Liv bites her lip. “No,” she whispers, her voice breathy. “I don’t want a boy. I like you.” She leans forward and kisses him again, her hands sliding up his chest.
My stomach turns as I watch my sister press against this monster, her body language broadcasting desire rather than revulsion. This can’t be happening.
Jax pulls back, a satisfied smirk spreading across his face as he strokes her cheek. “Good girl,” he murmurs, his thumb brushing across her lower lip. “Very good girl.”
He stands abruptly, straightening his jacket. “I’ll see you tonight,” he states, his eyes flickering between Liv and me. “Both of you.”
With a final look, Jax exits the cell, the electronic lock engaging with a definitive click behind him.
The moment he’s gone, I round on Olivia. “What the hell was that? Have you completely lost your mind?”
“It’s our way out, Aurora,” Liv says in a low, urgent voice. “Don’t you see? I need to use his obsession with me to blindside him.”
“By what? Sleeping with him?” I hiss, incredulous.
“By making him trust me enough to let his guard down,” she counters. “He’s careful around you because he knows you hate him, but he thinks he’s breaking me. I can use that.”
I shake my head, trying to process this. “How exactly will we escape when we’re drugged every night? Did you forget that part of his sick little game?”
Liv’s eyes dart to the water bottle Jax forced her to drink, then to the steel toilet in the corner of our cell. Her expression shifts from despair to determination.
“I know how to fix this,” she whispers. She staggers toward the toilet, dropping to her knees beside it.
“What are you—” I begin, but before I can finish, Liv sticks her fingers down her throat. She retches violently, her body convulsing as she empties the contents of her stomach into the toilet.
She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and nods toward me. “Your turn now.”
I stare at her, not immediately understanding.
“The water, Aurora. Get it out of your system.” Her voice is raw but urgent. “If we’re not drugged, we can stay awake. And when he comes back tonight...”
The realization hits me. “Genius,” I breathe. If Jax thinks we’re unconscious, but we’re awake and alert...
I rush to the toilet as Liv moves aside, and I push my finger down my throat, gagging immediately. It takes several attempts before my body finally responds, expelling the water I’d consumed earlier—earlier than Liv.
The acidic taste in my mouth is disgusting, but the clarity in my mind is worth it. I spit repeatedly, trying to clear the bitter taste.
“Do you think it worked?” I ask, wiping my streaming eyes. “What if it’s already in our bloodstream?”
“I don’t know,” Liv admits. “But it’s better than doing nothing. We have to try.”
I glance at the security camera mounted in the corner of our cell. “He’ll have seen us throw up.”
Liv shakes her head. “I doubt it, as he only just left. We need to act drugged when he comes. Make him think his plan worked.”
I flush the toilet and slump back against the wall, my throat raw and my mouth still tasting of bile. Despite the discomfort, my mind feels sharper than it has in days. I look at Liv, who’s already settled back on her cot, arranging herself in a position that mimics drugged sleep.
“We need to practice,” she whispers, eyes closed but body tense. “Slow breathing. Completely limp. Not even a twitch when he...” She doesn’t finish the sentence, but I understand.
My heart hammers against my ribs as I consider what’s ahead.
“What if it doesn’t work?” I whisper, moving to my own cot. “What if there’s still enough of the drug in our system?”
Liv opens one eye. “Then we try again tomorrow. And the next day.”
I practice relaxing my muscles one by one, forcing my breathing to become deep and even. It’s surprisingly difficult to appear genuinely unconscious—my body wants to tense, to prepare for fight or flight.
“We’ll only get one shot at this,” I murmur. “If he realizes we’re awake...”
