Page 53 of Cup of Lies

“Daddy, stop yelling!” Kaitlyn shrieks from behind us.

He ignores her and grabs my jaw. “You’ve been tampering with my experiments, dammit. What have you done?”

“Nothing,” I whimper. “Let me go. We can discuss this calmly.”

“Stop, stop, stop, stop!” Kaitlyn chants tearily.

Sunshine barks at us.

When Kaitlyn starts pulling on the arm that’s holding on to me, Seth becomes enraged. He releases me long enough to fling her away from him. She stumbles into Sunshine, whose barking intensifies.

I panic.

All attempts to be calm are thrown out the window.

“You do not touch her,” I growl, pushing at his chest. “Kaitlyn, we’re leaving. Let’s go.”

“The hell you are,” Seth booms. “Dammit, Kaitlyn, take that barking dog to your room or I’ll shut it the fuck up myself.”

The dog lunges at him and he kicks her square in the jaw, making her yelp in surprise and pain. I can smell the pancakeburning on the stove. How did this all turn to madness within seconds.

Kaitlyn grabs hold of Sunshine and they scurry from the kitchen. I search for anything to defend myself. The knife block is so close. With a grunt, I shift toward it, reaching for the biggest one closest to me. It comes out of the block with a sharp, metallic sound. I hold it out in front of me, hand trembling.

“Get away from me,” I say, pointing the sharp end at him. “We’re leaving. You’re staying. End of story.”

He sneers at me, shaking his head in vehemence. “I’ve invested too damn much in this project, Romy. You’re not going anywhere.”

Can I stab this man if it comes to it?

I think so.

I want to think I can.

He inches closer to me, seemingly unafraid of my knife. On instinct, I take a step back. Like a snake, he strikes, hand reaching for me. I slash at the air, making contact with his arm. It’s a superficial wound, but it makes him bleed, and better yet, halt in his pursuit.

“You cut me,” he growls. “This is why you need to stay locked up in the lab. You’re fucking batshit insane.”

“I’minsane?” I cry out, emotion clogging my throat. “You kidnapped me, scrambled my brain, and made me think I was your wife. That’s psychotic behavior, Seth. You don’t help people. You hurt them. You’re a criminal.”

“I won’t allow you to leave me,” he says, voice colder than I’ve ever heard it. “Get that stupid fucking thought out of your head.”

I wave the knife at him. “I’m holding the weapon here, so you’re hardly in a place to make demands.”

The next several seconds go in impossibly slow motion. Him reaching to the right. My eyes following his movement to the stove. Him grasping the handle of the skillet with the now-smoking burnt pancake. Me calculating what his plans for it will be. And then the next second goes in lightning speed.

Seth swings the skillet at me, slamming the hot metal into the side of my head. The knife drops with a clatter and I crumple to the floor right after. My vision fades to black.

I should have never come back.

I’m on a cloud.

Floating, floating, floating.

It’s warm here.

“She’s waking up. Thank fuck.”

I blink my dry eyes and find Doc Junior’s face close to mine. The light in the exam room is harsh and I wince at it. Doc Junior snaps at someone before the light dims. I attempt to move, but I’m sitting in one of their chair traps, my head snug in the contraption.

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