Page 158 of Consume Me

“Let her go. Now.” My voice doesn’t tremble, helping me to keep the facade up that I am not fucking losing my shit by the second.

Every fiber in me yearns for her.

Caleb jerks her to his side, and the guard gives him the gun.

“That won’t happen, son,” he spits. I know I can’t appeal to his fatherly side. Not that I would have even tried.

When the guard bends to pick up my gun, I curl my hands into fists at my sides. How easy it would be to pummel his face in until he was nothing more than a bloody, limp mess. But my father is anything but stupid, and he digs the gun even harder into her temple to keep me in check.

“I’m here, Silver. It’s going to be all right,” I say, focusing all my attention on her, so much that I momentarily forget where we are.

She gives me a bright smile that revives my damn spirits.

When the guard tucks the gun into the back of his pants, he pats me down and finds the ammunition and the dagger, throwing them to the side as well.

“He’s clear, sir,” he says, then strips me of my jacket and bullet-proof vest and jerks me toward Caleb.

“Pick up the dagger,” he tells the guard, who pockets it and goes to him.

She wrenches herself from his side, but my father pushes her in the guard’s direction, who has such a tight hold on her, she winces.

Cracking my neck, I try to keep my emotions in check. Driven by rage, I channel it into focus and plan my vengeance. I am going to make him suffer and kill him slowly for hurting her. Both of them.

Caleb looks at me. “I can’t believe you betrayed me for her.”

“Sir, we should leave. This location has been compromised,” the guard suggests.

“There’s time,” Caleb says, voice ringing with excitement. “I’m going to make my son pay first.”

He pushes me in front of him. The fucker has no physical power. If it wasn’t such a delicate situation, I would laugh in his conceited face. The more I prolong this, the better our survival chances are. But my father can do a lot of harm in an hour.

Pushing us into an elevator, it descends to level minus three.

I brush my pinkie against Mia’s, and she grips it before I interlace our fingers.

“You shouldn’t have come,” she whispers.

“For you, I’d breach fucking hell,” I say, not caring that Caleb can hear me.

He turns to me, wearing an evil smirk. “I’ll remind you of those words later, son.”

Mia flinches next to me, and then she’s so still, she resembles a statue. Before I can comfort her, the guard pushesus out of the elevator, revealing a wall of windows. Beyond them is a laboratory, and when the doors slide open, I see dozens of vials lining the walls behind glass cabinets.

Horrified, I can’t help but stare.

“I did it, son. I finally perfected it.”

This is not fucking good. Now, it’s more than just about us getting out of this alive. I have to dispose of everything. He forces us in two separate chairs, and metal restraints snap around our ankles and wrists. The torture will begin any second now, but then his phone rings.

“Watch them,” he tells the guard before closing the door behind him.

The guard nods dutifully, staring at us from the other side of the glass door.

“Silver.”

“Blake.” We both speak at the same time. I try to wiggle out of my bindings, but I already know I won’t be able to free myself.How the fuck can I save her now?

“Are you hurt? What did they do to you?” I ask, terrified she’s injured in places I can’t see.

---