“Is it safe to talk?” I ask, flicking my eyes from the board.
He doesn’t look up. “Yes.”
I slide my knight into position. “You’re sure?”
He finally meets my gaze. “The house isn’t bugged. Aria’s too confident in her control over us to bother. Besides, shedoesn’t want anyone to know what she’s up to. She understands how dangerous it would be if someone were to hack into her database.”
My stomach twists and tightens.
Fuck, I just need to…let it out, don’t I? Rip the metaphorical bandage off.
Why does my skin feel so itchy?
I swallow. “Fischer…are you aware that Aria isn’t your biological mother? That our dad…my dad…isn’t yours? That we’re not actually related?”
The air changes.
His hand freezes over a pawn, fingers tightening like he might crush it. Slowly, deliberately, he sets it down. When he looks up at me, something in his face has gone dim, like a light switched off behind his eyes. He appears older. Exhausted in a way sleep doesn’t fix.
“I became aware shortly after she took me in,” he says.
My chest aches. “You didn’t tell anyone.”
“There was no one to tell,” he replies. “And no benefit in saying it out loud.”
“How did you know?” I ask quietly.
“Paperwork, mostly. Dates that didn’t line up. Medical records that vanished when I asked questions.” He exhales through his nose. “And instinct. She never looked at me the way mothers look at their children.”
I can’t describe what that’s supposed to look like, but I know what he means.
“I thought she wanted me to become the new leader of POP, though at the time, I didn’t understand what that was. Not fully,” he continues. “She talked about legacy. Continuity. The future.” His fingers curl around a rook, knuckles whitening. “I thought I was being prepared for something important.”
“And instead…” I begin, nibbling on my lower lip.
“Instead, I was bait,” he says flatly.
The word sits between us, sharp and undeniable.
“For me,” I whisper.
He nods once. “She assumed you’d come for me. That your love for family would override caution.” A bitter smile flashes across his face. “She wasn’t wrong about the instinct. Just the timing.”
My next move on the board is reckless. I don’t care.
“I discovered the truth about our father first,” he continues, his voice subdued. I can’t imagine how that feels—to discover the man who raised and loved you isn’t actually your blood. Then again, maybe I can understand. It’s the same with my mom, after all. “Heismy father. He adopted me when I was a baby. Apparently, Mom had a fling with a lowlife and ended up pregnant. She met Dad shortly after, and he agreed to raise me as his own.” A tentative, fleeting smile touches his lips before vanishing. “I learned about Aria not long after.”
“When did you realize the truth about what POP is? Whatsheis?” I ask.
“When she first started seeking me out, she tried to buy my loyalty,” he says. “Helped the shipping company. Cleared routes. Smoothed out regulatory issues that had been strangling us for years.” His gaze drops to the board. “I honestly believed she was on our side.”
“And POP?” I ask.
“That came later. I thought I was joining a movement. She made it sound like I could change the world. I didn’t understand the scope until I was already inside.” His jaw tightens. “The underbelly is where you see it clearly. The coercion. The disappearances. All those damn deaths.” His piercing gaze locks on mine, swarming with demons I can’t even begin to comprehend. “She made me do awful things.Makesme. I became a monster. I…I don’t want to talk about it.”
I take his bishop. He barely reacts.
The word echoes in my head, an ugly, jagged thing.Monster.