The digital clock on Sloane’s phone read 7:48 PM. We’d been sprawled across the living room couch for almost an hour now, recounting our Halloran entrance exam experiences to Diane over FaceTi. My body still ached from the physical punishnt I’d put it through, but Boundless Stamina kept from collapsing completely.
"—and then I literally punched through the chest plate," Sloane was saying, her hands gesturing wildly as she described her encounter with a three-pointer robot. "The thing sparked and went down hard. That was probably my favorite takedown of the day."
Diane’s face filled the screen of Sloane’s propped-up phone. Even through the video call, her presence commanded attention. She wore a cream-colored dress that hugged her figure perfectly, her pink hair falling loosely around her shoulders. Business casual for her Chicago conference, but sohow making it look like haute couture.
"That’s my girl," Diane laughed, her Southern drawl warming the words. "I always said you had a gift for making an entrance. What about you, Lukas? How many points did you end up with?"
I shifted on the couch, suddenly aware of how close Sloane was sitting next to . Her thigh pressed against mine, warm through her sweatpants.
"Twenty-one points total. Not bad, not great. I spent most of my ti setting up other applicants for kills rather than going solo."
"That’s actually smart strategy," Diane nodded approvingly. "Halloran doesn’t just look at raw numbers. They want students who can think beyond the obvious solution."
"That’s what I told him!" Sloane nudged with her elbow. "Turns out he’s got a brain under all that hair."
I ran my fingers through my dirty blonde hair self-consciously. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"And you helped that girl with the illusion powers?" Diane asked, her blue eyes sharp even through the screen. Nothing escaped her notice. "When the zero-pointer appeared?"
"Yeah. She was trying to save another applicant who was injured. Couldn’t leave her there."
Diane’s expression softened. "Reina and Marcus would be proud of you, sugar. That’s the kind of decision that separates heroes from people who just have powers."
Sothing twisted in my chest at the ntion of my parents. Not my parents, technically. The original Lukas’s parents. The people whose legacy I was borrowing without permission.
"You think I did enough to get in?" I asked, hating the uncertainty in my voice.
Diane leaned closer to her cara. "Honey, you were never going to outmuscle those kids who’ve been training since they were six. But you played smarter, not harder. Halloran needs students who understand that heroism isn’t just about who hits the hardest."
"But—"
"No buts. You showed up two weeks after manifesting and held your own against applicants with years of training. That counts for sothing." Her voice carried the finality of soone who wouldn’t tolerate further argunt.
Sloane suddenly jumped to her feet. "I’m dying of thirst. Gonna grab a soda. You want one?"
"Pineapple if we have it," I replied.
Sloane disappeared into the kitchen, her footsteps fading down the hall. The mont she was out of earshot, Diane’s expression changed. Her professional mask slipped, revealing sothing hungrier beneath.
She bit her lower lip, her eyes never leaving mine as she adjusted her position. The cara angle shifted, and suddenly I was looking at more than just her face. She slowly pulled the neckline of her cream dress to the side, exposing the lace edge of her bra and then tugging that down too.
My breath caught as she revealed her breast, perfectly shaped and achingly familiar after our nights together. The Oracle Feed helpfully inford that her arousal trics were spiking, as if I needed a system to tell what her expression made obvious.
"Miss ?" she whispered, her voice dropping to that husky register that haunted my dreams.
"Diane—what are you—" I glanced anxiously toward the kitchen.
She smirked and tilted the cara lower, showing the hem of her dress pushed up her thighs. Her fingers traced along the edge of her panties, a light blue lace that contrasted with her skin tone.
"Just giving you sothing to think about until I get ho tomorrow." She adjusted the cara back to her face, eyes gleaming with mischief. "Consider it... motivation for continued excellence."
My brain short-circuited. Sloane could walk back in at any mont. I could hear her in the kitchen, the refrigerator opening and closing, ice clinking in glasses.
"Your daughter is literally in the next room," I hissed.
"Then you’d better not make any suspicious faces, should you?" Diane’s smile widened. "I’ve been thinking about you all day, stuck in these boring etings."
The System pinged a notification: Diane Fitzgerald’s Temptation Gauge has increased by 2% to 60% total. Threshold: DEVOTED stage reached.
"She’ll be back any second," I warned, my voice tight.
"Then I suppose you’ll have to wait for the rest of your preview until tomorrow night." Diane’s hands moved with practiced efficiency, readjusting her dress and bra in a matter of seconds. The transformation was imdiate and complete—the teasing seductress vanished, replaced by the composed CEO as if a switch had been flipped. "I land at 4 PM. Be ready for a proper welco ho."
The footsteps from the kitchen grew louder. Closer.
I forced my expression into sothing that wouldn’t scream ’your mother just flashed her tits over FaceTi.’ Neutral. Casual. Just a normal video call with the woman who had raised for nine years and was now apparently determined to corrupt completely.
Sloane reappeared with two glasses of soda, handing one filled with golden pineapple fizz.
"What’d I miss?" she asked, dropping back onto the couch beside .
"Just telling Lukas how proud I am of both of you," Diane replied smoothly. Her Southern accent seed more pronounced now, part of her camouflage. "The acceptance letters should arrive within two weeks. Though I might be able to get an early peek through so contacts at the academy."
"Mom! That’s cheating," Sloane protested.
"It’s networking, sugar. There’s a difference." Diane checked her watch. "I should get going. I have dinner with the Chicago agency head in twenty minutes."
"Talk to you tomorrow?" Sloane asked.
"Of course. Love you both."
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