Page 169 of Love Me

Blake clenches his jaw.

“My son will be the next leader.”

“The best one will,” Felix says, approaching me.

Ah, so this is all about who will lead the Family. Another thing they want to change, the primogeniture right so the leadership doesn’t necessarily go to the firstborn.

It was never about love. Felix’s motivation has been power all along because my mom was the firstborn in their generation. How naïve of me to think differently.

I burst into a fit of laughter, my body hurting with the effort.

An alarm sounds all around us, and I sag in relief.

Finally.

Caleb and Felix rush out of the room, shooting orders off while Blake dashes toward me.

“We don’t have much time.” He plucks something out of his jacket pocket.

“I’m not getting another injection my entire life,” I croak.

“This is adrenaline. It should be enough until we get out of here. The second I am out of the door, I will open your restraints. Can you handle these two?”

“Please.”

The needle pricks my skin. The liquid travels through my system, reviving my body and sharpening my focus. My heart pumps faster like I could sprint out of here and take them all down. A surge of energy awakens my senses. My vision becomes clearer. My hearing is sharper. My strength returns, making me feel incredible.

“Enjoy it,” he says.

“You owe me.”

“So you just look like shit. Good to know they didn’t break you.”

I am not going there right now.

Felix and Caleb step back inside and Blake slips out. They are too focused on their hushed argument to realize he’s gone.

“Something wrong?” I ask.

Felix glares at me while talking to Caleb. “Take care of her. And then the facility. No one can know what happened here.”

He storms outside. As Caleb approaches me, the metal bars around my body open. I ball my hand into a fist, propelling it toward his face. He stumbles back and I shoot up. Gripping his neck, I shove him down, planting my knee on his nose. A bone breaking sound fills my ears. He crashes on his knees, holding his face.

“You fucking bitch.”

“Ah, Uncle, what kind of language is that?”

“Hold her,” he shouts, but the two remaining scientists run out of the room.

“It’s just you and me now.”

Caleb crab walks to the doors.

“Not so courageous when I’m not tied up and wired to a hundred sensory patches?”

He tries to stand up, but I drive my elbow in his throat. His chest rocks with a fit of coughs, and is weak on his legs. I’ve accumulated so much rage, my body vibrates with an eagerness to punish him. At this moment, I’m his judge, jury, and executioner. And I’ll make him regret his sorry existence by the time I’m finished with him. Rotating, I put all my force in lifting my foot and jamming it in his solar plexus. He falls back, a grunt escaping his mouth when his body collides with the floor.

“Please, Felix used me. Believe me.”

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