Revolution (Replica) (41 page)

The thought made Nadia feel as queasy as Dante looked, but it was an inescapable truth. Forming a new alliance via a marriage arrangement might be the only way to get Paxco out of its current tailspin. Thanks to the economy and the recent unrest, there wouldn’t exactly be a lot of attractive offers pouring in, but if her relationship with Dante—a low-level Employee who had once been a servant in her house—were to become public knowledge …

“We can still be friends,” she said hoarsely, hating the cliché with a passion. “My reputation can withstand that. But we can’t be alone together anymore, and we certainly can’t risk being seen kissing or holding hands. If I say yes, that is.”

“There’s so much more wrong with our world than Thea and the late Chairman Hayes,” Dante said. “So much more that needs to change.” He swallowed hard. “I joined the resistance when I was fifteen, against my parents’ wishes. I agreed to infiltrate Paxco security just before I turned seventeen. I was meant to be their inside man, to work for Dirk Mosely and gain his trust, over the course of years, before I would be able to do anything substantial for the resistance. And every minute I was there, I risked getting caught, and being tortured for information. I was willing to go through all of that and devote my life to trying to fix Paxco. What kind of a revolutionary would I be if I asked you not to take the Chairmanship because I’m in love with you?”

Nadia’s throat now ached almost as much as her head. Her every instinct had told her what Dante would say, that he would nobly put the needs of his state before his own, as he always had. But there was a part of her that couldn’t help wishing he would fight for her, wishing he would put
her
first instead. Just as she so desperately wanted to do herself.

“You can change the world, Nadia,” he said in an almost reverent tone.

She gave a soft little snort. “Like anyone’s really going to listen to me once the shine wears off. Then they’ll remember that I’m just a kid. The Chairman isn’t all powerful, and I’ll be even less powerful than most as long as I’m still a minor.”

“I didn’t say you were going to change the world
tomorrow,
” Dante protested. “It’ll take time. A lot of it. Just like it would have taken me a lot of time to be of use to the resistance once I infiltrated. But you won’t be a minor forever. And even as a minor, I think you’ve proven to the world that you’re a force to be reckoned with.” He forced a smile. “And just because you have to
arrange
a marriage soon doesn’t actually mean you have to get
married
soon. You won’t even be able to sign a legal agreement until you’re eighteen. Maybe before anything gets more serious than a couple signatures on a piece of paper, the world’ll loosen up a bit and you can get out of it. You wouldn’t be the first person in history to use an engagement to political advantage without actually getting married.”

It made a nice fantasy, but if Nadia was going to do this, she had to be prepared for the likely reality, which was that she would have to give up Dante and would one day have to marry a man she didn’t love.

“You really think I should do it?”

The look in his eyes held equal parts sadness and determination. “Yeah, I think you should. I think you’re Paxco’s best hope of getting back on its feet and starting down the long road to democracy. I think Nate’s heart is in the right place, but you’re more suited to the Chairmanship than he is. And I think that even though it’s not fair, the people will never truly accept a Replica as Chairman.”

If only Nadia could argue those claims.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

One
month after Thea had been destroyed—and a mere three days after Nadia’s seventeenth birthday—Nate formally stepped down as Chairman of Paxco, naming Nadia as his successor. She was sworn in at a small, private ceremony held within Paxco Headquarters. The swearing-in was usually performed outside Headquarters, with a substantial live audience, but with Nate having to formally renounce his position, security deemed it better to keep the ceremony private. Even after he’d announced his intention to step down, the hatred the press and public displayed toward him was unsettling, and he lived under constant threat.

After the understated ceremony was complete, there was the obligatory formal reception, attended by all of Paxco’s top Executives as well as Chairman Belinski. Agnes was conspicuously absent, despite Nadia’s invitation. She refused to attend without Shrimp, but she and Nadia both knew that even with a formal invitation, he would not be welcome in this crowd.

Nadia had hoped that passing the Chairmanship over to her would allow Nate to live a more normal life, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that he was a target and would remain so for the foreseeable future. Even at this highly secure reception, he was shadowed by bodyguards, and he’d confided to Nadia that they’d talked him into wearing a bulletproof vest whenever he was in public. There had been only two human Replicas created before Nate. One of them had died of old age a couple of years ago. But the other had recently been beaten to death by an angry mob who had stormed his house and overwhelmed his personal security.

Nadia put on her best Executive face as she mingled with the cream of the Paxco Executive crop. Everyone was eager to congratulate her and wish her well. Most were more than eager to offer their “services” should Nadia need any help as she faced the daunting task of rebuilding Paxco from the ashes Thea had left. She figured all of them were aware that she still had several dead board members to replace and wanted to get a head start on kissing up to her.

The party had been under way for about an hour when Nate caught her eye from across the room and gestured her toward him. She gladly cut off Jewel Howard—her onetime nemesis and suddenly wannabe best friend—in midsentence to make her way across the room toward Nate, whom the mingling Executives had shunned with determined glee. Several people tried to interject themselves into her path, but Nadia put them each off with a tight smile, her heart aching for her friend. Nate had once been well loved, at least by the younger crowd, and it had to hurt to be so thoroughly ignored by people who had once claimed to be his friends.

“Mind if we talk in private for a couple of minutes?” Nate asked when she was within earshot.

In all honesty, she’d have loved to quietly slip away from the reception altogether, but that was not one of her options. The reception might be billed as a “party,” but she was very aware that she was at work here.

“Sure,” she said, gesturing toward the nearest doorway, “but you know I can’t spend a lot of time at it.”

