Frozen

Chapter 36

I stand beside the door and wait for him to continue. 

"There is no cure," he says. 

I turn to the door and start to open it. 

"Listen!" He yells stopping me. "You're right. With all the information we knew going into the freeze we should have been able to find the cure, but we were wrong... multiple times."

I turn to face him. 

"That doesn't make sense," I say. 

"I get it," he says. "I'm not upset at you for blaming the system but we have tried."

"It's like you have given up," I say. "Do you need more people to work on this? Do you need me to go out there and grab some people who are frozen for... resources or something?" 

There was a pause. 

"I'll think about it," he says. 

I look at him and he has broken eye contact. I honestly can't stay in here much longer. 

I turn to face the door once again. 

"Do you need me to say something to Dominic for you?" I say. "... oh wait... my bad." 

I leave his office without looking back.  

I'm boiling inside. I feel like Nick is hiding something from me. I think he wanted to tell me something but hid it with that shitty excuse. 

I walk over to the cafe following the signs on the wall. I can see the twins as I get closer to my destination. 

"Any luck?" Ethan asks. 

"Nah, it was what I should have expected," I say to him. 

"It's alright. You feeling okay?" Grayson asks. 

"Yeah," I say looking down at my fingers. 

"Why can't your brother just tell you the truth," Ethan says. 

"What?!" Grayson says in shock. "... Mr. Banks is your brother?!" 

"SHHHHH!" Ethan and I say simultaneously. 

"What?" Grayson whispers. 

"We can't have people know that they are related," Ethan whispers.

"Why not?" Grayson whispers back.  

We all look at each other trying to look for an answer. What was the reason we were keeping it a secret? 

"Am I missing something?" Grayson whispers. 

"Oh my gosh," I whisper. "If everyone here knew that Nick and I were siblings it could clear our names and people wouldn't look at us like we are circus animals anymore." 

"No Danielle," Ethan says. 

I look at him with confusion.

"If people know you two are siblings, maybe they will take him down and replace him with... someone with no control," Ethan says. 

"Like Sonia?" Grayson asks. 

Ethan looks at his brother and nods. 

"Won't it be Elizabeth?" I ask. 

"I think so...," Ethan says. 

"Well I don't trust her so I guess we can't go with that plan," I say.

"You never trusted her to beginning with," Ethan says. 

"Who is Elizabeth?" Grayson asks. 

"You don't want to know," I say. 

"She isn't a bad person Danielle," Ethan says. 

"Then explain why she told my Nicholas that I told you and her that we were related?" I whisper. "She told him everything from me climbing the vents and running away-"

"You were climbing in their vents Danielle?" Grayson asks quietly. 

I look at him and nod. 

"Why am I so behind in everything?" Grayson asks. 

"What you don't know won't hurt you in the future," Ethan says. "It's better this way." 

I can see that Grayson was annoyed but I agree with Ethan. Grayson sits back in his chair and crosses his arms. I look around to see that a lot of people are looking at our direction. 

Every time I make eye contact with another person they quickly break it. 

"I'm going back to my room," I say. "I don't like the vibe in here." 

"Danielle you have to build your credit," Ethan says. 

"I don't want to," I say. "Look around Ethan. Do you think anyone here would like to talk to the new crazy person... no. Especially after that code red thing my brother pulled off to find me placed a bad reputation on me so no thanks." 

I stand up and tuck my chair in. 

"Well aren't you hungry?" Ethan asks. 

"No," I say. 

I start to walk away but Elizabeth stops me at the cafeteria exist. 

"Hey," she says with her fake ass smile. "How are you holding up?" 

I look her dead in the eye and give her a fake smile. 

"I'm doing fine, now if you excuse me," I say walking away from her. 

She grabs my arm turning me around. Now my back is facing the door and I can see Ethan and Grayson behind her shoulder. 

"Did you want me to bring you to Dominic?" she asks. 

My heart drops. How could I be so stupid? I have forgotten about visiting Dominic. 

"No thank you," I say. "Ethan will bring me this afternoon." 

"I'm sorry, but Mr.Banks has ordered me to bring you to Dominic when you want to visit him," she says. 

I can see Grayson walking towards us from behind Elizabeth's shoulder. I look back at Elizabeth and notice this pin on her shirt. It's a yellow flower with a dark circle in the middle of it. 

"Is there a reason why you would need to come with me?" I ask. 

"Hey!" Grayson says sticking his hand towards Elizabeth. "My name is Grayson, I don't believe we have met." 

"My name is Elizabeth. I am Mr.Banks' assistant," she says shaking his hand. 

I continue to stare at her pin trying not to make it obvious. 

"If you don't mind, I have to steal Danielle from you for a minute," he says place his hand on my back. 

"Oh actually I was just asking her-" 

"Thanks," he says cutting her off. 

He looks at me. 

"Let's go," he says. 

We both turn and leave the cafeteria. I turn to look back at Elizabeth and she has an angry look on her face. 

I look forward and continue walk to my room with Grayson by my side.