Page 97 of Wicked Little Nightmare

But I squashed that feeling quick. I wasn't that pathetic kid anymore. I was Lakey fucking Aldrich, and I didn't need anyone's help or pity.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded, my shock quickly morphing into anger. "Come to check up on your favorite little psychopaths?"

I felt Cam's hand on my shoulder, a silent warning to cool it. But I was too wound up. Sarah's appearance had thrown me for a loop, and I hated feeling off-balance.

As I glared at her, taking in her confident stance and the knowing look in her eyes, a thought hit me like a bucket of ice water.How the fuck did she find us? And what does she know about what we've been up to?

My hand inched towards the knife on my thigh. If this bitch was here to cause trouble, well... I'd make sure she regretted it.

Sarah breezed past us like she owned the damn place, her eyes sweeping the room before landing on the operative strapped to the table. I tensed, ready to pounce if she so much as twitchedwrong. But she just stood there, cool as a cucumber, while Cam and I were internally losing our shit.

"Well," Sarah said, her voice steady as she regarded our mess before her eyes landed on Rose, "I see you two haven't changed much."

I barked out a laugh, harsh and brittle. "Oh, you have no idea."

Sarah turned to face us, and I swear to God, she looked almost... amused? Like this was all some big joke to her. It made me feel uneasy. Fucking hell, she almost had a better poker face than Cam did.

"I know this is a shock," she said, walking into the living room and looking around before checking out the broken window that Beaver had come through. "But we have a lot to discuss, Lakey. You too, Cam."

I glanced at Cam, trying to gauge his reaction. His face was a mask, but I could see the tension in his jaw. He was just as thrown as I was.

"How about we start with why the fuck you're here?" I snarled, taking a step towards her. "Last I checked, social workers don't make house calls to their old cases. Especially not ones they fucked up so spectacularly."

Sarah didn't flinch. She just looked at me with those knowing eyes, and I felt my anger rising.Who the fuck did she think she was, waltzing in here like this?

"I'm here because we're connected, Lakey," she said softly. "We always have been. And right now, you need my help more than you know."

I laughed again, but it sounded hollow even to my own ears. "Help? Lady, you couldn't help us when we were kids. What makes you think we need your help now?"

But even as I said it, a tiny part of me — the part I tried so hard to bury — wondered if maybe, just maybe, she was right. She hadalways been good to us. Keeping us together. Until she didn’t and Cam went to prison.

She took a deep breath, her eyes darting between Cam and me. "I wasn't just your social worker," she said, her voice low and steady, "I was part of Chimera. Which, judging by the fact that you have one of their guys on your kitchen table, you’ve heard now. That changes everything, don’t you think? You are both in over your heads and quite frankly, could use someone on your side."

The words hit me like a fucking freight train. My ears started ringing, and I felt my hands clench into fists. "What the fuck did you just say?"

"It's true," Sarah continued, her calm demeanor pissing me off even more. "I was recruited out of college. Told I'd be helping kids. But it wasn't until later that I realized what they were really doing."

I glanced at Cam, seeing the same mix of disbelief and rage I felt mirrored on his face. He was silent, but underneath that silence a righteous anger was building and if Sarah wasn’t careful, she wouldn’t leave here in one piece.

"They were experimenting on us," I spat out. "All those tests, all those 'counseling sessions'. It was all bullshit, wasn't it?"

Sarah nodded; her eyes filled with something that looked almost like regret. But I wasn't buying it. "I didn't know at first," she said. "But when I figured it out, I started digging. And what I found, well, it was worse than I could have imagined. You were their pride and joy. Everything they threw at you, you handled. Both of you."

My mind was reeling. All those years, all that pain. it hadn't just been neglect and bad luck. It had been deliberate. Planned. My stomach churned, and I tasted bile in the back of my throat.

"Why should we believe a fucking word you're saying?" Cam growled, his voice low and dangerous. I felt a rush of affectionfor him, mixed with a possessive thrill. Always protecting me. Protecting us.

Sarah looked at him, her expression softening. "Because I'm the only one who can help you understand what they did to you. And why they're still after you now."

I laughed, but it came out more like a sob. "Fuck you," I snarled, but even I could hear the uncertainty in my voice. "Fuck you and your 'help'. We don't need anyone but each other. Besides, apart from this fuck, no one knows where we are."

But as I said it, I felt a tremor of doubt. What if she was telling the truth? What if there was more to our past than we knew? Then we could remember? I glanced at Cam again, seeing the same conflict in his eyes. We were both torn between our instinct to lash out and the desperate need to understand.

"Tell us everything," I finally said, my voice barely above a whisper. "And if you're lying, I swear to God I'll carve out your fucking heart."

Sarah nodded, regarding us with curiosity. "I faked my own death," she confessed, her voice cracking. "It was the only way to protect myself and... to watch over you two."

My jaw clenched so tight I thought my teeth might shatter. "Watch over us? Like some guardian angel? You fucking left us to rot, Sarah. I don’t think that’s very nice." I sounded light, but my insides were twisting. Part of me wanted to believe her, wanted someone to have cared enough to look out for us. But trusting people only led to pain.

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