She’d never speak about Lann to these people. She wouldn’t mention as much as his name. She wasn’t going to soil his memory with them. “Why did you do this?”
Adam feigned innocence. “Give you coffee?”
“Everything.”
“Everything?” He smiled. “Ask me one question at a time and I’ll do my best to answer it.”
“Why did you give me a scholarship?”
“For you to meet the aeromancist, of course.”
“Why?”
“We knew he’d be fertile with you.”
“How?”
“My father is a man of resources.”
His father. “Why do you want my baby?”
“Imagine what you can do if you can manipulate the weather.”
“Your father likes sunshine?” she asked with a raised brow.
He chuckled. “A man can bring the world to its knees with the threat of an ice age. Or how about just America with pending hurricanes? A man who rules the weather, rules the crops. Crops are food. Food is a very, very dangerous commodity, Katherine. You’d be surprised how much people with money will pay for food when they have none.”
It never dawned on her how powerful Lann was. The realization took her breath away. But Lann would never abuse his power in such a way. What they intended for her child filled her with horror.
“You want to turn my child into a monster,” she whispered.
“It all depends on how you look at it. Do I look like a monster?”
His words drove the awful truth deeper. His father was going to raise her child as his own. Her baby would be brought up as Adam’s brother. No. Lann would rescue their son. She hated Adam, and she hated his father.
“Who is your father?”
“You can call him Godfrey.”
Godfrey. The mention of that name was like being pushed under a cold shower. She stared at him in shock. “He sent David for me.”
“Eve took you to that clinic. She was going to abort your baby. David was supposed to pull you out before, but then you decided to run.”
The pieces suddenly came together. “When David tried to cut a deal with us, you terminated him.”
He only smiled as he sipped his coffee.
“So, it was your father who did experiments on David.”
His eyes tightened. “Why would you ask questions that endanger your life? If I tell you that, I can’t let you go. You know that.”
“But you just told me everything else.”
“We tell you what we want you to know.”
The coldness of his tone made her shiver. Yes, Adam was a monster. He seemed civil on the outside, but inside he was just as rotten as his father.
He motioned at the mug between her palms. “Your coffee’s getting cold too.”
She looked at the forbidden drink. Her appetite was gone again, but she wasn’t feeling sick. She’d skipped a meal last night. Her concern wasn’t for herself. It was for Thomas. She had to eat. She lifted the mug to her lips. The aroma filled her senses. She closed her eyes as she took the first sip. As the brew washed down her throat, her arms broke out in goosebumps.
“Mm.” She licked her lips.
It was good coffee—strong, just the way she liked it. She gulped the rest down greedily, her body soaking up the caffeine boost. When she looked up again, Adam was studying her with an amused expression, and something else that bothered her.
“Do you fuck like you drink coffee?” he asked.
She choked. Her cheeks turned hot from the crude remark. She glanced at Margaret, but the woman didn’t even blink.
“You do,” he said slowly, as if it surprised him. “I can see why the Weatherman is so taken with you.”
Anger surged through her. “Don’t insult me. I don’t—”
She bit off her words. There was a fluttering in her womb stronger than what she’d experienced before. She left the mug on the table and placed a palm over her stomach. Thomas was moving. Only, he wasn’t just kicking, he was doing summersaults.
“What is it, Kat?” Adam asked with a smirk.
“Thomas…”
He lifted a brow. “The baby?”
“Oh, my God.”
She didn’t even care that Adam was basking in her concern. Her baby was kicking like hell. The coffee. Her baby was kicking and it was the first time she felt it as more than a flutter. Wonder spread through her, evicting her earlier anger. A smile she couldn’t suppress split her face in two, and then laughter bubbled from her lips.
Adam’s expression turned from enjoying her anguish to something darker.
“So,” he said in a cold tone, “what they say about caffeine is true.” He turned to Margaret. “No more coffee for her.”
Kat looked