The moment I got here, they rushed to me to get the bullet out my side; the other one went straight through. I didn’t let them put me under for surgery—fuck being unconscious, knowing what these oddballs get up to in their spare time.
Conrad, however, seemed thrilled at the idea.
Pain like that is something I never want to experience again. It makes whatever torture these two idiots are trying feel like foreplay.
The doctor had the audacity to tell me to stay well rested, and now I’m beginning to think every single person I’ve come across here has been a victim of Clarke’s experiments.
I’m unhinged, but these guys are fucking lunatics.
George pours the Absconditus vodka on my wound again, making my teeth grit at the sting. It’s not as bad as when he did it immediately after it got stitched. Now it’s just annoying.
Everything they do is fucking annoying.
Whoever taught these pricks to torture people needs to go back and reflect on their actions. They hang me from the ceiling for hours at a time, tried waterboarding me, whipping me, and they’ve even tried imprinting that damn snake from their emblem into me.
They think they’re breaking me. They won’t break my mind; it’s already fucked. My entire life is living in a psychosis.
Their voices are the worst thing they’ve subjected me to.
It’s what I keep telling myself anyway—anything to keep my mind off her. The longer these idiots are with me, the less time they have trying to get to her.
“I know,” Conrads chirps, taking a swig of the vodka as he walks to stand in front of me, his unfocused eyes glaring up at me.
George walks towards me too. I don’t know if either of them are high or just drunk, but the glaze over their eyes tell me they’re on something. It’s all they’ve done since I got here, and I can’t quite figure out if this is how they are, or if they’re masking the fact their empire is threatened.
“What if we brought Indie here? Maybe that would get a reaction out of him.”
The chains clatter as I yank hard against them, my body betraying me. They haven’t said her name once, and it’s been a blessing. I’ll endure everything they give me, every test, every fucking experiment they want.
Anything to keep them away from her.
George cocks his head. “Why didn’t we think of that before?” A smug fucking grin creeps on his face. “I bet she’s missed you, Con.”
I bite my tongue until the metallic taste fills my mouth. The more I react, the more they’ll use it.
That’sthe worst thing they can do to me.
When Louisa texted me and told me she needed to speak to me about Indie after our call, I was curious. Conrad had been hovering around before she eventually reached out.
Her performance was for show, to keep up appearances—so she said. She wanted Indie out of there when she found out they’d abducted her.
I’d already offered myself as a replacement when she first called. It was a taunt as much as they were trying to fool me to the manor, but I meant every word.
Louisa did whatever deed she needed to win the Judge over. It wasn’t much of a fight.
After all, he wants me and my dad the most.
He blames him for their secret finally breaching the safety of their walls. The number of people they’ve taken over the years, no one’s ever come close to uncovering them. No one had the resources to go up against them, even if they did know.
And the information we have on them?
That’s the prize he’s really after.
I told Louisa I’d willingly go to the Montgomerys, then I’d kill the twins, and that she would work to get me out. Them capturing me in the woods wasn’t a part of the original plan, and I realised I might never be able to get back to Indie.
As all things are with the Omnia, nothing is what it seems, and I need to trust that Louisa will get the word back if she had any truth in what she said.
Conrad steps into me, dragging the tip of a knife along my throat, letting it dance across my pulse. I doubt he’s ever used one properly. He likes to taunt his victims, which I’ve unfortunately had to hear when he brings them over, bored I wouldn’t show fear for him.
