Page 34 of Girl, Bound

Novak waved his hands.‘Come on, Agent. That stuff is confidential. I can’t just hand it over.’

‘Would you prefer thealternative?’ Ella asked.

‘Which is?’

She peered at theground. ‘Your co-founder died in this parking lot. Who’s to say you won’t benext?’

Novak pursed his lips,then sighed through his nose. He shifted, glancing around, as though the answerto his problems were written in the emergency lights up above.

‘What kind of people?Shareholders don’t know the finer details. They were happy with our rolloutplan. Until Saunders died, now we’re poison.’

‘You said your producthad side effects. Who knows about that?’

Novak puffed hischeeks and shrugs. ‘No one outside of the building behind me. And trust me, allthe researchers in there just want the money to roll in, consequences bedamned.’

Ella thought itthrough. ‘Right, but who doesn’t stand to gain from your littleoperation? What people did you hurt to make a billion dollars?’

Novak scratched hischin, bit his lip and said, ‘Our trial subjects are the only ones I can thinkof. They’re the ones suffering from the side effects I mentioned.’

‘I need a list ofnames. All of them. How many were there?’

‘Thirty.’

Ella stepped closer.‘Better unlock those fancy doors of yours, doctor, but I need the namestonight. Every. Single. One. Got it?’

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Back in her office,the usual bustle of activity was conspicuously absent. Ripley and Holbrook werenowhere to be seen, leaving Ella alone with her thoughts and the daunting taskat hand.

She rifled through thestack of names Novak had provided, her eyes scanning each one with laser-likefocus. Thirty trial subjects, all bearing the weight of Seraphic's sins. Thirtylives forever altered by the company's reckless pursuit of profit.

But as she delveddeeper into their profiles, a troubling pattern emerged. They were all minors,the oldest barely seventeen. Children, really, thrust into the role ofunwitting guinea pigs for Seraphic's experiments.

Ella frowned, tappingher pen against her cheek. It didn't add up. The level of organization, thesheer cunning required to pull off these murders...it was beyond thecapabilities of a teenager, no matter how angry or traumatized they might be.

If not the trialsubjects themselves, then who? Who had the motive, the means, and theopportunity to enact such a brutal campaign of revenge?

A thought struck her,a spark of intuition that set her nerves ablaze. What if it wasn't one of thekids, but someone close to them? A parent, a sibling, a loved one who hadwatched helplessly as their child suffered the consequences of unsafepharmaceuticals?

Ella dove back intothe files with renewed urgency, fingers smashing the keyboard as shecross-referenced each name with criminal databases and public records.

The minutes flew by,bleeding into one another as she pored over the data. She barely registered thepassage of time, her focus narrowed to a single, consuming point. The names andfaces blurred together, a kaleidoscope of pain and suffering that tugged at herheartstrings.

But still, nothingjumped out at her. No red flags, no glaring warning signs. Just a sea ofordinary families, their lives upended by the whims of a faceless corporation.

Ella rubbed her eyes,the words beginning to swim before her. She was running on fumes, her bodycrying out for rest, for sustenance. But she couldn't stop, not now. Not whenshe felt that a clear picture was on the horizon.

She reached for thelast file, fingers trembling with fatigue and anticipation. Jason Barber, agedsixteen. Another life forever changed by Seraphic's malfeasance.

She scanned hisprofile, her brow furrowing as she took in the details. Stable home life, goodgrades, no history of trouble or trauma. But as she delved deeper into hisfamily background, something caught her eye.

Patrick Barber,Jason's father.

Occupation: PoliceOfficer.

Employer: MillhavenPolice Department.

Ella's heartquickened, a surge of adrenaline chasing away the cobwebs of exhaustion.

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