“The vampire could be controlling your mind.We brought you back here to make sure you didn’t reveal anythingabout us to him and to make sure you’re free of his maliciousgrip,” her father said.
Melanie gawked at him before she recoveredenough to form words. “I’m not underanyone’scontrol, and Inever told him anything about you or this place. We never discussedmy past.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure! I remember ourconversations.”
“You didn’t know he wasn’t human. How do youknow he didn’t get into your mind and mess with it? How do you knowanything you remember is real?”
Melanie opened her mouth to tell him he wascompletely wrong and it was the most ridiculous thing she everheard, but her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Instead oftelling him he was completely wrong, she stood there like amoron.
Howdidshe know Kyle hadn’t messedaround with her mind? What ifeverythingshe remembered waswrong? Did he really work at Adler’s? Why would a vampire have ajob? Did he have siblings, or was that a random detail he put inher mind? But why would he do that?
And hecouldn’thave done that. Therewasnowayhe could have done that. She felt like arecalcitrant toddler digging in her heels while part of her mindprotested her father’s words, and the other part felt like it wastumbling down the rabbit hole toward madness.
There were too many vivid, random details forKyle to have put them in her head. Why would he let her remembersuch a stupid question like the blush or coral debate? Why wouldthere be so many countless, pointless details she recalled abouttheir days and nights together if it was all things he’d made upand stuck in her head?
Sure, maybe it was a game for him, but no onewould give that much detail if they were only playing a game, wouldthey?
She shook her head to deny it all, but as shewas doing so, madness swirled up around her. And if she fell intothe madness, she might never escape, as she didn’t know how to stopherself from drowning in it.
Was it possible everything she rememberedabout Kyle was a lie?
Everything in her screamed against thepossibility, but now that her father had opened this can of worms,she couldn’t close it again.
“We have to make sure you’re not under hiscontrol,” her father said again. “Both of you, come with me.”
On the day she left here to start college,Melanie vowed she would never step inside the facility again, buther feet moved as if they had a mind of their own. At her side,Lucy trudged along with them. When Delilah joined her father,Lucy’s step faltered, but she quickly recovered.
The doors swished open, and a chill ran downMelanie’s spine as they entered the cool, dim interior of herchildhood. The facility held all the welcoming of a prison, withnone of the warmth.
The first floor was an open, cavernous spacewith concrete walls, numerous windows, and tile floors thatsqueaked beneath her shoes. A bathroom was hidden behind the cornerof a wall. She couldn’t see the room from here, but she knew it laybeyond that wall.
The whole space was easily the size of asmall warehouse, and what lay below was even larger. Two guardsstood beside the two glass doorways leading into the building; eachof them held a semiautomatic rifle.
Melanie recognized the guard standing at thefront door, but she didn’t know the one at the back door. Herfather led them over to the elevators on the far left of the roomand hit the button. The lights over the closed doors lit up as thecar rose from the fifth floor. It landed on their floor with ading, and the doors slid open.
Melanie hesitated; once she stepped inside,there would be no turning back, but it was already too late to goback. They would never let her leave this place.
With wooden legs, she entered the elevatorand winced when the doors closed.
CHAPTER 20
“Where’s Kyle?”Cassidy asked Rick.
She’d just arrived at Adler’s for work. Kyleshould be behind the bar already, but instead, her boss stoodthere.
Her boss threw down the rag he was using toclean the bar. “I was about to ask you the same thing. Your brotherhasn’t called out, he never showed up, and he’s not answering hisphone. He didn’t bother to switch his shift either. Which meansI’mcovering for him because Missy had to go home to herkids, and no one else could come in on such short notice.”
Cassidy frowned at him as a trickle of uneaseran down her back. Her brother was many things, but irresponsiblewasnotone of them. He never took off from work without atleast a call or arranging a replacement. And he definitely wouldhave toldherif he wasn’t coming in.
“I’ll call him,” she said.
“If he answers the phone foryou, tellhim that if he’s not here in fifteen minutes, he’s fired.”
Cassidy nodded and stepped away from the bar.She pulled out her phone, found Kyle’s number, and hit send as sheretreated to the hallway with the restrooms, where it was a littlequieter. The phone rang and rang until it eventually went to voicemail. Her brother hadn’t bothered to establish any message, but sheleft one when it beeped.
“It’s me. Call me as soon as you getthis.”
