A jolt of fear chased through her deadweight limbs.Where the hell was she?
Moving on pure adrenaline, she attempted to sit up. Tight restraints around her wrists and ankles kept her trapped on the hard hospital bed. The monitors attached to her began beeping rapidly in response to her rising panic.
Oh, God. What was happening?
She had to get up. She had to get out of there.
But she couldn’t move. A dry moan escaped her parched lips.
“Shh, shh . . . Easy now,” an emotionless male voice said from somewhere inside the room. “There’s no cause for alarm, Miss Valcourt.”
Like hell there wasn’t.
She fought against her restraints now, using precious energy in a frantic, futile effort to break free. The man in the room with her moved closer to the bed, peering down at her with objective calm. Cocking his head, he studied her as though she were no more significant than an insect caught on the head of a pin.
“We’re nearly finished now,” he said pleasantly.
He was an older man, likely in his late forties. Beneath his white lab coat he wore an expensive looking suit and crisp white shirt. His dark hair was streaked with gray and thinning on top, his saggy jaw covered in a neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper beard.
There was nothing overtly sinister about his demeanor or his face, yet his brown eyes stared at her with total apathy even as hot tears leaked down her temples.
“I’ve kept you heavily sedated since you arrived,” he told her. His cold gaze flicked to the monitors. “That shouldn’t be necessary anymore. I trust you’re not in any discomfort?”
She tried to curse at him but the sound that came out of her was pathetic, even to her own ears.
Who the fuck was he? Where was this place? How long had she been here?
Was there anyone else around to hear her even if she could manage to scream for help?
A shudder started in her bones and traveled the length of her body and limbs. The room seemed to be getting colder by the moment. Her teeth began to chatter behind her cracked, dry lips.
The man released a sigh as he gazed down at her on the bed. “You’re cold because you’ve lost a great deal of blood. I’ll fetch another blanket for you.” He stepped away for a moment, returning to carefully cover her with a lightweight coverlet. “This should help,” he said, tucking her in like a child. “Better?”
She couldn’t answer. Couldn’t make her mind make sense of anything she was seeing or hearing. All she knew for certain was the darkness still edging toward her, ready to pull her under so deep she would never get out. She wasn’t so far gone that she was unable to recognize the madness of the man currently attending her.
Killing her, she had little doubt.
“Wh-who—”
He tilted his head. “Who am I? My name is Owen Lewis. I’m the president of the research institute where your sister, Laurel, was once employed.”
The Unity for Wellness and Safety Institute, Willow’s sluggish mind raced to recall. UWSI.
Why was this man’s name somehow familiar?
She swallowed past the rawness in her throat. “You—you . . . killed her.”
Lewis frowned and slowly shook his head. “It didn’t have to be that way. She left me no choice, you see. Your sister couldn’t understand the vision of UWSI’s work. It’s a shame, really. She was a brilliant chemist. As it turned out, her mind wasn’t her only invaluable asset.” He glanced up at the tubes running from Willow’s arms to the machines collecting her blood. “I assume Laurel told you about her work on the Serenicure project? About the formula for Serenicure-L?”
Willow struggled against her restraints again, but the bindings held fast. “Let me—go.”
He gave her a pitying smile. “Oh, I’m afraid it’s too late for that. You’re almost drained now.”
Fear seeped into her marrow at his chilling statement. Even though part of her realized what was happening to her, hearing him say the words was almost more than she could bear. She fought her restraints, but it only served to exhaust her.
“You know, as disappointed as I was with your sister, I didn’t want to have her killed. I didn’t particularly want to have Theo Collier killed either, but the two of them colluded together to sabotage the Serenicure project. They could have ruined everything, and that breach of trust could not go unmet.”
Willow closed her eyes, appalled to hear her sister’s murderer speak so casually about what he’d done to both Laurel and Theo.
