Page 84 of Blood Caged

I take a deep breath, forcing myself to think rationally. “Mia, I… I don’t know why he did that. He may have been trying to manipulate you.” Even as the words leave my mouth, I know they offer little comfort.

“It’s not true, right? It can’t be,” she says suddenly. “Tell me it’s not true. He was just trying to scare me.”

When I don’t reply, she curls in on herself, pulling her knees up to her chest. Her entire body is shaking. “Oh God. Oh, my God. They’re going to do it, aren’t they?”

“I’m so sorry, Mia,” I murmur because I can’t deny it. Maxwell already told me as much just yesterday.

“So, it’s happening,” she whispers. “They’re really going to take her.”

My silence is all the answer she needs, but I nod anyway.

Her face crumples again. “Why? Why would they do that?” she wails. She’s looking at me as if waiting for answers.

“Because…because these men are evil,” I hear myself saying. “Because they will stop at nothing, hurt anyone to get what they want. And because they’re a bunch of heartless, soulless fucks,” I add with venom.

Mia stares at me. “But…but you’re one of them.”

I shake my head. “I am nothing like them, Mia. Nothing at all.” At least, I pray I’m not. Being in league with these pigs feels like sleeping with the devil.

“Then how do you explain what you did to Sabine and Jemma?” Her eyes narrow on me. “That bastard told you to get rid of them, and you did. You killed them!”

I purse my lips as I look at her, wondering how much to tell her.

Fuck it.

“I didn’t kill them.”

“What?” Mia stares at me.

“I didn’t kill your friends, Mia. Lucien told me to dispose of them, but he didn’t directly command me to kill them.”

I found a loophole. Maxwell was right when he said that I could defy the bond by working around it. Of course, if Lucien had directly instructed me to end their lives, I would have been faced with a different dilemma entirely.

“So…so they’re alive?” She’s staring at me in disbelief.

“Alive and well,” I add.

“But where? How? How do I know I can believe you? If it’s true, you have to tell me what happened to them.”

“I can’t tell you that. It might put lives in danger. I shouldn’t have even told you this much.”

“Why not?” Her jaw tightens. “Are you saying I can’t be trusted? Because that’s rich, coming from you!”

“That’s not what I’m saying at all. But if that information got out somehow, Lucien would start looking for them. As it stands, he thinks they’re dead, which means that they’re safe. For now.”

Mia exhales a shuddering breath and leans back against the backrest of the couch. “This is too much to take in.”

“I know. And I’m sorry.”

“So then, where are they? Surely you can tell me that much?”

“I can’t.” I shrug. “I have no idea where they’ve been taken, and it’s better that way. Just be assured that they’re with someone who is sympathetic to what you’ve been going through here.”

Mia is silent as she thinks on this, still gnawing at that little raw spot on her plump bottom lip. Her eyes spark. “Dr. Chen,” she whispers, the words so soft I can barely hear them. “She helped.”

I say nothing. I’d sensed the doctor was a sympathizer the first time I met her. I still don’t know what Lucien has over her to have her working in this place. Whatever it is, she set it aside in order to help. Thank God.

“But if you would do that, if you would save lives, then why are you here? Why are you doing this?”

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