Caped and Dangerous - Isabel Jordan Page 0,42
WAS NAUSEATING how much Greer wanted to believe him.
He made her so…weak. That was it. She was weak. There was no other reason for it. If she was stronger, she wouldn’t have let this conversation go as far as it had.
Get the information about Declan and get out. That’s what she should have done. That’s what Rio had told her to do.
But here she was, listening to the man—the potential villain—and letting him touch her. And God help her, his touch, even after everything she’d been through tonight, still melted her bones. Made her want to sink into him, rest her forehead on his chest, and let him soothe her nerves and ease all her hurts.
She frowned at him. “How was any of this for me?”
“Look, I’ve watched this city’s leadership run you into the ground for years. You’re overworked, underpaid, under appreciated, and if you decide to quit, you’ll be crucified in the court of public opinion for it. I’ve been working on a plan to get you out from under your contract for the past two years.”
Years? But that didn’t make sense. “We only just met two years ago.”
He had the same slightly embarrassed look on his face now that he’d had when she found out he’d bought her mother’s hospital system. “Yes. I’ve always respected you, Greer. Admired you. And yes, I wanted you, if I’m being totally honest. I’ve always just wanted to make things better for you. You deserve better. You always have. This city has made you almost hate what you can do because the job is so awful and intrusive and thankless.” Killian shook his head. “You should be proud of what you can do. Happy about it.”
This was all very sweet. And very confusing. And very seemingly not relevant to Declan and the how-to-build-super-soldiers government plot. “What does any of that have to do with Declan and the experiments?”
He bent his knees a little so that she could look into his eyes without having to tip her head back. “I used the general’s money to buy the contracts.”
“What contracts?”
“Yours. Bryn’s. All of them.”
Greer’s brain seemed to get stuck in a Groundhog Day-esque loop of what the fuck. “You bought our contracts from Gem City.”
He shook his head, and his grip on her tightened desperately. “No. Well, yes. But not just Gem City’s contracts. I bought all the superhero contracts.”
What. The Fuck. What. The. Fuck. What. The… “So, let me make sure I’m getting this straight. You now own the contracts for every superhero in the country.”
“Yes.”
“So, if a city wants to keep their superhero, or contract for a new one, they need to negotiate with you.”
“Yes.”
“And you did that so that, what, you could make me happy?”
He looked both relieved that she was finally getting it, and embarrassed that he’d, once again, been caught doing something that could be perceived as a good deed. For her.
He let go of her with one hand and impatiently raked it through is hair. “Well, not just for that. It actually is a really good investment. Renegotiating those contracts will make Morgan Enterprises millions and millions of dollars. But mostly…yes. I wanted you to have more. I wanted you—and all the superheroes out there like you—to have what you deserve.”
“Why would the cities agree to this?” she asked. “Doesn’t this make having superheroes more expensive for them?”
“Surprisingly, no. Your benefits and insurance would be handled through Morgan, so this actually saves them money. It’ll make it so that even smaller cities can afford to have a superhero if they want one. It’s a good deal for everyone.”
Greer blinked up at him a few times. “How much did you spend on those contracts?”
“Hundreds of millions.”
He threw that amount out as casually as a normal person would say, “Oh, I’m going to stop at the store on my way home and pick up a gallon of milk.” It was disconcerting.
“And how do superheroes benefit from you holding the contracts instead of the individual cities?” she asked.
“I have the best lawyers in the country. We can negotiate for superheroes to have higher pay—and through Morgan you’ll have paid vacation days and sick days, maternity leave, the best health insurance…” he trailed off with a shrug. “We can get you whatever you want. And if you want to retire, the company takes the blame instead of you. We just refuse to contract you out anymore so that you won’t become a social pariah.”
It was the most beautiful and reckless and