Saving Her Billionaire Vigilante

Fifteen: Piper Powell

Fifteen:

Piper Powell

            I couldn’t get the winged girl out of my head. Tayen. She’d been trapped in a cage, in a storage shed that had previously been owned by my parents. She claimed that my Mother was alive. I spent some time trying to rest, to clear my head of the horrors that I’d seen. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the girl, and the implication that one of my parents had survived the terrorist attack.

            Since the Tanager building, there had been rumors about EVOS. Evolved Humans that had been tested on in the Tanager labs. I had never bought into the idea that Tanager had been behind them. But now, it seemed that my own parents had been involved. My mother had been involved. I hated that idea. I hated the idea that either of my parents had done that. I needed to find out everything I could about their experiments. That meant I really did have to work as the Vice President alongside Ransom.

            I had spent a sleepless night thinking about it. I got up from my bed, and I tiptoed down the hall to Ransom’s room. He could have easily taken the master bedroom but he stayed in his own. I suspected it was too strange for him to take the place where his father slept. I knocked on the door. It opened, revealing Ransom. He was shirtless, in nothing but sweats, and was drying his hair with a towel. He had a scar on his face that I still didn’t know where he had gotten it from.

            “I’m taking the job,” I said, “the Vice President job.”

            Ransom stared at me. “Why do you suddenly want the job? You were against it before, even after I told you about the Cardinals possibly getting the business.”

            “Because,” I said, “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the winged girl. I need to find out more about what my parents were doing. I want to find out if my Mom was alive.”

            Ransom crossed his arms over his naked chest. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

            I tilted my head to the side. “Why? Why are you against me finding out the truth about that night?”

            “Because,” said Ransom, “once you go down that road, you might not like what you find. I don’t want you to end up scarred for life.”

            “Ransom, I lost my mother and father in an explosion. I grew up with you. I’m already scarred.” At the mention of him having scarred me, his lips purse into a frown.

            “I never intended….”

            I shook my hand. “I’m not looking for an apology, Ransom. I want to make amends for the things that my parents did. Surely you can understand that, considering everything people say about your own family.”

            He pressed a hand to his forehead. “I do understand that. But this is dangerous stuff that you’re getting into. You could get hurt. If you promise me that you won’t go looking into this, I’ll make it so that you don’t have to go into the actual building. You can keep on working at your tabloid. I’ll make sure that you get the salary, and that the Cardinals don’t get the company. Just show up to the meetings. Please, Pip, I’m begging you. I’ll give you anything that you want if you don’t go looking into this. Anything at all.”

            “So, you don’t want me to find my mother?”

            “I’ll find her,” he said, “I’ve been working on the EVOS myself. I’ll even give you updates on everything. But Piper, if you look into this, and something happens, I will let you know about everything.”

            “You’ll give me anything I want?” I said.

            He nodded. “Yes. Anything you want.”

            “I want you to not interfere in my relationships. I don’t care if I’m dating a serial killer. I want you to smile politely if you meet him and go on your merry way. I’m not yours to control. I’m not your future wife.”

            His lips twitched at the words ‘future wife’. Then he clenched his fists. “Fine. Fine. I will leave you alone when it comes to your dating life. Then the moment that you go digging into Tanagers past, that’s when I’m going to start interfering. I’ll kiss you in front of whoever you’re dating. I’ll touch you whenever you’re around if they’re there. I’ll make sure that you obsess over me, and not him. Do you understand, Pip?”

            His eyes were storm clouds again as he looked down at me. I saw his bed in the back and for a second, I thought about him wrapping me in his arms then pulling me into his bed. f*****g me raw, until I couldn’t walk. I didn’t know why I’d thought of that. Maybe it was just him shirtless, making me crazy. I’d been through a lot in the past couple of days. There was too much going on, and I wasn’t thinking rationally.

            “I understand,” I said with a nod.

            “Good,” he said, “then, we’ve a deal.”

            He held out his hand. There was a tattoo on his arm, I noticed. One I didn’t think had been there before. It was a date, inked on his forearm. January 13th, 2011. I recognized that date. It was the date that I had moved into the Tanager household, becoming adopted by Richard Tanager. I looked up at him.

            “The tattoo’s new,” I said.

            “I got it a few years ago.”

            “Why?” I asked. “Why that date?”

            “Because that’s the date that you became part of my world.”

            “Okay, Ariel,” I said with a smirk, but in reality I was unable to hide the swelling of my heart that happened when I heard that.

            “You’re always on my heart sleeve, Piper,” he said, “always.”

            “Right well,” I said, “I guess I’ll just go….”

            “Of course,” he said.

            I left, and he closed the door behind me. But the minute I walked away, I got an idea. Ransom had said that I couldn’t look into the EVOS. That didn’t mean that I couldn’t have someone else couldn’t look into it. Someone like Oliver Oswin, who had been there with me and would be just as curious. I had the perfect plan, one that would get me everything I wanted. And Ransom would never have to know about what I was doing, ever.