Why was he tied down to the testing chair like that!?
My eyes darted around the lab, frantically processing the situation as Luke strode out of the elevator and into the lab, clearly unconcerned with the fact that the elevator doors were riddled withbulletholes.
Two armed guards,Melanieof all people… and that Dr. Grey guy that had inserted the chip in me… they had a surgical table set up next to the testing chair.
I cataloged the items on it, breathing a sigh of relief when I didn’t find the extractor on it. The NeuroExtractor was where I’d left it, charging on a desk in the center of the room.
The surgical table had one of those implanter guns on it, and several syringes and needles filled with mystery substances.
Sedatives?
What were they planning to do here?
Luke and Grey were speaking to each other, but I could barely hear what they were saying over the roaring in my ears.
Every fiber of my being was screaming at me to get to Jay. To untie him. To make sure he wasn’t hurt.
Our eyes were locked onto each other across the room, and I choked on another sob as I watched a tear slide down his cheek.
“Milo… baby… I’m sorry…” he whispered. He was so pale… soafraid.
The confident, intelligent,untouchableman that I’d fallen head over heels for was nowhere to be found. The man I was looking at right now was the raw, terrified, lonely human being that Luke had been manipulating and abusing for years.
I was looking at what was left of the person Jay must have been before his father had been killed.
Theguilthe was feeling was so potent that I found myself choking on it.
He thought this was his fault.
“No… No, J-jay, this isn’t your fault, it was my idea to?—”
“Enough!”
Without warning, one of the armed men cracked Jay across the face with the butt of his gun.
Iscreamedas Jay’s head snapped violently to the side and a crimson arc of blood splattered across the concrete floor.
I fought Sebastian’s hold on me harder, desperate to get to Jay, but his grip only tightened.
“Stop it!”Seb hissed in my ear as I bucked and struggled against him. “The more you fight, the more they’re going to hurt him! Be fuckingsmart,Milo. Jesus fucking Christ…”
He sounded absolutelywrecked.Like the sight of Jay being hit like that upset him just as much as it did me.
I fuckinghatedhim for holding me back, even though part of me wondered if he was only listening to Luke because of the implant. I couldn’t reconcile what he was doing to me with the fact that I was almost certain he didn’t have a choice here.
It didn’t matter that he couldn’t help it. He was the only thing keeping me from checking on the love of my life as Jay spat another mouthful of blood over the edge of the chair.
“Let me go!” I cried, but Seb shook his head, his chest rumbling with a deep, frustrated growl.
“You know I can’t do that, Milo. Please. Don’t make this worse for everyone than it has to be. Listen. Be good.Please.”
Rage like I’d never experienced in mylifebubbled up inside me at Seb’s words.
Begood!?
“Fuck you, Seb,” I growled, and he tensed behind me.
“Milo…”
