Bad AF

Chapter 1

Lillian

The clock ticks away as I sit here waiting, looking at the name plaque on the desk before me that makes my stomach clench. It stares back, taunting me, as it has for so many years now.

Senator Donnelly.

My father has summoned me here to his office, not telling me why or even seeming bothered by the fact he hasn’t been in touch in months, but that’s him all over – cold, distant, and always keen to keep our relationship on the outskirts of his life.

“Come on,” I whisper to myself, tapping my foot on the floor with a mixture of nerves and frustration. Looking around the office, there’s no reminder of me. No photos that signal to the world he has another daughter that he loves and is proud of.

I swallow and try not to engage in these thoughts. Of course, he wouldn’t have these things. Up until I was eight years old, he didn’t even realize I existed. After that, my mom and I were just his dirty little secret that he kept from the rest of the world, in a paid-up apartment bought with the knowledge that I’d come in handy one day.

Maybe now is that time. If it is, then I’ll do his bidding, not because I want to but because I’m driven to. All I ever wanted was for him to take notice of me.

         That never happened.

I’m the outsider, not worthy of being in the inner circle. My presence alone would destroy his hard-earned reputation, and that’s what counts when it comes to his priorities.

         There’s no sign of him and it irks me a little given the way he tracked me down even though I was working at a lab on a private island. He can bring me here, but he can’t show up. It makes no sense, unless it’s just another one of his games designed to make me feel smaller and less important to him than I already do.

         My stomach swirls with both nerves and anticipation. It’s been a long time since we spoke privately, and the part of me that always emerges when he comes into the picture does just that, breaking the surface like a monster from below the ocean.

         I’m well aware that he’ll want something from me. He doesn’t choose to meet up for any other reason – neither concern nor interest. I shift in my chair for what feels like the fiftieth time, unable to keep still.

         I jump when the door is eventually thrown open and in walks my father, his face the picture of fury. His brow is furrowed so deep I wonder if it can ever go back to a normal position, and his hands are balled into fists.

         When he slams down a file on the table, I jump again, my nerves now well and truly shredded. “Useless people! How can they not do anything right!” he yells, spit landing on the desk. “That better not go for you, too,” he shouts. “You better do things my way!”

         He’s pointing at me, and I flinch from the shock of his anger. I never expected a warm welcome but not quite this, either. “What do you mean?” I ask, my voice so small I wonder if he can even hear me.

         “You need to spy on Anthony St. Clair. I need the core company secrets of the A.I. they’re developing.”

         I gasp, surprised that he is asking me to go this far. How could he ever ask me to do that?  Anthony St. Clair is a very mysterious character – no one can really get close to him and most are too scared, including me. He has a majestic aura that is awe-inducing.

         That man is larger than life!

         Images fly through my head of the time I saw him from a few meters away, though he didn’t notice me, instead directing his attention to the leader of the research department. Though I’m part of the core team, I don’t have access to the important stuff. How could I even get this information for my father?

         “I don’t have that kind of access,” I say, a pleading tone to my voice. “I’m just one of many people who work under St. Clair. There’s nothing special about my role or position with the company.”

         “Nothing special!” he yells, his anger almost doubling. “Then what the hell did I pay for when you went to college?”

         His words cut deep, but they just add to the collection of scars that he’s given me over the years. This all sounds so simple to him and yet, it puts me in the most vulnerable position if I do this. Is an ordinary Black woman really going to cozy up to a rich white guy and steal his best secrets? The project he’s talking about is at the federal level. Am I up to going against the state? 

         As yet, I don’t even know what the technology does. All I know is that it’s big, with talk in the company being that it’s going to take the internet to the next level. If I’m honest, I have a feeling it’s more than just that.

         “I need the info on this tech, Lillian,” he says through gritted teeth, bracing himself against his desk and looming over me. “I have to have it. Once I do, then the limits are boundless.” He stops for a second and looks deep into my eyes. “I hate St. Clair’s guts, always have. Why should a jumped-up idiot like that have everything?”

The venom in my father’s eyes is wild and destructive, his words withering. I almost want to slide to the floor, partly from the power he displays and partly to avoid his glare.

         “I want everything he has and more. I want Inferno, and I’m just waiting for the right time to get it.” He turns from simmering rage to white-hot anger like some kind of movie villain or psychopath.

Meanwhile, I’m asking myself why he’s like this, and whether he’s actually gone crazy –  because how can I do this?

He must be insane!