“You better get back to your quarters, Adi,” Mandy said. “A failed jump will have everyone on edge, but your dad?” She shrugged her shoulders. “Wouldn’t want to be the mayor right now, that’s for sure.”

The mayor. I glanced at my wrist comm. It was five minutes to one.

And then a thought occurred.

“At least something good will come out of this,” I said to my friend.

“What’s that, girl?” she asked, opening up her digital-flower stall again after having locked it down for the jump that didn’t occur.

“Lunch will be cancelled,” I said cheerfully, grinning from ear to ear.

Mandy laughed at me, shaking her head, and then reached down to Ratbag to cuddle him.

“You can leave this little one with me if you like,” she said. “Just in case lunch is still on.”

“Nah,” I said, taking the bundle of love out of her hands. “Dad will be too busy reaming out the mayor to notice us.”

“All right then. If you’re sure. I know how you said that Ratbag rubs your dad the wrong way. And on a day like today?” She shrugged her shoulders again.

I grimaced. Mandy wasn’t wrong. My father seemed to have a low tolerance for anything that had the potential to muck up his plans. And a long-haired Chihuahua, which shed all over our quarter’s chairs, frequently upset his plans.

My father did not like having to change suits once dressed.

“I’ll catch you, later,” I said and started for the central hub lifts.

I’d made it partway across the courtyard when the lift doors opened, and my father’s security detail stepped out. Four of them. I sighed and placed Ratbag on the ground, gripping his leash tightly.

“Ms Price,” the head goon said. “Your father has requested you return to your quarters immediately.”

“I was just heading there,” I said.

“He is not happy that you chose to remain on this deck when a jump had been scheduled.”

“He knew I was heading out to walk Ratbag,” I offered, stepping into the lift and being surrounded by tall, testosterone thick men.

I glanced at the one closest to me, noting the plasma pistol he wore on his hip. They weren’t normally this obvious with their weapons. The failed jump had everyone…jumpy, then. I sniggered to myself.

“You are to change clothes immediately,” the guard who’d been doing all the talking said, ignoring my laughter. “And meet Mr Price and Mayor Logan in your dining room.”

Well, that sobered me up in a flash. The guard just frowned at my side.

I ducked my head, not wishing to see the censure in his eyes. It was the third time they’d had to come searching for me since we’d left Earth. Sometimes space seemed so very vast. And at others, it seemed way too cramped.

“Lunch is still on, then,” I muttered.

“And you will be late,” the guard said.

I sighed. “Why do you even care?”

“Every time we have to chase you down in another part of the ship takes my men away from the main deck where they should to be.”

“Then don’t ‘chase me down,’” I said.

“You know better than that, Ms Price,” the guard said as the doors opened onto the main deck.

I stepped out, keeping my head high, as the guards flanked me, herding me toward my father’s quarters. It was as if they were scared I’d make a run for it. But there was no escaping my father’s wrath now. I glanced down at what I was wearing. For the Habitat Two central hub, it was more than appropriate. For lunch, with my father and the mayor, it was woefully lacking.

But then, I was woefully lacking in almost every aspect according to Nathan Price. I might have inherited my Swedish mother's eyes and hair, but I was no supermodel. It didn’t matter that he’d given me the chin that ruined all of that. I was still less than he wanted.

And in the end, he hadn’t even wanted my mother.

I pushed the sharp stab of pain down at that thought, even as it built to a crescendo inside me. Now was not the time to fall apart.

“That will be all,” I said at the door to our quarters. “You are not invited inside.”

The guard smirked at me.

“As your father commands, Ms Price,” he said, making it known that he followed the leaseholder’s orders and not mine.

I lifted my chin and slapped my palm against the bioscanner, then stepped in through the doors when they opened. I waited for them to shut at my back before I let out a disgruntled breath of air; albeit quietly.

Ahead, I could hear my father and the mayor talking. They were already seated at the dining table, then. I could have done what the guard had told me to do and go and change my clothing. But I was already late. I either made it worse, or I got this over with.

I sucked in a fortifying breath of air and started down the corridor. Father’s office door was open, but no one was in there. I kept walking, aware my steps were slowing. I scowled at my recalcitrant feet and then stopped just before the dining room door, trying to find what was left of my battered courage.