He nodded. “Understood.”

Nate’s bodyguards checked the hallway before letting him out. Nadia’s own security team followed close on their heels, and the only way she and Nate could find anything resembling privacy was to let themselves into one of the offices and close the door behind them. Even then, she was aware of how closely both sets of bodyguards hovered, so she kept her voice down.

“What is it you wanted to talk about?” she asked.

She expected it to be something of a political nature, some advice or a warning or a little bit of inside information, so what he said took her completely by surprise.

“I wanted to say good-bye.”

Nadia felt like she’d been kicked in the chest as she looked up to meet his eyes in shock. “Good-bye? What?”

He heaved a sigh and sat down on the nearest desk. “I can’t stay in Paxco,” he said. “Even if the nut jobs don’t get me eventually, this is no way to live.”

Nadia couldn’t argue. Nate was an extrovert if she’d ever seen one, and he would go crazy living a life of social isolation for very long. Already, the strain showed on his face, and he had lost enough weight to look almost fragile. Perhaps some of the stress would be relieved when the burden of the Chairmanship was off his shoulders, but if the way people were treating him at the reception was any indication, he was still going to be a social outcast.

“God, Nate,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve this.”

He shrugged. “Deserve doesn’t have much to do with it. As they say, it is what it is. I can’t stay here, and I can’t go anywhere else in the Corporate States. My face is too well known, and the public rage against Replicas is too entrenched.”

Nadia blinked. “But … where will you go?”

“Chairman Belinski has some friends and family in Eastern Europe. He’s offered to send me and Kurt there to start over. He and his people can create new identities for us, and my face isn’t half so famous over there. I’ll get a job and work for a living, like ordinary people do.”

“Eastern Europe,” Nadia murmured, then sat on the edge of another desk herself. All her life, Nate had been her best friend. The only person she could ever be truly honest with, the only person who really
saw
her, really
understood
her. And now that she had agreed to be Chairman of Paxco, to take this immense burden onto her shoulders, he was going to move halfway around the world under a new identity.

“I promise, I’ll always be there if you need me,” he said, his voice growing husky. “Just a phone call away.”

“A phone call isn’t quite the same,” she protested, on the verge of panic. Dante swore he would always be her friend, even if their relationship had to turn platonic, but things were sure to be awkward between them. Especially when the marriage negotiations started. He would not be able to step into Nate’s place. No one could. “I can’t do this alone,” she whispered.

Nate stood up, crossing the distance between them and taking both her hands. “You won’t be alone. I’ll be a phone call away, and Dante will be right here with you, and if he doesn’t take good care of you I will come back just to kick his ass.”

Nadia managed a weak little laugh. “I’d pay money to see that,” she teased.

“And you’ve got Agnes, too,” he said, smiling. “She’s a pretty good friend to have around in a pinch.”

Nadia nodded, her eyes misting over. Agnes had a good head on her shoulders and had a really good grasp of strategy and politics. Not only that, but her relationship with Shrimp made her capable of understanding Nadia’s anguish over Dante. So Nate was right: she
wouldn’t
be alone.

“When do you leave?” she asked.

“I’m heading straight to the plane from here.”

“Oh. So soon.”

“Didn’t seem to be much point in sticking around and letting someone take another potshot at me.”

“Good point.” She rose from the desk and put her arms around him, still not quite believing that he was leaving. He’d been her presumed fiancé and her best friend since she was four years old. Not to have him nearby was almost unthinkable. “I’m going to miss you,” she said, but it was a massive understatement.

“I’ll miss you, too,” he replied. He released her from the hug, dabbing surreptitiously at his eyes. “And I’d better get out of here before I make some big, embarrassing scene.”

How she was going to go back to the stupid reception and play politics after this was a mystery. Then again, playing social politics when your emotions were a twisted mess was all part of being an Executive, and she’d been doing it all her life.

She and Nate both took a couple of deep breaths to steady themselves; then when she nodded that she was ready, he opened the door.

Both their security teams were waiting patiently for them, as was Bishop. Nadia almost didn’t recognize him at first. Instead of wearing servant’s livery or his flamboyant Basement regalia, he was dressed in a very ordinary-looking pair of jeans and a gray shirt. He’d done away with the mohawk and replaced it with a buzz cut. He still had the facial piercings and tattoos, and yet he managed to look almost respectable.

Once upon a time, Nadia hadn’t much liked Bishop, and the feeling had been mutual. And though he wasn’t dressed like a servant, everyone here knew who he was. Even the supposedly discreet bodyguards might be tempted to wag their tongues, but Nadia decided she didn’t care and gave Bishop a hug—a gesture that clearly startled him, though he quickly returned it.

“You take good care of Nate, you hear me?” she said.

“Will do,” he responded.

She stepped back, fighting down a surge of emotion.

“And you take good care of yourself,” Bishop finished.

Nadia almost lost it right there, but a few deep breaths helped shore up her public face. She had a lot of practice storing up tears, waiting for moments of privacy to let them out, and she was very good at it.

“I’ll call you as soon as we get settled,” Nate promised. It looked like he might be storing up some tears himself.

“You’d better!”

They shared a last long look before Bishop slung his arm around Nate’s shoulders.

“It ain’t gonna get any easier,” he said, turning Nate toward the elevators. “One foot in front of the other.”

Nate allowed Bishop to steer him to the elevator, the bodyguards fanning out around them. Nadia took one last deep breath to steady herself before turning her back to them.

She had a lot of work to do. And today was just the beginning.

Tor Teen Books by Jenna Black

Replica

Resistance

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