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The man sighed and rubbed his temple. “I’m growing extremely tired of your incompetence. You need to understand that I am not my father. You have one week before I take it all away from you. Understand?” He tapped Ryzen on the cheek. “You should be thanking me for not killing you right where you stand.”
Ryzen gulped, visibly sweating through his shirt.
“Well?” The man adjusted his cufflinks and smirked.
“Thank you,” Ryzen whispered, closing his eyes for a moment.
My hands trembled as I covered my mouth. Who was this guy? This was worse than I’d realized. I stepped back, knocking into a painting, but grabbed it before it could fall and expose me for spying. They were quiet for a second too long and I hauled ass back to the kitchen and ran out the back door.
OK, Stepford Wife Nova. What have you gotten yourself into?
I walked toward the water, needing time to process what I had just heard. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something run through the trees and realized it was a woman. She hid behind a tree, peeking around it, and then took off again.
I trotted after her. She had to have come with those men, except she was wearing just plain jeans and a t-shirt. The landscape scraped my legs as I moved through it, and I stopped to catch my breath. I bent over, placing my hands on my knees as I heaved. My body wasn’t used to moving as quickly, and my heart pounded in my ears. She was standing close to the edge of the cliff, granite scattered around her.
“Hey,” I yelled to her, but she didn’t turn around. She took another step closer, and I yelled louder this time. “Hey, be careful.” Couldn’t she tell how slippery it was with all those rocks there? I moved closer. “Excuse me.”
She took another step and stumbled slightly, and I gasped. Her head fell back, and she stared at the sky, her arms raised above her head.Oh, my God. This bitch is crazy.The realization that she was getting ready to jump off gripped my chest and I raced over, slamming into her from the side. We landed in a pile of tangled limbs, pain shooting up my arm, and I yelled out at the sensation.
“What the hell are you doing?” Rocks were digging into my ass, and I groaned, trying to stand up. “Are you out of your mind? That’s instant death.” I pointed down the cliff.
“You ruined it,” she sobbed and covered her face.
I kneeled down and peeled her hands away. “Hey, it’s OK.” Instant regret ran through me for yelling at her, and she wrapped her arms around my stomach, clinging to me. “Shh, it’s OK.”
Her tears drenched my shirt, and after a moment she pulled back and wiped her face. She looked up at me and gasped, a flash of surprise crossing her face. “It’s you. Pastry girl.”
I tilted my head to the side and chuckled. Well, that was a first. “Do I know you?”
“From the park?” She looked at me, her eyes big, and I noticed she had one blue and one gray eye. I sighed, my shoulders slumping forward. I was getting real sick of explaining that I couldn’t remember shit from the last three years. We looked behind us as men started yelling out, presumably looking for her.
This was my only shot. “Do you have a phone?”
She nodded and reached into her jeans, handed me her phone. My fingers trembled as I dialed the number engraved in my brain.
“You live here?” Her face was scrunched up with concern, and I nodded my head.
“That’s what they tell me.” I placed the phone to my ear and crossed my fingers.Please pick up, Juliet. Please pick up and tell me that this is all a dream and you’re out there waiting for me.It rang and rang, but no answer. “Fuck!”
The men were close now, no more than thirty yards away. Valik was with them, and so was the other man. The scary one.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I opened the browser and typed in the words I had memorized from days before.
Alprazolam Clobinax.
The browser loaded and I shuffled on my knees so that they wouldn’t see I had a phone. It was so slow to load that I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs.
Alprazolam Clobinax: Used to treat panic and anxiety disorder. Not approved in the United States. Side effects include amnesia/memory loss, heart palpitations, including heart attack and stroke, and internal bleeding. Can be taken in capsule or liquid form.
My blood ran cold as I read it one more time.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the men approaching and I dropped the phone. “Don’t tell them.” I looked at the phone and then her. She nodded and put it back in her pocket.
“Milliani, what the hell was that? Were you trying to jump?” The man gripped her shoulders, shaking her slightly.
“I’m sorry, Kaviathin. I just couldn’t take it any more.” She sobbed and clung to him. “Please don’t be upset.”
“Don’t be upset? That my sister tried to end her precious life?” His voice was filled with anger and I squeezed my eyes shut. This was private and not something a group of people needed to be watching. A man in a black suit started speaking in another language—Italian, I thought. He pointed at the cliff, and then to me, mimicking how I tackled her to the ground.
