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“I’ve lost her, Jared. I’ve fucking lost her.” My voice is empty and devoid of emotion as I stare up at the ceiling and shake my head in disbelief. I can’t even describe the mixture of anger and loss I feel. It’s causing me to have this massive pain in my chest that won’t go away.
I reach out to grab my computer monitor with both hands, having every intention of smashing it to smithereens, but Jared stops me. He quickly puts his own hands on my monitor, and reassures me with conviction, “She will resurface. She has to.”
“I know better. With Travis in charge, he’s too smart and cunning to let her resurface. They’re headed underground. I can feel it.”
Jared leans down, placing his elbows on my desk, and looks at me through those thick glasses of his. “Travis may want to take her into hiding, but as we both know, if Jules doesn’t want to do something, she’s going to find a way around it. I have a very hard time believing she would willingly go with him and leave everything she’s ever known behind. You know as well as I do that when she gets something in her mind, she can be a hot one to handle. She’s like a dog with a bone.” I rub the scruff on my jawline, contemplating Jared’s words. “And the man is going to run out of Blyss, if he hasn’t already. That sure as heck won’t help his cause.”
“You may be right.” But then again, he might be wrong. At this point, what choice do I have, but to keep my ear to the ground and wait?
“Do you want me to call Lance?” Jared offers.
I shake my head. “I’ll let him know.”
The new trainer steps into my office. “Sir, we’re having trouble in room five.”
“Again?” I ask, put off by the insipid intrusion.
“Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“I’m not running a half-assed operation here. You either need to start learning how to handle this shit, or I need to get someone in here who knows what the fuck they’re doing, and can make things start happening yesterday. Am I clear?”
“Yes, sir. Very clear.” He turns on his heel and quickly leaves out my door.
This shit is not going to crumble around me, dammit. I’ve worked too long and hard to get this far in the game. The amount of scientific knowledge and technological security we had to put in place in the very beginning was astronomical, and I’ll be damned if I let this multi-billion dollar opportunity begin to falter, all because I don’t have God’s gift to women here in the facility—Travis, the bastard. I have no one qualified or charismatic enough to work these women the way he did. The motherfucker. Since he’s been gone, I haven’t been able to replace him. Everyone is supposed to be replaceable.
I’m trying to keep a cool head and not lose my shit like last time, but it’s damn hard. All I can think about is him fucking her, and I want to destroy something. Knowing how much she loves her father and Jake, I hope Jared is right. He’s pretty sharp at reading people and understanding the human psyche. I have to hang on to that little bit of hope that she will surface at some point.
“I’m going to need a stiff drink, Jared.”
Jules
I rest my cheek against Travis’ shoulder as he holds me in his lap like a child. He spreads open his legs on the bench seat of the van, and my butt slinks down onto to the soft leather cushion. I’m at the perfect height to rest my ear against his chest, and with the bulletproof vests removed, I can now hear the steady rhythm of his heart. I close my eyes, enjoying the safety of his strong arms. I’m totally spent, too tired to even ask where we’re all headed.
Once the implant was taken out of my hip, Stryker immediately passed it off to Quinn, who apparently stood guard right outside of the van doors. I didn’t ask what he did with it; all I could assume is that he smashed it to smithereens. Then, Stryker had to put a couple small stitches in before he bandaged me up.
All of us have been in the van for the better part of an hour now, and everyone has been quiet except for a few one-sentence comments here and there. I can assume the men don’t want to say too much of anything in front of me. Either that, or they’re coming off an adrenaline high and are now dealing with the aftershocks. I’m not sure who took down the man who held Travis at gunpoint, nor do I dare ask right now. Either way, it’s just another nightmare for me to live with. Those images are permanently etched into my mind, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forget them. I snuggle farther into his broad chest, inhaling his familiar scent, trying to seek comfort for my troubled soul.
