If what he said was true, Melissa’s plans would be ruined. She’d already planted small incendiary devices on every computer and every server in this entire lab. She’d taken the data and downloaded it onto a flash drive, which was tucked safely in her pocket next to Reaper’s remote trigger.
“Enough so that we could replicate and make more if we absolutely had to, although it’s not perfect, it’s better than nothing.”
Melissa kept her eyes plastered to the monitor, the muscles around her stomach so tight she could barely breathe. “Where is it? Do you have it stored properly? If you don’t have it at the right temperature, the effective agent will become completely useless.”
Caroline’s blood pressure went down 10 points.
“Don’t worry about that, it’s stored properly. Any luck?” Ranier approached the bed and Melissa’s skin prickled. Everything about the man was wrong.
“Her blood pressure and her pulse are dropping. It’s working.” As much as she hated being beholden in any way whatsoever to the man, without that serum Caroline would have died from an internal brain hemorrhage.
“Good, how long before we can move her? I’ve already had the rest of the subjects transferred from the lab. I’ve got the convoy waiting for her. “
Melissa swallowed, praying her responses sounded reasonable and realistic enough to keep the general here a little bit longer. “I have to do a thorough physical examination of the subject; I noticed some light bruising around her neck. I’ll have to assess any physical trauma, treat that, as well as administer antibiotics and any other types of medications depending on what he may have done to her.”
“You mean treat her for sexually transmitted diseases. Don’t sugarcoat it. Although I doubt you’ll have to worry about that—we checked both Reaper and Caroline before they entered the program.”
Ranier reached out and traced the back of his knuckles down Caroline’s pale cheeks. Melissa bit the inside of her cheeks to keep the bile from rushing up her throat and floating outward.
“She is beautiful, is she not? She would’ve made a wonderful wife.”
“Wife?”
“Yes, Caroline and I were set to wed six months ago.”
Too shocked to process that disgusting scenario, Melissa asked, “What happened?”
“My lovely bride got cold feet, and when she attempted to run, my adversary kidnapped her. It was a political match made in heaven,” he practically sighed out. “I bet she wishes now that she would’ve stayed.”
Melissa held in a derisive snort. Caroline Cotter would have chosen this over being tied to a monster like the general, which she obviously had when she ran. “How . . . terrible.”
“Do you really think he touched her in that way?” His hand trailed down Caroline’s jaw past her neck, inching her robe down.
Melissa grabbed his wrist without thinking, feeling violated on Caroline’s behalf. She’d never spoken directly with Caroline, but the girl had done nothing but try to get away from the general.
Him touching Caroline while she was unconscious made Melissa’s skin crawl. “I will need some privacy to conduct a thorough inspection of her person.”
Ranier withdrew his hand, but not before Melissa caught the flash of annoyance in his gaze. “She belongs to me. Remember that.”
Human beings didn’t own one another—whether in marriage or this forced bondage. “Like I said, I’ll need to conduct an exam before we can move her. If you want that to happen soon, you can move your person from my lab so that I might continue.”
In a move so quick, Melissa didn’t have time to blink, Ranier snatched her wrist and yanked her against his chest, pure menacing power radiating from his frame. How could she have ever once thought this man average and unassuming? He would do anything to get what he wanted—he’d proven that already.
“Just so we are clear, you do anything to step out of line, and I’ll have you killed. I run this show. I hold your life and hers in my hand.”
Anger edged out in a rush of terror and Melissa yanked her hand from his grip, his fingers dragging forcefully across her skin. “And just so you understand, I’m the only one who knows every detail of this operation. You kill me and you’re screwed.”
He’d never so openly threatened her before, not that she’d given him reason to. And she hadn’t thought she’d given him reason to now, but a snake like Ranier could probably sense deceit a mile away.
“I’m watching you. And everyone is replaceable—don’t you doubt it.”
He strode from the room without a backwards glance and it was all Melissa could do to keep standing upright her knees were quaking so bad. She’d never been physically threatened in her entire life. Raised in the sheltered cocoon of her college professor parents, her whole life had been entirely study. She distanced herself from everyone and everything, immersing herself in the research, but she’d never been able to stop connecting and remove her emotions completely.
Caroline met the wide-eyed gaze of the single lab technician still in the room. “Get out.”
The young man didn’t need to hear her order twice, as he bolted. When they were alone Melissa purposefully turned her back on the camera in the corner of the room, trying to block Caroline’s body from Ranier’s view as much as possible. He was watching from the control room, of that she had no doubt, but Melissa had absolutely no intention of allowing the general any clips of Caroline’s naked skin to satisfy his perversions.
But for now, she’d assumed he viewed Caroline as a tool, only to fund his project—but the naked lust that he’d shown in his double gray eyes just moments before couldn’t be denied.
