“You see him more often than before, I’m hearing.”
Someone had been keeping him updated, and my gut told me it was Bo.
“He might be visiting a bit more often,” The Director said, a touch of irritation in his voice. “He’s always welcome.”
“Of course. Eliot is dear to all of us. You both are. Have you read any interesting books lately, Jonah?”
“I’ve been reading a bit of Benjamin Jonson. He was—”
“I know who he was. Your taste in literature is impressive. Have you read—?”
He stopped talking at the sound of approaching footsteps. Anton half-led, half-dragged naked Nathan into the dining room. Unsurprisingly, he was covered in bruises, his right eye almost swollen shut. He’d lost even more weight since I last saw him. Despite how he’d almost killed me, a pang of remorse still hit me at the dreadful state of him.
Anton led Nathan to the side of the table, close enough for me to smell his stench. He met my gaze, his smile crooked with half his front teeth broken. There was a spark of madness in his eyes that made me wish for a protective glass between us.Don’t they see how crazy he’s become?
“Hi, little traitor. Enjoying your fancy dinner?”
I looked away, biting the inside of my cheek.
“Nathan, lovely to see you again,” Mr. White said calmly.
“You’re the asshole who talks like you’re a lord or something. You’re here to tell me how I should improve my ways and be more likehim?”
Mr. White glanced at me. “I doubt you could ever reach Jonah’s level. He’s adaptive and intelligent, while you are not. But your jealousy of him is understandable.”
“Jealousy? I’m not fucking j—”
Anton smacked the back of his head to shut him up.
Mr. White cleared his throat. “We were just having an interesting discussion about what to do with you.”
“How lovely.” Nathan glared at me. “And what were your conclusions?”
“That we ought to find a different way of dealing with you, or simply cut our losses and end your life.”
Nathan’s eyes grew wide. For months, he had been claiming he’d rather die than submit, but I knew it was crap—he could have killed himself by now.
“All of you are sick,” Nathan hissed. “I don’t even know who you are. Just let me go, and—”
“Enough!” The Director slammed his fist on the table. “We’ve been over this dozens of times, and this is your last chance. Get your shit together, or you’re done. I can’t be any clearer than that.”
Nathan’s chest heaved, his nostrils flaring. A bad feeling grew in the pit of my stomach as the madness in his eyes took over. He growled and smashed his elbow into Anton’s chin, causing him to stumble back with a cry of pain. I caught Nathan’s eyes zeroing in on the steak knife right before he snatched it. As heraised it toward The Director’s face, I jumped to my feet and grabbed his hand, using all my strength to pin it to the table.
My face exploded in pain when he hit me in the mouth. I shook my head and tightened my grip, positive he was about to stab me. The Director sent his fist into Nathan’s head, causing him to let go of the knife. A second later, Anton grabbed him from behind and slammed him onto the floor.
I slumped into my chair, my torn lips trickling blood down my chin and onto my lap.
“Are you okay?” The Director asked, his hand on my shoulder.
“I’m…” Trying to speak made me swallow blood. I spat on the floor, trying not to vomit.
“Oh my,” Mr. White said, “what an interesting turn of events. Go clean yourself, my dear boy. You’ve been very brave.”
“Traitor!”Nathan shouted from the floor.“You’re worse than all of them!”
I forced my limbs to move and stumbled my way out of there.
*
