Page 157 of Seizing Control: Part One

My back aches from crouching on my haunches for too long, but fuck me, if laying eyes on Lily for the first time in twelve weeks isn’t worth the pain. I should be used to it by now. I’ve spent the last month and a bit pushing myself to the brink so I could speed up my return to the real world. My need to see my sweet thing was my sole driving force. Her love is my superpower. I’ve healed in record time, thanks to Gabriel’s medical team and my preternatural determination to see my woman with my own eyes instead of through the surveillance system the Adjudicator’s curia set up in the old farmhouse as soon as she moved into it.

When she left her husband...

A fact that never ceases to bring a smile to my face.

As soon as I could manage a pen, I scribbled down a series of questions about Lily. Was she okay? How was she coping? Does her husband treat her right? Where is she since was separated from him? The answers I received, a boon to my initial agitation over being weak and restrained, went a long way toward regaining my compliance after Gabriel’s plan to safely extract me so epically turned to shit.

Another twinge ricochets along my spine.

Again, I shift to ease the stiffness.

Meow.

I lean down to scratch behind the ears of the damn cat that nearly outed my presence. Miss Maple starts purring happily as she butts her head against my thigh. The cunning feline is a Miles’ family institution. We have no idea how old she is—she simply moved in one day, about a decade ago, and never left. Dad, softer in his old age than he was when I was a kid, got her a bed and a bowl, and that was that, we were cat people after a lifetime of only having dogs for pets.

Scanning the paddocks, I take in the happily grazing cattle.

The pig pens that hold the hogs we use to dispose of evidence root around in the mud.

When our old dog died, my dad didn’t bother to replace him. Something that’s working in my favour as I sneak around the outside of the farmhouse to see where Lily just dashed off to in a rush. I’m a little worried about her since she was happy and content a minute ago, then visibly upset in the next. Her footsteps thudding on the old wooden floorboards helps me track her.

She’s run from my bedroom to the bathroom.

The sunrise is warm on my face, adding to my enjoyment of my first taste of freedom.

Apart from the three jobs I’ve done for Gabriel this week, I’ve been cooped up inside his secret facility to the south of Perth. Above ground, there’s a vineyard and a winery with a world-renowned restaurant—below the surface is a different story. My new home is a state-of-the-art rabbit warren that houses the most brilliant minds, lethal honeypots, and deadliest assassins in the world together in one ultra-competitive training environment.

My education has been non-stop since I was roused from an induced coma seven weeks ago.

Every day is jam-packed with lessons.

Every minute scheduled to generate constant improvement.

The truth is that I had to learn how to do everything again.

Walk.

Talk.

Eat.

Shit.

Turns out spending four weeks flat on your back takes it out of a man. Having my throat slit almost took me out permanently. If my blood pressure hadn’t already been artificially slowed by the concoction Karlos injected into me, I’d be a dead man—like the old man and the young guard who tried to protect me from Brutus.

Instead, I’m a man reborn.

A man with a plan.

I’m going to wipe out the Maddison clan.

Rid every trace of Brutus Mayberry and his malevolence from the planet.

Assume the mantle of Justice in the underworld.

Return my metukà shelì’s heart to her as soon as I’ve made her world safe.

Retrieve mine from her possession once I’ve restored the bond between us.

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