Page 31 of Where We Began

I suck in great gulps of air. “You... you tricked me.” My head is pulsing, a migraine grappling me in a vice. “How could you do that? I was terrified, I was—I kept picturing him all bloody and hurt because youlied to me!” I slam my hands into his chest. The impact shakes my joints. For my effort, he's motionless as a boulder. “You piece of shit,” I seethe. “How could you hurt me like this?”

He holds my stare boldly. “I had to.”

“No. No one has to do something like this. Onlymonsters.”

Dominic flinches. He towers over me, but when I look at the black centers of his eyes, there's emptiness beyond the void. His muscles are a shell; the strength is purely on the surface. I think... if I tried... I could knock him over.

Something has broken inside of him.

Something I fear can't be fixed.

Swallowing loudly, he steadies himself. “If it was someone else interrogating you, someone other than me, this would have been worse.”

I press my molars together, searching for something to spit back. All I find is the tiny rational voice in my head.He did this himself... as a kindness.My limbs go slack. The righteous fury abandons me.

“But you're right.” He rips the door open. His final words reach me just before he exits my room. “I am a monster.”

- Chapter 13 -

Laiken

It must have been decidedI'm not worth drilling for information anymore because, the next morning, I'm not locked inside my room. I think Dominic told them that I've got no idea about my dad's location. I want to ask him about it, but when I spotted him in the house at breakfast, he avoided me. He's worse than the deer in the preserve; he slips off effortlessly, leaving me behind.

You'd think, considering how awful he's been since he got back, that I'd be happy to stay out of his way. But I'm not. I can't let go of the sorrow in his eyes when I accused him of being a monster.

I'm walking in the garden when a maid chases me down. “Master Silas wants to see you,” she says, breathing like she's run a mile. My belly twists, but I make my way back to the mansion. On the way I see an array of guards posted. They're everywhere, and at their sides are Dobermans with black, bullet-shaped heads. The Bradleys aren't messing around.

I knock on the door of the study, and for a second I'm twelve again, about to face a ghoulish man in his domain. The door opens, his tired voice speaking, “Come in.”

Silas is on his way back to his chair when I enter. I shut the door, my ears straining as the heavy silence settles. “You wanted to see me.”

He drops into his chair with a groan. His thick gray suit hides his body; I believe he's lost weight this past year. “Sit. Let's talk.”

Nervously, I place myself on the stump. It's smaller than I remember.

He studies me with his long fingers pressed to one side of his face. “When you tried to run last night, did you think it through?”

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