She can't go back

"I can't go back to him." Nicki looked exactly like a middle-school girl, snuffling snot and tears, her legs no longer woman-shaped but scrawny and un-developed, her fake tits looking out of place on an undeveloped body.

Rick didn't find her sexy but he did find her sympathetic. Like him, she was one of Dan's victims. But he had been betrayed by a man he'd thought was a friend and boss. She'd been betrayed by a father and lover.

"I have an idea," he said after she'd finished vomiting and her loud sobs had faded into an occasional nose-blow and tear-drip. "I can't promise it will work but it's possible we can get access to the app on your dad's phone. If we can, maybe we can adjust your settings back to normal. That won't bring back your mom, I know. And it certainly won't change the fact that your father has been tampering with who you are without your permission. But at least you'd be you again."

"I love him." Nicki turned up the waterworks again, wailing and pounding on Rick's chest for a few minutes.

"He's your father. And he's groomed you since you were a young child." Rick tried to sooth her with his tone as well as his words.

"I love him and I hated my mother because I thought she was trying to steal him from me. But..." her words trailed off.

From what Rick had seen growing up with an older sister, lots of women seemed to go through a phase where they hated their mothers. It was, he supposed, a part of separating from their families, from coming of age, from the fact that in America at least, moms are the ones who are expected to lay out the guidelines of behavior and propriety... guidelines that most teens want to violate and guidelines that come down especially hard on girls since boys are generally cut a lot of slack. What he didn't know was whether Nicki's 'hatred' for her mother was strong enough for her to want to protect her father.

"I have a safe place where you can hang out," he said. "I have an idea for getting your dad's phone and hacking into the app. But I'm not going to force you into anything. Whatever you want to do, I'm here for you."

"You know this is your fault." Her voice turned into a shriek. "We were fine. Then you came along with your gym and your big ideas. What was dad supposed to do, let mom take all he'd worked so hard for? She never would have even thought of leaving him if you hadn't given her those ideas, persuaded her she was still attractive and desirable and that she could do better than him."

Wow. Rick wondered if Nicki had come up with those ideas on her own or if her father had explained his view of the situation in one of their pillow moments.

"Are you saying you knew your father had your mother killed?"

"Of course I didn't. I still don't know that."

"But--"

"Okay, it's possible, I suppose. He was really mad at her. He told her she was crazy and that she shouldn't listen to you. That's all. But I was with him when she died. I never thought he might hire some gangsters or whatever they are to do it."

"I won't deny," Rick said, "that I was trying to help your mom escape a situation she found unbearable. I won't deny that I feel a responsibility for what happened, that I never dreamed your dad would do that, either. But ultimately your father has made these decisions. He decided to have your mom killed. He decided to drug you and alter your body without your consent. We don't know whether he got Misty Storm's permission for altering her. He doesn't seem to care much whether he gets permission although from what I've seen of Misty, she would agree to anything he asked."

Nicki dug around in her purse, pulled out a tissue and loudly blew her nose. "Okay, what is your plan?"

Seeing her purse had given him a scary thought. "Can I see your phone?"

She couldn't have looked more shocked if he'd asked her to see her pussy. Then again, he had seen her pussy so maybe her phone was even more private than that. "Why?"

"Because your father is a paranoid control freak. I would be surprised if he didn't have some sort of trace in your phone."

"Oh." She passed it over.

If it had a bug in it, he wouldn't be able to detect it. Rick resisted the urge to chuck the phone out the window and instead popped it open, removed the battery, then powered it down. He handed the phone back, keeping the battery than fired up his engine and headed toward the North Dallas Tollway.

About three minutes after he'd left that parking spot, four of Plano's finest flew by, sirens blaring, horns honking, drivers white-faced and intent.

"I guess," he said, "that cutting off the signal might have your father concerned. If only I believed his concern was for your safety rather than solely his own.