Page 54 of Cup of Lies

“Let me go,” I plead, unable to produce tears. “I’m hurt.”

“That you are,” he agrees. “The burn isn’t horrible, but the knot beneath it was pretty concerning. I can’t believe he hit you with a frying pan.”

I choke on a sob. “Kaitlyn. She’s not safe.”

“She’s fine. They’re checking her over, but she’s fine.”

“Where is he? You have to get me out of here.”

He chuckles. “You forget whose side I’m on here. Seth’s my best friend, Romy. Not you. Friends don’t let their friends’ wives get away.”

“I’m not his wife.”

“For all intents and purposes, you are.”

I attempt to move, but he has me pinned in this chair. I’m not getting out of here until he releases me.

Doc Junior nods at someone behind me and then I hear a door close softly behind them at their exit.

“Did you know?” I croak out. “That I’m your sister?”

He arches an eyebrow. “I know everything. Question is, how doyouknow?”

My head hurts too badly for these games. “Where’s your loyalty to your own flesh and blood?”

“Answer the question.”

“Vivienne.”

“Ahh, same as me. Does my father know you’re his?”

I close my eyes so a wave of nausea will pass. “I don’t know.”

“I’m just glad I didn’t fuck you the night we met. That could’ve been regretful later.”

He’s delusional if he thinks I would ever be willingly interested in someone like him.

“You can free me and Kaitlyn,” I tell him. “No one has to know. I’ll go into hiding. It’s the right thing to do.”

“The right thing to do,” he says, shaking his head. “I’m not interested in that. What I do want to know is how in the hell you overrode the Stem Lock technology. Was it really the foil all along or something else?”

“No comment,” I spit out.

His eyes darken. “No wonder Seth has his hands full. You’re a troublesome bitch. Don’t worry, sis, I’m going to get you fixed up. You’ll be brand-new tomorrow.”

The thought of waking up in Seth’s bed, an abused and braindead robot, sends chills down my spine. “One day you’ll pay for this. You’ll all pay for this.”

Doc Junior leans in close and squints as if he doesn’t understand. “Wait. Who’s going to make us pay? You? You can hardly move and are completely at our mercy. The police? Weknow them all.” His grin turns wolfish. “People like us don’t pay for our sins. We’re paid for them. Revered for them. Worshipped for them. You of all people should know this by now. You’re a Langston, but you have Huxley blood in you.”

“He will,” I threaten. “My fiancé. Caius.”

A girl can wish, right?

Doc Junior’s uproarious laughter tells me otherwise.

I’m trapped and no one’s coming to save me.

Caius

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