AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I trust him completely, and I need him.
It’s not because I can’t survive without him, I could, but it would hurt. Without him, I don’t feel like me. Before him, I was drifting, just surviving and overworking, but then when I was with him, I learned how to smile again, laugh, trust, explore, and see beauty. I also learned how to find love, but there can’t be a future with him.
There just can’t.
“Hurry it up, or I’ll come in there and help you,” the guard yells, banging on the wall near the door, making me jump. I quickly dunk my head and step out, drying off and putting on the scrubs they left for me. I don’t want to give them an excuse to come in here with me. I know better than that. This guard hasthoseeyes—the ones every girl recognises. He’s mentally fucking me, and all he would need is an excuse to attack. It’s in the cruel, vicious tilt of his lips and the gleam in his eyes when he turns to me, blocking the doorway and my exit. I swallow my fear and tilt my head back, staring straight into his eyes.
“Move please,” I tell him with a strong voice that surprises even me. “Your boss won’t like being kept waiting.”
The reminder of his job seems to do the trick. He moves aside and grabs my arm. “Fine, let’s take you to the boss.” The smirk he gives me makes me shiver, but I fake my confidence as I’m dragged down the corridor. This is a floor I haven’t been on before. It has to be at the top, which requires high security clearance.
I’m dragged past offices and closed rooms before being shoved through the doors of a lab. We have to wait as it decontaminates us and then put on coats before we are allowed in. When I step through, my jaw almost drops. This lab is state of the art, top of the line, and massive, with huge, bright windows. It’s better than any of the labs they gave me to work in, and it’s clear where their main research happens. The fact that they probably still work on monsters here taints that beauty, though, and all I see when I look around is the horror of the lab and bunker beyond the wall.
I let the handsy guard drag me over to a workstation, where the research I found beyond the wall is waiting, and fear fills me as I’m shoved down into a comfortable chair. The guard crosses his arms and glares down at me as we wait. A few moments later, Hayes comes trotting in, sees me sitting there, and smiles.
“Good, you’re ready to start work again.” He smirks.
“No,” I retort, narrowing my eyes. “I’m not.”
“Now, Talia—”
“That’s Doctor Ledger to you.” I sniff, eyeing him.
His eyes narrow slightly, and the door opens again, but we continue our staring contest. “Oh, sorry, I was just hoping to steal you for a moment, sir.”
The voice is familiar, achingly so, and I groan as I look over at my dickweed ex. Of course he’s here, and of course he’s working with the dickhead who’s been experimenting on monsters. He stops when he sees me, his mouth opening and closing before he smirks and moves closer. “I heard you found her, sir. Good work.”
“I wasn’t a lost dog,” I snap.
“No?” He arches his eyebrow. “Then maybe stop acting like a fucking stray.”
All my anger and fear explode through me, and before they can stop me, I launch myself at him, punching him square in his smug, stealing face. He staggers back as I shake out my hand. “Fuck, that hurt!” I exclaim, even as he covers his nose.
“You bitch!” He goes to grab me, but the guard steps in.
“Sir?”
“Take him away for now and let him lick his wounds.” Hayes chuckles, and we both watch as my ex is dragged off, shouting. I simply blow him a kiss and try to ignore my aching knuckles as I sit back down. I eye my boss, and he eyes me right back, sighing as he also sits.
“I thought you were better than this, Tal—Doctor Ledger. You have such great potential. You got the research, and I know you understand it. We need that. Work with us” —he holds his hands up in a pleading gesture— “and you can have everything you’ve ever wanted.”
Before, I would have jumped at the chance, but not now. Now, I know what they do. “I will not be the person who helps you kill thousands.”
“Of creatures!” he yells and then grabs my face, his true colours showing. The vile bastard inside him bleeds into his eyes. “You have one more chance to comply, Talia, before I force you. Do not be a fool.”
“Then I guess I’m a fool.” I spit right in his face.
He jerks back, wiping at his face as his expression closes down. All emotion is gone, but I refuse to be afraid. They clearly want me alive for something, they clearly need me, and I’ve had enough of being pushed around and used.
Fuck them.
Fuck him.
The guard comes back and glares at me, but I ignore him too. “Chain her to the desk,” Hayes orders. I go to get up, but the guard pushes me down before he quickly shackles my left ankle to the table leg. He stands back as I struggle, trying to free myself, but all I do is cut into my leg. Biting back a curse, I glare at them.
“It seems you’ve gone feral since spending time with the monsters.” Hayes sniffs.
“And don’t you forget it.” I grin, even as I grind my teeth. “I will never help you.”
