Page 94 of Savage Beauty

“And how is work going?”

“Awful,” I tell him honestly. Dr. Kallio’s words float back to me. It wasn’t her choice. She was working for other people. People. And he said he knew what happened. He said he found her. “Did you know? Am I the only one who didn’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Clinical trial companies are doing early-stage in vivo product testing on captive subjects. Humans.” I rub my forehead, then my temple, where a dull pain throbs. “Lumina. Our primary investor. Maybe others.” His gaze remains on the road. Both his hands are on the wheel in the ten and two position. “Did you know?”

“Take me through what you know.” He ducks slightly and adjusts the rearview mirror again.

“Companies are doing illegal testing to speed products to market.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Lumina. Your employer. They get products to market faster than anyone else. They’re the ones who are doing it.”

“What evidence do you have?”

I place my right hand on the door handle and keep my left hand inside my messenger bag.

“Sloane?”

“The evidence is in a paper I was preparing for peer review. The paper explores the long-term viability of organ transplants done in black markets versus transplants done in the United States. What I uncovered, using statistical analysis, is that a high number of organs coming from specific markets had a significantly higher rate of cancer occurrence within three years post-surgery.”

“That doesn’t sound like evidence.”

“It’s not evidence, per se.” I understand William searching for evidence. He’s a man of science. But given all that’s happened, I was clearly on to something. Something someone out there will kill over. Dr. Kallio was willing to kill for that person. Those people.

Is William one of those people?

“They’re doing the research on unwilling subjects.” I remember those people I tested. The fear in their eyes and the reluctant compliance.

“That would be problematic.”

He flicks the turn signal as we approach the villa where Max and I have been staying.

Click. Click. Click.

I never gave him directions.

“How did you know where I’m staying?”

The gravel churns beneath the wheels as he slows the car to a stop and presses a button to turn the ignition off.

I unsnap the seat belt and open the door. I should’ve never gotten in the car with him. Sam’s words come to me as my feet touch the ground.

If someone tries to abduct you, never get in the car. Fight like hell.

Twice, now, I’ve gotten in the car. But I am not defenseless.

The beach is nearby. I can run.

William leans across the seat. His movement is slow, and his dark hair lends him the appearance of a shadow moving within the vehicle.

I can run into the house. Lock the door.

Inside the messenger bag, my fingers grope for steel.

William exits the car. The sunlight flickers against the grays mixed in with his dark strands. His elbow bends. The gun gleams.

He’s holding a gun. My William. The man I regularly had sex with.

“So, you never left Origins? That was a lie?”

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