“I’m with Elaina for the rest of my god forsaken life, however long that may be. You need to respect her, and my decision to be with her. She means so much to me. Since you and I went through so much together, I would expect that if anything happened to me, you would help take care of Elaina. She will go over the edge if anything happened to me, as you saw earlier. She needs me as much as I need her.”
“I’ve got that handled.” They both spun around and looked at Nick. “She’s my sister, and I don’t trust this thing as far as I can throw her.” He pointed his chin at Sophie.
“Well…Nick, is it?” He nodded. Sophie strolled up to him and put her finger on his lips. She was so close, he could check her pores. “How about I take care of you?” She tried to be all sultry and sexy, then she winked at him.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Sophie. Check your hormones at the door, would you?”
“What? A girl needs a little something every now and again,” she looked Nick up and down, “to keep her going, even in mad times like these.” She turned away from Nick, making sure she walked extra sexy.
“Listen. Show her some respect. Show everyone some bloody respect. Got it? Enough is enough. Or I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I can’t handle it, and I can’t handle seeing Elaina so upset.” It pained him to say it, but he felt he had to. He would never make Sophie leave, but he needed to get his point across. Sophie looked shocked. She swallowed hard and looked defeated.
“So, we’re done? For good?” She worked up her best pouty face.
“We were done when I left.”
“Thanks for the memo.”
“Whatever, Sophie. We have spoken many times about my relationship with Elaina.” He was ready to get down to business. “Roger sent you here?”
“Yes, kind of. I got the call from Kellan about your host city being infected. I had to run to you.” Her emerald green eyes moistened. “My protector was in trouble and I needed him back.” Henry pursed his lips. “Roger told me that I was to bring you back home. He said you went AWOL, which I already knew. He wanted you back for punishment. He said I was the only hope to bring you back home.”
“I am home.” Sophie still looked a bit shocked. “My home is with Elaina. Wherever she is, that’s my home. If you have any issues with that, then you need to walk. I’m not going back to Roger. He has caused all of this bullshit.” He held his arms up.
“You know that’s not true.”
“Do I? What do I know, Sophie? Please tell me because, obviously, you know exactly what’s going on in my fucked-up head!”
“Roger is a good man. He would never set the virus free.” Henry burst out laughing, which stopped her short.
“Really? You really think that? Sophie, he has you brainwashed. Remember what he did to us? What he did to you? Do you remember that?” Sophie looked like she regressed in age and she started chewing her cheek. “Do you remember? Answer my fucking question,” Henry said, more sternly.
“Yes,” she said in a weak voice.
“So is he still a good man? Do you still think he’s incapable of sending out another agent to infect the U.S. so he could have the entire world eating out of the palm of his hand? He’s on a power trip! He thinks he is God.”
“If it wasn’t for him, I would probably be locked up somewhere.” Again, her voice was weak. She wasn’t convincing anyone, not even herself.
Henry walked up to her, grabbed her arms, and made her look into his fading eyes. He wanted to shake the shit out of her, but he refrained. “We were prisoners. I am no longer his property. Now that you’re here, you can walk away.”
“I can’t just walk away.” Tears began streaming down her face.
“Yes, you can. We have everything we need here.” He tried to reason with her.
“Henry, you don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand? I took beatings, like you…for you. I understand.”
“No.” She began to cry harder.
“Sophie...” He felt bad for yelling at her. “Talk to me.”
“When you left, he took more than a special interest in me. He forced me to be with him, time and time again. Him and Kellan, both. All that time, while you were gone, you couldn’t protect me anymore. I was left to my own devices. I started fighting them off, but then they would overpower me. They enjoyed the struggle, and, when they prevailed, they enjoyed it even more.”
“Jesus Christ. I’m so sorry, Sophie,” Henry murmured. Nick couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He felt sorry for her, as well.