Page 23 of Dark Gambit: The Play

He chuckled. "Unless it's to prevent them from doing harm to another, right?" He offered her his arm and walked her to the dining table. "If you had the ability to stop a murderer from firing a gun at an innocent person, wouldn't you do it?"

"Of course."

He pulled out a chair for her. "Nearly every ability and technology is not intrinsically good or evil. It's how it is used that's either beneficial or harmful. And quite often, the boundaries are not clear. And if that's not bad enough, sometimes what is beneficial in one way is harmful in another, and you have to weigh the good versus the bad and make a judgment call about the winner." He smiled a sad smile. "So, as you can see, God's job is not easy."

While Tom was delivering his speech, Marcel and Julian sat across the table from them. She'd been so mesmerized by him, that she'd forgotten that she hadn't arrived alone.

"I'm glad that I'm not a goddess." She huffed out a breath. "I would have gotten one hell of a headache if I had to make those judgment calls."

"Ah, but you make those calls every moment of every day," Tom said in his velvety smooth voice. "It's just that the consequences of your decisions are usually not of life and death caliber."

As Sofia searched her mind for a clever response, a young woman drove her wheelchair into the living room.

"Hi." She waved a hand at Sofia while navigating her motorized chair with the other right into the empty spot next to the dining room table. "I'm Mia, Tom's fiancée."

Tom had just won another point in his favor.

Mia looked like a really nice and friendly person, and that reflected well on Tom.

Still, she had to wonder what their reflection in the mirror looked like. Were they as beautiful on the inside as they were on the outside?

She smiled and waved back. "I'm Sofia."

It was on the tip of her tongue to add that she was Marcel's girlfriend, but right now she was Marcel's suspect, not his love interest.

Throughout the drive, he had been physically close but emotionally distant.

As Mia reached for Tom's hand, he shook his head. "I want to try it first without your help."

“Right,” Mia said. “I forgot. I’ll move a few feet away. Usually, that’s enough.”

Was Mia a compeller as well?

She looked too gentle, too fragile, and Sofia would have never suspected her of possessing the ability. She looked so kind, and Sofia couldn't imagine her using compulsion to gain an unfair advantage over others.

In contrast, Eleanor looked the part and was quite intimidating. Still, she was nothing like Igor or even Jade. She just had an aura of someone who was used to getting her own way, but she loved Emmett, and she'd been kind to Sofia.

Emmett clearly loved Eleanor, and he put up a good act as the benevolent guru, but Sofia wouldn't trust him with a key to the bathroom.

Suddenly, it occurred to her that Emmett had swindled his followers by using compulsion to get them to surrender all of their possessions to him.

Bastard.

That must have been what had piqued Jade's curiosity. She must have read about that and realized that Emmett was a compeller. Maybe she'd thought that he was stronger than Igor and could free her.

Emmett wasn't in the same league as Igor, but Sofia had a feeling that Tom was in an even higher league.

He displayed a level of confidence that even Igor couldn't front.

It occurred to her that Igor strived to be perceived the way Tom was—a powerhouse that was nonetheless cultured and refined, but what he projected paled by comparison. Igor was cold and ruthless. He demanded respect and was afforded it out of fear.

Tom didn't demand anything. His personality just commanded respect.

16

MARCEL

As Mia moved away from the table, Toven turned to Sofia. "Tell me your full real name."