Page 234 of Heartless Legacy

“Sell me?”

“That was the agreement.Youfor your friend.”

“I agreed to give you forty-eight hours in your gauntlet. Selling me was never mentioned.”

He grips my chin and says, “It was implied, and the fact is, you still owe me time. Sadly, my customers have been a bit underwhelmed by the performances. You spent more time hiding than you did anything else.”

“If they don’t like the programming, they can always change the channel.”

Sneering down at me, he nods, and says, “Don’t you worry, I’ve already taken steps to make this worth their time.”

Jerking his head towards the guards, he says, “Go get the doctor.”

The doctor. Even now, he doesn’t refer to him by name. I think that’s what I hated most. Not knowing who he really is.

Chapter 126

Thea

Dr. Quack walks up to me, with a small smile on his face as he says, “We meet again.”

I close my eyes, trying to block out his face, and the sound of his voice, and I try not to think about what he must’ve looked like smiling down at LJ.

“You hurt her.” I know he did, so it’s a statement rather than a question.

“Her?” He asks, wrapping a blood pressure cuff around my arm. “Her, who?”

“You know who.”

“You’re right, I do. The people in charge made sure I understood just how special Layla Jean was.”

He pumps the air bulb on the cuff and says, “Sadly, my in person sessions with her ended yesterday. I would have liked to work with her more. The priming she went through this past year yielded some interesting results. I have lots of data to work with, and compare to the other subjects who were on the oral dosage plan.”

He gestures towards me. “Although none have been as fascinating as you. Perhaps whoever you end up with will be interested in working with me.”

“What do you mean, you primed LJ this year?”

“As much as I love hands on research, I can’t very well strap down every person who people seek to control. I am working to revolutionize psychotherapy and behavior modification and need to know if my techniques can be used as a part of an outpatient treatment option. I have several test subjects out in the world.”

His meaning is crystal clear. “You’ve been drugging LJ? How?”

“Her mother expressed some concerns about her behavior and their relationship. With my help, Layla Jean became more open to making acceptable friendships, and has been thriving.” He frowns before continuing. “Or she was until you returned, and she started exhibiting some of her previous traits. I believe spending time with you affected her dosing schedule, and she pulled back from those friendships, nearly undoing all the progress we’d made.”

Giving me another creepy smile, he says, “What did you do to get her to form such a powerful attachment to you, even at the risk of ruining her relationship with her mother and boyfriend?” He arches a brow and asks, “Are you lovers?”

“We’re family.”

“Layla Jean has a family, but she chooses to spend time with you instead of them. That shows a strong emotional attachment.”

“They’re not her family. They’re people she’s related to, who happily turned her over to you, and let you drug her and fuck with her mind.”

“I wasn’t the one administering the dosage. That was an outside party.”

“It doesn’t matter who did what. Anyone who hurt her or aided in that harm will meet the same end.”

Looking over his shoulder at the guards, I say, “You don’t have to be a part of this. In fact, if I were you, I’d immediately resign from your post.”

One asks, “Oh yeah? Why is that?”

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