“Just… shut up, Sebastian,” I hissed, clenching my fists where he still held my hands behind my back.
“Mr. Murphy, I hope I now have your attention,” Luke drawled. He stepped deeper into the lab, taking up space near Jay’s head.
Luke sneered down at him as Jay tilted his head back, thick, wet blood streaming from both his mouth and his nose. He spat another splatter of crimson at Luke’s feet, challenging him with his gaze to do something about it, but Luke just let out a dry, humorless chuckle.
“You’ve always been an animal, just like your father. Bleeding fucking hearts,” he scoffed, and Jay narrowed his eyes at him.
“That’s why I needed to put your father down.” Luke reached out and cupped the side of Jay’s face. Jay snarled, jerking away from him, but Luke dug his fingers into Jay’s face hard enough that he winced.
“You, on the other hand, were still useful. All the brilliance of your father without any of the common sense. So much easier to control. Especially once that asshole was out of the way…”
“You fuckingbastard—” Jay roared, but Luke squeezed his cheeks hard enough to force his mouth open, and any words he might have spewed turned into garbled moans.
“Ah-ah-ah. None of that. Don’t make me gag you, little boy.”
Jay scowled at Luke, but stopped struggling, his eyes sliding to meet mine over his captor’s shoulder.
“Youwereuseful, at least, until recently.” Luke shot a meaningful look in my direction, raising an eyebrow.
“Turns out, you’renotthe smartest neuroscientist on campus. Not anymore.” Luke smiled at me, his eyes flashing with a nefarious sort of glee, and I quickly put together what he was implying.
Luke let go of Jay’s face, accepting the cloth handkerchief Melanie offered him to slowly wipe the blood off his hands, before meandering over to the desk Jay and I used to tinker with new tech.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the shattered pieces of the manipulator, placing them carefully next to where the extractor was charging.
“Your little slut might have succeeded in saving my son’s mind, but at what cost?” Luke asked, his tone deceivingly light and jovial.
“W-what—” I stammered, unable to stop myself. Luke’s gaze slammed into mine, his blue eyes turning cold and cruel.
“You two thought you were so slick, sneaking around and fucking each other on my property. You think I don’t knoweverythingthat goes on here? Filthy fuckingNeanderthals.Both of you. I knew what the two of you were planning. Why do you think I had Sebastian take my place today?”
My mouth parted in shock at Luke’s confession. He’dknownwe’d been together? This whole time?
“Iwillsay, I never thought you would have the balls to destroy my IP right in front of me, but here we are.”
My heart was hammering so hard against my ribs I was sure everyone in the room could hear it.
How had he known?
We had been so careful… Everything had been encrypted!
Seb began to quiver behind me, and I knew.
Iknewhe’d been feeding Luke information from day one. He’d known about Jay and me… we’d even told him that we’d been able to remove my implant.
Shit!
Luke’s smile widened as he watched me put the pieces of the puzzle together. I shook with unbridled fury.
“Yes, yes. It’s all very upsetting, I’m sure,” Luke drawled, as Jay let out an infuriated roar behind him.
“You fuckingtraitor!”he screamed at Seb, who physically winced behind me. “We were going to free you! We were going to take you with us!”
“Jay—” Seb choked, but Jay wouldn’t let him speak. His eyes went empty as he locked them on his childhood friend.
“You’re fucking dead to me,” Jay growled, and I felt Seb shake with emotion behind me as the words rolled through the room like a curse.
“Yes, well. Asamusingas your empty threats are, we have work to do.” Luke smoothed his hands over his suit jacket before gesturing to what was left of the manipulator.
