Page 98 of The Cute Psycho

"Yes, but I don't wantyouin danger," he sounds exasperated as he tries to keep me inside the car.

"I'm not letting you go alone. So decide quickly, because either way, I'm coming after you," I declare, folding my arms across my chest.

He might have no feelings, but I have plenty enough—for him.

He ponders it for a moment before he relents with a sigh, opening the door for me and helping me out.

"You stay next to me at all times," he whispers in my ear, his hand in mine.

It's in moments like this that I feel he might care. Why else would he be so careful with my safety?

Knowing I need my wits about me, I push my disappointment out of my mind, focusing instead on the situation at hand.

Seth trailing behind us, we enter the warehouse, finding the first level completely empty and dilapidated.

"Where could they have gone?" I ask, looking around bewildered at the unoccupied space.

"There must be something around here," Vlad muses out loud, scanning the surroundings. He walks around the walls, checking every crevice.

"They couldn't have just vanished," he murmurs as his hands feel for the concrete of the walls. "See this," he knocks on one side before moving a few feet to tap on another. "This is empty," he says, knocking again, a hollow sound answering back. "There must be an opening." He talks to himself as he feels around the surface of the wall.

Seth and I stay back, leaving Vlad to do his thing, since clearly he's got this.

"Here." He moves a stone, and a fissure appears around the wall as a piece of it is dislodged, protruding on the outside. Grabbing on to it, Vlad yanks it toward him to reveal a door.

"Interesting," he mutters, waving us over.

Grabbing my hand once more, we walk inside the tunnel.

It doesn't take us long to reach another room, light filtering into the tunnel and confirming that the factory is in fact used by someone.

"Shh," Vlad raises his hand to his lips as he takes a step forward, voices resounding from the other room.

"We need to keep this under wraps for as long as we can," one man says.

"He needs the kids pronto," another replies, "the other ones are already done for. The boy died and the girl is broken. He doesn't think he can salvage anything, and the bitch can't get pregnant anymore."

"What do you expect, Glen? He's been using her as a broodmare for too long. I'm surprised she's lasted until now." He sighs, and I can hear someone pacing around.

"You know how rare this is. He's spent decades looking for more subjects and he can barely find some every few years. Not even then. We're talking about revolutionizing warfare, Patrick. It's hard now, but in a few years when his research is complete, countries will clamor for his studies."

"I don't like this. He's taking too many risks."

"Your job isn't to like this. Just do your tasks. I need a full physical on the twins, and let me know if there's anything salvageable from the others. Sometimes he likes to keep the organs," Glen says, and it's clear he's the one in charge.

"All right," Patrick relents, and then we hear more shuffling.

Vlad is tense as he follows the conversation closely. He turns toward me, placing my hand on the knife he'd hidden in the back of my trousers. I nod at him, and watch as he takes out his own knives, offering some to Seth. He firmly shakes his head, pointing to his arms and fists.

Vlad raises an eyebrow at him, but eventually shrugs it off with a smile.

Putting three fingers up, he slowly lowers each, giving us the signal when to go inside the room. He's the first to burst inside, immediately immobilizing one man, while nodding to Seth to do the same to the other.

I look between the two of them, noticing one is dressed in a white gown, while the other has a gray suit on.

"I'm guessing you're Patrick." Vlad points to the man in white that's currently struggling in Seth's hold. "And you're Glen." He gives him a nudge, his knees buckling and hitting the floor.

"Who... who are you?" Glen cries out in distress, looking between Vlad and Seth.

---