“I can just picture the bridge crew chasing their tails over this,” the mayor’s distinctive voice said.

“As long as they don’t trace it back to us,” my father growled.

“If the AI can’t, then they can’t.”

“Are you sure the code was undetected?”

“Absolutely. I masked it in a systems failure that would have required 88% of the AI’s computing power to prevent a disaster.”

“Playing with the air filtration system again, Jacob?”

“It worked last time. It only takes a split second of distraction to get in and then get out again afterwards. Simon Anderson wasn’t as clever as so many think.”

My hand came out and rested against the gel wall. A gel wall that never changed colour, I realised. I had wondered why the AI always waited to talk to me when I stepped out of our quarters. Now, I had my answer. So the leaseholder could plot unobserved.

Just what the hell were my father and his toady playing at?

“In any case,” the mayor said in superior tones, “they won’t be able to fix it without pulling the jump point beacon apart. And they won’t think of doing that until it’s too late for the others.”

“You better be right about that. Timing is everything.”

“Trust me.”

“I trust no one. Unless I can buy them, of course.”

“And you have bought me, Mr Price. For better or for worse.”

“That I have.”

Ratbag chose that moment to scratch his nose. I sucked in a breath of startled air knowing what came next and reached down to stop him. But it was too late. The little sneeze echoed in the silent pause of conversation. I grimaced.

A glass clinked as it hit the table.

“Adriana?” my father snapped.

I turned my face away from the door’s opening and called, “Hi! Sorry, I’m late.” And then faked a few steps, as if I was still back by the front door to the quarters before I walked into the dining room.

The mayor stood upon my arrival. My father didn't.

“You’re not dressed,” he said.

I looked down at my clothes and tugged on my trousers. “All pertinent parts are covered. I promise.”

Father scowled while the mayor checked. Creep.

“Sit then, if this is the best you can do,” my father snapped.

Relieved at having avoided an all-out yelling match, I forgot about Ratbag.

I sat in the chair farthest from both of them as Ratbag sniffed around the bottom of my father’s trousers. In a movement too quick for me to react to, he kicked out with his foot and sent Ratbag flying.

I gasped and made a move to go after my dog when my father’s hand came down on my arm and gripped it tightly.

“Sit!” he snarled as if I were the dog, not Ratbag.

I sat. My heart in my throat. Tears threatening to fill my eyes.

I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. And I sure as hell would not show weakness in front of the mayor. That man loved to hunt his prey when they were wounded.

Ratbag curled up in a pitiful ball in the corner of the room, whimpering quietly.

I fisted my hand. But my father noticed my reaction. He smiled. It was chilling.

“I have a proposition for you, daughter,” he said. “As it seems you require incentive to act appropriately.”

I said nothing. The mayor looked positively gleeful.

“Your dog may live to see another day,” my father advised, “if you agree to one simple business contract.”

I raised my eyes to eyes that thankfully did not match mine and kept a neutral expression on my face.

“What would that be, Father?” I asked.

I’d get Ratbag out of here, and I’d take him to Mandy. She’d protect him. She’d love him in a way I had no hope of doing now. I knew my father. I knew his ultimatums were real. He never said a word he didn’t mean. And he never made a threat he didn’t intend to carry out if required. And I’d seen him carry out plenty.

I’d lost a lot of things in my life because of his threats being made real.

One of them was my mother.

My father smiled. His knowing smile.

“We understand each other, then,” he said. And then released my arm and reached for his glass of champagne. “A toast,” he offered.

The mayor poured wine into a spare glass for me and took great delight in making me reach farther than strictly necessary to accept it.

“To a successful negotiation,” my father said.

There had been no negotiation. Only his threat. And my acquiescence.

“And to ownership,” he added.

“To ownership,” the mayor repeated, downing his glass and staring at me with a look that I did not much like.

“Drink,” my father ordered. “Drink it all.”

It wasn’t a large glass, so the threat this time was easy to ignore. I downed the champagne and placed it back on the table with nonchalance.

“Congratulations, Jacob,” my father said to the mayor. “You may kiss your future bride.”

What?