you wanted to see him, but if you’re not interested…” He shrugged his broad shoulders, and there was a hint of smugness in his tone.

Even in the lamp-lit darkness, Nadia could see the flush of anger creeping up Nate’s neck. He wouldn’t have missed Dante’s overly familiar use of Nadia’s first name, and Nadia didn’t think that had been a slip of the tongue. Dante might not have come up swinging after Nate hit him, but it seemed like he was being deliberately provoking. Maybe he hoped Nate would throw another punch so he could show off his own manly prowess. But though Nate didn’t make a habit of controlling his quick temper, tonight he kept it in check.

“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’ll go. But if you’re lying to me, it’ll turn out very, very bad for you.” Dante rolled his eyes at the threat. “So when and where is this meeting?”

“The where is a secret,” Dante said. “I’ll take you there. Take your phones with you to bed tonight. Sometime after midnight, you’ll get a call from me. Nadia first, then you.”

“Remember when I told you you could call me Mr. Hayes?” Nate said. “Well, you can call
her
Miss Lake.”

Ordinarily, Nate wasn’t nearly this uptight about protocol, and he’d be perfectly happy to allow the informal address. But it was obvious he and Dante rubbed each other the wrong way, and Nadia thought once again her services as peacekeeper might be needed.

“In there,” Dante said, jerking his thumb at the apartment behind him, “I’m a servant and I’ll address you both as such. Here and now, I’m your co-conspirator, and we’ll talk as equals or we won’t talk at all.”

“Fine,” Nate said, dissatisfied. “But even as a supposed ‘equal,’ you don’t know me well enough to call me Nate.”

“Fine,” Dante said in a similar tone. “Nathaniel. I’ll ring you and Nadia after midnight. You’ll sneak down to the service entrance, and I’ll be waiting for you there in a white panel van. Nathaniel, you should wear your Basement disguise. And Nadia, I’ll have a disguise for you in the van.”

Nate was shaking his head violently. “You are
not
taking Nadia into the Basement. I’m willing to take whatever risks are necessary myself, but she’s been through enough already.”