Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I want out once and for all.
Packing in my room is easy. There’s nothing that isn’t replaceable. The closet is lined with expensive clothing I care nothing about. It’s not even fucking comfortable, which is why I’m not bringing any of this shit. On a whim, though, I toss a suit in the pile in case I need it.
As I’m packing the suit jacket, I notice something sticking out of one of the pockets. I pluck the white paper out to study it.
It’s a price tag for a dress.
I bring it to my nose and try to capture a whiff of her lingering scent. Somehow, I know it is a clue from my life with Romy. It’s faint, but I do smell perfume.
I’m going to find you, love.
These monsters have done their best to erase her from the internet, aside from the generic shit I was able to find. She’s out there, and who knows, maybe she’s under the same mind manipulation I’m waking up from.
The headache hasn’t lessened, which is unfortunate. It makes thinking and remembering painful. I rub at the back of my neck, realizing the pain is coming from beneath my scar.
If they put nanotech into my body, which I’m almost completely sure of, then it stands to reason they’ve done the same to her.
Why separate us and make us forget?
I may never understand the how, and honestly, it doesn’t matter.
All that matters is getting me and LuLu the fuck away from these people.
And finding Romy.
Once they’re safe and we’re free from their technological control…
There will be hell to pay.
I’m going to deliver it.
Romy
I’m scared.
The doctor with the big smile and kind eyes takes my doll and grips her in his hand, just out of my reach.
Why is Daddy making me go with him?
I want Bastian to act tough like he does with his friends and tell the man to give me my doll back. The man makes my tummy twist into knots.
Maybe I can convince this man I’m not sick so I don’t need to see him. My heart hurts so much, but I don’t want anyone to know. It makes Daddy angry and Bastian sad. I can forget that yucky stuff that happened. I don’t want to remember it anyway.
“I’ll take good care of Calista,” the doctor promises.
His voice is weird. Like he’s trying to tell a lie with a smile on his face. It makes me even more scared because I don’t believe him. She’s my favorite doll.
Bastian and Daddy aren’t here. They’ve left me with this doctor, who must think I’m sick and in need of fixing.
I don’t trust him.
The only people I trust are Daddy and Bastian. Some people—like her—are bad inside their hearts. I feel like this doctor has the same heart as her.
I want to go home.
There’s a boy around Bastian’s age watching me. His eyes are swollen and red like he didn’t sleep for a thousand years. He seems tough, even tougher than my brother. I’ve seen Bastian mad at his friends lots of times and he has a mean look when he punches them. This boy doesn’t seem mean. I think he’s sad and scared like me. But, unlike me, he’s tough and can probably tell these doctors no.
What happens if I say no? If I throw a fit and refuse to go back there with the doctor?
I bet the boy would punch the liar doctor in his nose and make it bleed.
Can you save me?
The boy’s eyes shine with terror and heartache. If I weren’t being nudged to walk past him, I’d want to hug him. Maybe I could make him happy and he could save me. We could help each other.
But nothing happens.
The boy’s voice, deep and soft, murmurs behind me as he speaks to another man. I don’t hear what he says. And soon, the door closes behind me and the doctor, cutting me off from my only chance of being saved.
I wake to the smell of bacon and my stomach grumbles. Did Seth cook breakfast? He never cooks. It’s always up to me to make sure our family is fed.
“I got coffee too,” a female voice says. “Not sure if you can have it while being pregnant.”
Awareness slaps me like a wet towel—sharp and painful. I jerk my eyes open and take in the floral-print walls of the chain hotel we booked a room in late last night.
I don’t even know what state we’re in.
Eva sits down a paper to-go cup on the end table between our beds and then offers me the bag. I take it from her and shift into a sitting position.
Everything hurts.
Especially the bottoms of my feet and my tailbone.
It all comes rushing back to me. I escaped that madman. Eva saved me. We took off, leaving Kaitlyn behind.
Bile creeps up my throat and my eyes tear up. Last night, after we settled in our room, Eva held me in my bed while I bawled my eyes out. We didn’t talk about much, other than making sure I didn’t need to see a doctor. I know today we owe each other answers.