I tutted as Monroe stepped outside and shut the door. “Do you really have to act like we’re in the eighteen hundreds? I don’t need your approval, I can date whoever I like.”
“I’m your dad, kiddo. And when you have children one day, you’ll wanna protect them from the wronguns of this world.”
A frown pulled at my features as I walked towards him where he sat at the table. “And what if they found me anyway?” I whispered. “And what if I fought them and tamed them, made them hurt for hurting me?”
“Then I’ve raised you right.”
He smiled, I smiled. And my heart crushed to dust as I fell into his lap like a little girl again and he pulled me against him with the entirety of his body like he never wanted to let me go. His familiar scent of the wilderness and fire smoke made my eyes brim with tears. But I couldn’t just stay in his arms. I needed answers. So many answers.
He laid a kiss on my forehead before I pulled away, moving to sit opposite him and taking a steadying breath to get my thoughts in order.
“Tell me everything,” I said evenly, taking in the bags beneath his eyes, the hollowness of his cheeks and the new flecks of grey in his beard that spoke of the stress he’d been through recently.
He took his glasses off, rubbing his eyes before putting them back on and surveying me with a sad smile. “I’m so sorry this happened. It wasn’t meant to be this way…”
“What way was it meant to be?” I asked, fighting to keep my voice from rising.
“It starts with Jess,” he croaked, his face constricting as he said her name. “Before we lost her…the Apollo Company were running trials of the vaccine for the Hades Virus. Everything came back okayed from the team who were working on it. We got samples of the vaccine sent to our department and I was in charge of processing them.”
“So you took some?” I breathed, my lungs compressing.
He rubbed the back of his neck guiltily. “There were hundreds of vials, kiddo. And a batch had gotten damaged during transportation. I had to dispose of them and I…figured a few of the ones that survived wouldn’t be missed. One for me, you and Jess. Just in case. I always liked to be prepared and this virus was deadly. I was working with it daily. One accident and I could be infected, bring it home to you and your sister. They were going to be offering it out to employees soon anyway, so what was the harm?” He choked on the last word and a tremor ran through my body as I knew what came next. “I was stupid to give it to you, to trust that the department had done their jobs properly. But it had been signed off, no vaccine should ever get that far without the proper trials,” he cursed, swiping at the sweat beading on his brow. “Me and you…we were okay. The vaccine worked, I guess, but then Jess…” A noise of pain escaped him. “I just wanted to protect you both, I just – I-” He started shaking and I took his hand, tears running down my cheeks as that old wound split open inside me and bled like a river. “I never would have given either of you something if I knew there was a chance, even the smallest chance of it hurting my children.”
“I know, Dad,” I said gently, tears still rushing down my cheeks. I did know. Truly. The pain in his eyes said it all. It was a terrible accident and one he would be in agony over until his dying day. How could I hate him for that? Punish him more than he’d obviously punished himself?
He wiped the tears from beneath his eyes, pulling himself together. “By the time I returned to work after her death, the vaccine I’d been processing had vanished. No mention of it, no paperwork. I couldn’t tell my boss, Dr Singh, what had happened without admitting that I’d stolen from the company. But I knew he knew. Things had changed between us. He didn’t fire me though, in fact, he kept promoting me, increasing my salary to extortionate amounts. I didn’t want to see it as hush money, but I knew that was what it was. And the longer I stayed there, the more bitter I became. The more suspicious I was of the entire corporation. And that was when I discovered the truth...”
“What truth?” I breathed, hanging on his every word.
“The Apollo Company weaponised the Hades Virus. I wasn’t meant to know, none of us were I suppose. But I was contacted by a CIA agent called Mortez a few months after Jess’s death. He told me everything. And he asked me to help the CIA, paid me lump sums to keep gathering intel for them. And I wanted to. I hungered for revenge against Singh. He must have signed off on those vaccines, allowed corners to be cut. And on top of that, now I knew he was planning to sell the virus and allow it to be used against innocent people in war,” he growled.
“So, what happened then?” I asked, my hands beginning to tremble as this knowledge washed over me.
“The years passed. I collected information on Singh, sent Agent Mortez anything I could get my hands on. It was difficult. Moving around the country to the different facilities so often meant I wouldn’t see Singh too much, but I was able to get a few bits and pieces, it was just never enough to condemn him.” He ran his hand down the back of his neck, breaking eye contact with me and my heart beat out
