Page 51 of One More Chance

I’m not dead yet, Buddy.

She wanted to strangle him, but that would have to wait until she could move her fingers. When she had her strength back, he was going to regret doing this to her.

Doctor Buzard chuckled, digging in his breast pocket for a tiny flashlight, which he flicked in front of her eyes, moving it from side to side. “Kenna Banbury isn’t scared of us.”

He was wrong about that. She simply preferred anger…and action. As far as she was concerned, he could do whatever he wanted to her so long as Jax was kept out of it. More likely,though, he would be the leverage they’d use to convince her to cooperate.

He reached over her shoulder and accepted something from Earnest. Another sting, burning in the outside of her arm, and he used his thumb to massage deep circles on the outside of her shoulder. “Give it a second. I don’t need you dying and costing me all that valuable work.”

“…kill you.”

He chuckled. “I see you can breathe more easily. You may be able to move a little as well, so I’ll take my seat back behind the desk. I don’t need you scratching my eyes out.”

She tried to respond to that, but the words got trapped on her tongue. Earnest laid heavy hands on her shoulders, holding her in her seat. As if she could stand.

He settled back in the chair across the desk. “Each month, you will require additional treatments. You will also need to adjust your diet to accommodate your body’s need for additional calcium and some other key nutrients. Your meal delivery service will continue.”

She frowned. The service that sent them boxed meals and recipes every week? She’d figured Jax set that up when she wasn’t feeling well, and maybe he had, but it turned out to be this guy’s doing? She wanted to throw it all out.

“If you don’t comply, which is for your own good, failure to follow the instructions will be considerably…uncomfortable.”

“It’ll hurt.”

He nodded. “If you don’t comply, we’ll be forced toretrieveyou. Admit you for observation.”

“You mean kidnap me. The way you kidnapped Nicola Santorini, Rebecca Hardy, and Melissa Graham.”

Buzard actually looked impressed. “Interesting conclusions.”

“Are they wrong?”

“What I do is no one else’s business.”

“ExceptDominatus.”

The hands holding her in the chair flexed, squeezing her shoulders hard enough she winced. Someone else who didn’t like hearing that name out loud? Too bad.

“You work for them.”

The doctor wiped his damp forehead with the back of his hand. “I provide a unique service. In return, they ensure I’m not disturbed and don’t run into anything that might interrupt my research.” He swiped the screen of his tablet. “Earnest, we should draw more blood while Ms. Banbury is here. I don’t believe we have time to take spinal fluid. That can wait until next time.”

“Why?” She needed to know why he’d targeted her. Why she’d been singled out. Just as she needed to know if anyone else in her family were targets. Jax was outside—had they captured him with the intent to experiment on him?

The idea of it made her want to rage. To make sure all the focus remained on her.

Doctor Buzard didn’t look up from his tablet. “We don’t need your husband interrupting a delicate procedure. I’d hate to have to kill him. I doubt I’d secure your cooperation after that.”

“I mean, why are you doing this?” She wanted to killhim, but would she be signing her own death warrant at the same time, and that of those men at the retirement home? The consequences could be disastrous.

She tried to move her fingers and could twitch them, but only barely. It took far more effort than she had.

The doctor sighed. “Earnest? Take the samples.”

His hands eased off her shoulders.

She wanted to run but couldn’t move. “Jax!” she yelled his name as loudly as she could.

A split second later, a heavy hand cuffed her across the back of the head.

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