Page 49 of Cup of Lies

LuLu looks at me as if to ask permission. I give her a dip of my head in agreement. Relieved, she bolts from the conference room.

“You sure he’s not like her pimp or something?” Dragon asks, cocking his head to the side. “I could cut his dick off. Just say the word, Prez.”

I groan in annoyance. “I’m not her handler. And what’s your fascination with my dick?”

Koyn smirks as he reaches over to take his laptop back. “Enough. We’re moving on to the next line of business.”

“Romy?”

When he nods, I’m overwhelmed with relief. I’m desperate to find her, though I have no clue where to even start.

“Let’s start with when you saw her last,” Koyn says, eyes narrowing. “We can go from there.”

We spend the next half hour with me detailing out the trip to New York, the hotel stay, the trickery of my father and Gideon, and then how I ended up back in that facility. It’s then I learned my beloved Calista I’d been searching for was nothing more than the name of Romy’s doll. I’d gotten it all jumbled up wrong in my head. The last I saw of Romy was that morning before I was lured away from the hotel.

“Is it possible she’s back home with her parents?” Filter asks. “Maybe she broke it off with you and you don’t remember. Your memories are hardly reliable.”

I don’t like this fucker, but I play nice.

“She didn’t break it off with me. She was taken from me.”

“My daughter is troubled. Her mother had mental problems and it’s clear she inherited them from her. It’s in your best interest to distance yourself from the girl. We’ll get her the help she needs. You can go back to your normal life. I’m sorry she’s caused such mayhem.”

I jerk at a memory of what Gideon said to me. He’d talked about her mental health and getting her the help she needs. And when I was at the facility, they showed me video footage of the two of us seeing each other the day when I got it all confused. It’s possible she was there with me six months ago.

I was so close, dammit.

“Who will it be, Caius? Calista or Romy? You may only choose one.”

Dad tricked me. There was no Calista. Only Romy. If I’d chosen her over my sister, would he have brought me to her? Instead, I said Calista’s name. The motherfucking doll’s name.

She was there.

I know it deep in my gut.

Maybe she still is.

“We have to find her,” I croak out, visibly shaking at the implications of Romy being trapped in that hell for so long. “They’re going to destroy her mind.”

Is Kaitlyn there too?

“Kaitlyn’s surgery went well,” Dad says, patting my shoulder. “I thought you’d want that reassurance since she’s along the way.”

He’s right. Relief floods through me at seeing her.

“Surgery for what?”

“Nothing to worry yourself about right now,” he says. “Let’s go see your sister.”

I have to go right now.

The chair slides out from beneath me as I jerk to my feet. My mind is running in frantic circles as I try to figure out where the hell Romy is. Sitting here gets me nowhere.

“Easy there, city boy,” a guy named Gibson says. “Your best chance of finding your woman is right here in this room.”

I’m not some bucking bull to be tamed, but I allow his words to momentarily calm me, knowing he’s right. I drop to my seat with a huff, scrubbing my palm over my face.

“Tell us everything you remember of this place,” Koyn instructs. “Every minute detail. We’re going to find out where it is.”

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