I harden my gaze on Winston.

He reads my reaction, and for a moment, I wonder if he’s spent more time studying us than sympathizing with us.

“What I need,” he says softly, “is information we can use against the corporation. Leverage. And the quickest route is through the original investors. They don’t want to be known. Many of them are involved in multiple schemes—money laundering and other financial crimes. And … I’m sure in some cases, depraved and violent acts. It is the way of powerful men.”

“But not you, right?” I ask. “You would never do anything like that.”

This time, it’s Winston who looks hurt. “I would not,” he answers.

“Then hold them accountable,” I say. “You’re a rich man. Why not expose them rather than blackmail them? Surely ruining their reputation would help.”

“Help you?” he says. “I think not. All the girls, every single one they could find, would be destroyed immediately. Believe me when I say that society would not stand by a group of sentient robots.”

I was right to worry about what would happen if people found out about us. It makes us more alone than ever. So alone, in fact, that Winston Weeks is one of very few people who wants to see us live.

“When it comes down to it,” Winston says, “I’m nothing compared to the power of Innovations Corporation. If the story broke, it would be buried the same day. You don’t understand what money can do, Philomena. Not yet.”

He’s right about that. I know there is wealth, but I don’t understand the varying degrees. Jackson mentioned something about it once—how the rich play by different rules. I can’t imagine there is anyone richer than Winston Weeks. But apparently, there is.

“We have to force their hand,” he says. “We take away their options.”

He offers me the same winsome smile he gave me while handing me wine at the academy. “Will you help me?” he asks.

There isn’t time to process his offer thoroughly. But when it comes down to it, I don’t want another man controlling my future. The girls’ future.

“We’ll handle it our way,” I say, and start for the door. Winston jumps to his feet, his cool exterior slipping away.

“But we’re working for the same cause!” he insists. “You girls can’t do this on your own. You can’t do this without me.” His proclamation infuriates me.

“You don’t know what we’re capable of!” I snap.

Winston flinches away from my raised voice. And then his face settles into a kind of astonishment. He smiles again, sitting down at the table.

“Yes,” he says. “That’s true. I have no idea what you’re thinking, Philomena. And that, my dear, is exactly the point.”

He picks up his glass and takes a sip.

I don’t wait for him to explain. I exit the room, looking around wildly for Lennon Rose. Is she willing to let another man tell her what to do? Winton Weeks wants control. Over us. Over other men.

He doesn’t care about us. He cares about power. But as I search for her, I remember that she’s gone to meet Corris. She left me here with Winston. She left me alone.

“Can I drive you somewhere?” Winston asks, startling me. I turn around to find him cool and collected, his hand casually in his pocket.

“No,” I say simply.

“Then at least let me call you a car,” he says. “No strings attached.”

I debate giving him my address, but realistically, Winston Weeks probably already knows where I live. So I nod, allowing him to call a car.

Winston takes out his phone and taps the screen a few times before putting it away. “You’re all set.” He didn’t ask my address, proving my earlier point.

“I’ll wait outside,” I say.

Winston doesn’t try to stop me. When I’m on the sidewalk, I keep my back to the house in case he’s watching me from the window.

I accept that in this instant, Winston Weeks’s goals align with my own. But how long will that last? Until he uses us up? Until it’s no longer convenient for him?

When it comes down to it, something that Leandra once said resonates with me.

No one will care what happened to us at Innovations Academy, she said. We’re not human. We don’t have any rights. She smiled. All we have is our will.

And my will is strong.

A car pulls up and I get in. The other girls are probably waiting for me. I agreed to meet with Raven to discuss the possibility of her help. Part of me wants to change my mind and tell them all to forget it, but after meeting with Winston … I’m still not convinced that he didn’t have something to do with my hacking. I have no idea who he’d send to do the job.

Who is the woman in my head? Is she real?

And if so, which side is she working for?

14

When the car pulls up to my apartment, I see Sydney sitting on the front porch of the house. Her long legs are stretched down several stairs as she studies a phone in her hands. She looks up and notices me, furrowing her brow when I get out of the town car.

As I approach Sydney, she motions to the vehicle pulling away.

“Where were you?” she asks. “Also, this is yours.” She holds out a phone, and I take it and sit next to her on the stair. “Way more expensive than I thought,” she adds. “I hope we hear from Leandra soon because we’re starting to run out of money.”

“I’m sure she anticipated that,” I say. “She knows there’s someone else here to fund us, maybe even set us up to have to ask.”

“You’re talking about Winston Weeks,” she says. It’s not a stretch to think that Leandra manipulated us. Giving us yet another reason to seek out the investor. Work with him.

I slide the phone into my pocket and turn to her. “I went to see Lennon Rose,” I say quietly.

Sydney wilts. “Without me?”

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I couldn’t wait. I thought … I thought I could convince her to come home to us. She shouldn’t be staying with Winston.”

“And how did she respond to that?” Sydney asks, sounding hopeful.

“We didn’t get the chance to discuss it. Winston was there.”

Sydney’s eyes widen. “You saw Winston Weeks? Are you okay?”

I tell Sydney everything that Winston and I discussed. She’s equally shocked about his history with Leandra, but she agrees the money shortage could be deliberate.

“As much as I hate to admit this,” Sydney says, tapping her lower lip, “he might be right.”

I scoff. “Who, Winston? About what?”

She crinkles her nose as if acknowledging it offends her, too. “About collecting information,” she says. “It’s essentially the same thing Leandra said. We were okay with her doing it. So why is it different that Winston is carrying it out?”

She’s not wrong. Leandra does want the same thing, with the exception of putting Winston in charge of everything. She didn’t share that part of the plan. I thought once we got the information, she’d use it to convince the investor to stop funding the corporation. We never talked about the larger implications. We certainly never talked about putting Winston Weeks in charge of the country.