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I scrunched up the results and tossed them on the floor. I didn’t even know when he’d taken a sample of DNA from me.
It creeped me out.
Was nothing my own anymore?
“Why was the doctor concerned about lessons?” Ice flowed down my spine. “They’re not just normal sessions where you talk to me and I listen, are they?”
With an almost sad look, Cem sat beside me and clamped his hand on my left thigh. I jerked away and stood up, only to fall back down again thanks to the missing muscle in my calf and the sickly weakness in my body, even now.
“Don’t strain yourself,” he whispered as I panted hard on the furs, my vision fading in and out. “And yes, you’re right. We’ll start easy today, but...there will be some days that will be hard if you don’t show aptitude.”
“What are you going to do to me?” I kept my chin high even as every bone in my body seized.
“I’m going to...for loss of a better word...reprogram you.”
“Reprogram me?” My lips pulled back off my teeth. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means that by the end of our training, you will remember who you truly are. You will forsake what you think you love. You will want different things. Remember different things. I will paint the life you would’ve had if you’d remained mine, and you will understand I do this out of love and care.” He smiled sadly. “We will no longer be strangers but will be exactly what we are: father and son.”
I stood again, swaying a little but able to stay upright. “Let me out. Right now.” My eyes flew around the space. “Where the hell are we anyway?”
He stood and clasped his hands together as if he was a real estate agent showing me a fancy investment. His charcoal suit, dark-grey shirt, and silver tie were a direct contrast to the exposed earth and gritty dust surrounding us. “We are beneath my home in Istanbul. I have many homes strategically placed around Turkey, but this one is my favourite.”
His eyes lit up with fond memories. “I had it built before you were even conceived. While digging the foundations, the workmen found this.” He spun on his heel, opening his arms as if he presented me with a mountain of gold. “A pocket of undiscovered catacombs. A perfect piece of my ancestor’s past.” He snorted. “It was also my first encounter dealing with a government official who wanted to halt building, thanks to my foreman tattling. They tried to revoke the dwelling permit—it was now a place of historical importance, not a piece of rural landscape—but...I didn’t give in without a fight, and my money turned their no into a yes, and these caves were never noted on the title.”
He lowered his arms. “They’ve come in handy over the years.”
The ice was back, along with sleet and suffocating snow. “Handy for what?”
He sighed and lowered his chin. “You’re intelligent, Aslan. I’m sure you can figure it out.”
“Torture.”
“I don’t like using that word. I prefer...methods of persuasion.”
I struggled to swallow. “That’s what you’re going to do? Persuade me?”
He flinched. “Like I told you, this will hurt me more than it will hurt you—”
“I doubt that.”
He marched into me.
I almost fell back down again from his sudden stalk, but he clamped both hands on my shoulders and steadied me.
If I trusted I could remain standing, I would shove him away, but sourness splashed on my tongue, and grey spots danced before my eyes. “Let me go.”
“If I did, you’d fall, and it’s my job to give strength to my only son.” His gaze fell to my mouth before flicking back to my eyes. “It is my duty and my sacrifice to give you back your strength, Aslan. The strength that was stolen from you by that bastard Avci.”
Grabbing his wrists, I tore his hands off my shoulders. I stumbled but stayed upright. “You speak of the Avcis as thieves and criminals, all while talking of torturing your only child.”
“Not torture.” He winced. “Persuasion.”
“No matter what you do to me, I won’t suddenly fall in love with you or agree to be your lapdog. You might as well kill me because it’s going to be a waste of both our fucking time.”
He sighed heavily. “Unfortunately, my methods are rather tried and true at this point. They are fool proof. The only question is how long it will take...not if I’ll succeed.”
He stepped back, giving me room to breathe. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you one final chance before we begin. Once we start, there will be no more chances until the end. But...just this once, because I love you with all my heart, I will give you the opportunity to surprise me.”
His lips tilted into a sad smile. “I would really love you to surprise me, Aslan. Prove to me you are me. That you are worthy of my empire. That you house the heart of a beast and have become the savage lion I named you after. Do that and we will go back upstairs. We will share a drink, good food, and I will summon my generals to swear allegiance to you. Do that and all of this is over.”
