These memories that had been locked in the back of my mind rushed back to me as I lay in bed with Feros snoring softly beside me. Since my arrival, Ammet and I had been working nonstop to compile a list of actions Colleen needed to take in the near and long terms in order to keep her empire going while we shifted her power over to us.

We were going to claim that Colleen had been ambushed by an enemy after her encounter with me and that she fled to an undisclosed location to lay low while she figured out appropriate retribution. This was a fairly normal occurrence for her and we both thought it could keep me away from her closest allies for a short while at least. In the meantime, we would work to determine her most reliable contacts, get them to start working with us and drain the gang credit accounts.

‘You can stay here indefinitely.’ Ammet had told me once we finalized our plan.

‘Fine.’ I agreed and moved Feros into my room, but almost immediately regretted that decision once his very limited charms wore thin. Luckily, he was getting married tomorrow and would be someone else’s problem.

I pulled myself out of bed and began flipping through my contacts. My surroundings were fabulous, of course, but I longed for the freedom to hop in my ship and disappear. I had initially fallen into this line of work because it paid the bills, but I also loved my job and would often find myself on the message boards that I had used, keeping an eye on the postings and imagining being able to get off the station and hunt these people down.

‘Aia?’ I rolled my eyes as the boy-wonder roused himself.

‘Over here.’

‘I don’t want to get married.’ Feros walked over to me and leaned over, gently biting my earlobe. ‘Can you get my dad to call it off?’

‘I already tried.’ I lied, beyond tired of his whining and ready for him to be someone else’s problem. ‘You’ll be fine. She seems… nice.’ I turned my attention back to the terminal in front of me, hoping he would get the hint and fuck off.

‘You don’t know her and I love you.’ I rolled my eyes.

‘I’m getting breakfast.’ I turned off the screen, stood and pulled on my robe, leaving Feros pouting in bed.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

‘Are you ready for the big day?’ I asked Ammet as he strolled in shortly after me and grabbed some sort of tea. I was happy to see him and deal with an adult.

‘Are you?’ He was still convinced I would do something to fuck up Feros’ forthcoming nuptials. I cut my eyes at him and turned my attention back to Colleen’s messages.

‘Absolutely. This wedding can not come soon enough.’ I took a sip of coffee and started scrolling. ‘Maybe you can take Feros’ place once he’s gone?’ I smiled and blew him a kiss that he completely ignored.

‘Any news I should know about?’ I usually checked on the morning’s intel while Ammet worked on personal matters, giving him a rundown on what we should be concerned with in the early afternoon. There really hadn’t been much going on as control of her territory was pretty well established. A message caught my attention.

Should we grab the bartender?

It was from one of Colleen’s higher level subordinates and it made me think of Rem.

We don’t need him and if you get too close I’ll throw you out of an airlock.

I shot back, hoping she would listen. While I was aware of most of their activities, I couldn’t be sure that they would actually do what I told them. Often they would decide to take ‘initiative’, hoping it would improve their prospects within the organization.

‘Ammet- I need to leave for a few days.’ I had to make sure Rem was ok and sending a message wouldn’t be enough, I needed to see him with my own eyes.

‘No. You are staying here.’ He put down his work and turned his attention to me. ‘What’s going on?’

‘I think a friend might be in trouble. One of today’s messages may have mentioned him and I need to see for myself that he’s ok.’

‘You can’t leave, Aia. We discussed this.’ I could tell he was concerned that I wanted to abandon our plan. ‘I’ll send one of my men to check it out.’

‘No, it’s an old friend and I’m not sure if he’ll trust anyone but me.’

‘I don’t know Aia, we’re so close to finalizing everything. If I lose you now, all of our planning will be for nothing.’ He put down his tablet and took a sip of tea.

‘Ammet, I need to do this.’ I walked towards him and grabbed his arm. ‘This person is very important to me. I’ll take precautions and wear a disguise.’ I could tell I was wearing him down, but needed to give him a final push. ‘I’ll tell my contact to give you the Oranium if anything happens to me.’

‘Ok. Fine.’ He grabbed his tablet again and started typing. ‘I have a spare ship with a clean transponder. It’s probably better if you’re not here for Feros’ wedding anyway.’ I agreed with a quick nod- not wanting to look overly excited.

I ran up to my room and turned on the light, waking Feros from his early afternoon nap. He let out an annoyed groan.

‘Sorry big boy, I have to go.’ I was going through my things, looking for Colleen’s hood and one of my anonymous credit accounts. Feros came up behind me and turned me around. He picked me up and sat me on the desk, spreading my legs and pushing himself inside me. I enjoyed him one last time before a little innocent fornication turned into significantly more intriguing adultery.