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Chapter 172 by K5Rakitan K5Rakitan

How do they handle this new development?

They hold a conference call.

Calls from Michael and Marc competed for Joan's attention. Seto ordered Roland to set up a video conference call, and soon they had faces on the flat-screen TV in Seto's office. Tamara took Joan's phone and mounted it on a tripod, relieving Joan's trembling hands. Michael and Mokuba appeared in the same panel, and seeing her own familiar couch in the background provided a small measure of comfort to Joan. More importantly, the way Seto held her reminded her that she didn't have to bear the bad news alone.

"Laura is listening," Marc nodded in the direction of where Laura sat offscreen. "That last brain zap didn't sit well with me, and she wants to take me to the hospital, but we all know that's pointless."

"Yeah," Michael agreed. "They're just going to bill you ten thousand bucks for all the tests, refer you to a psychiatrist who specializes in **** addiction, and send you home. Seriously though, that last one knocked both of us on our asses."

Mokuba nodded beside Michael. "So, what happened?"

Seto picked up Joan's phone and directed its camera at the wreckage of his workspace and the hole in the wall, through which Roland assisted Seto's crippled head secretary. Luckily, the blast of energy had cauterized Tanaka's arm, delaying the need for medical attention. Roland escorted Tanaka away from the scene as Seto brought the phone back to the tripod.

Marc and Michael stared at their phones with wide eyes while Mokuba asked, "Is Tanaka going to be OK?"

"Yes, but now I have to design an entire cybernetic arm instead of just a finger. I told you we should have removed her finger."

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Just tell us what happened, Seto. Did you lose control of the ring?"

"Quite the opposite," Joan said. "It saved us from getting obliterated by Hera."

"Hera the Greek goddess?" Marc clarified. One of the previous companies he'd worked for had used her as a character in a game, so he knew the legends well.

"The very same," Joan confirmed.

"Hold up. Are you talking about a cosplayer or actual freaking Hera?" Marc asked.

"Actual freaking Hera."

A moment of silence passed as the men in California wrapped their heads around this new development.

Laura's head popped into Marc's frame. "For real? I mean . . . how do you know it was really her?"

"She . . ." Joan paused, unable to get the words out.

Seto pulled Joan to his chest, and she sank into his embrace. Her lips quivered and her eyes leaked.

"What the fuck did she do!?" Michael demanded, already dreading the answer.

"She cursed us, our baby," Seto filled in.

Marc froze. He'd wondered about this since that moment he'd let his fantasies get the better of him and had been immediately rewarded by a brain zap. He'd shoved his fears to the back of his mind over and over, but they kept surfacing. The way Seto said "our baby" with more emotion than he had ever heard fall from the CEO's lips drove reality home.

"What baby?" Laura asked.

Marc's finger twitched to end the call, but he realized that would leave him with even more explaining to do.

Who tells Laura what?

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