Page 77 of Lust
Closer.
Daisy blinked. Liza wasn’t sure if she’d heard, but then Daisy cocked her head curiously. That’s right. Remember.
“Lu-ust,” Despair’s sweet, melodious voice sang. “Come here and give me my morning cuddle!”
“You have to catch me first, ‘Spair.” Liza’s four-year-old legs jumped onto a table, slipped, and toppled to the side. She screamed.
Strong childish arms caught her. “Don’t worry, Lust. I’ll always catch you when you fall.”
“Don’t do it, Daisy,” Wyatt added. He, too, had inched closer.
Daisy’s face screwed up. She forced the emotion away and leveled her violet-eyed stare on Liza.
“You don’t understand,” she said. “I have to return with her and the baby. This is my last chance. We just need the stem cells from the umbilical cord. That’s all.”
“You don’t really believe that, do you?” Liza replied.
“He’ll take me!” Daisy shouted. “If I don’t bring him something, he’ll—” Pain ripped through Daisy’s expression. “He’ll suck the life out of me, every damned cell. He’ll throw away my hair follicle from his locket, and then that will be it. I want this over. I want this never-ending nightmare over!”
“Then you give them me,” Liza urged, not understanding half of what her sister said, but it didn’t matter. Daisy’s fear was real. “I’ve met my mate. I’ve unlocked my DNA. If they want embryonic stem-cells, they can use me. It only takes a few weeks to make them, right?”
She shuddered at the thought, but she’d cross that bridge if she came to it.
Thoughts collided behind Daisy’s eyes. She was thinking about it. Liza’s gaze darted to Wyatt. He stared back, bleak, and resigned. He knew this was the right thing to do. Misha had to live. The baby had to live.
Liza could take whatever they dished out. She clenched her jaw, steeled herself, and looked back to Daisy.
“What assurances do I have that you’ll come without fuss?” Daisy called.
Liza lifted her palms. “You’ll just have to trust me, the same way we trusted you.”
“I betrayed you.”
Misha cried out again, clutching her stomach. Tears streamed down her face, her blue eyes locked onto Wyatt in desperation.
“It’s okay, baby. You’re going to be fine.”
“Wyatt.”
Liza shouted, “You might jump, Daisy, but I’ll catch you. These suits have wings.”
“You’ll catchher,”Daisy accused, looking at Misha.
Liza swallowed her heart and said something she could never take back. “She’s too heavy. She’ll fall too fast. You’re my sister, Daisy. I’ll save you.”
It was a lie. Liza wouldn’t be able to save either of them, and if given the choice, it would be Misha, but Daisy didn’t know that. Hopefully. And from the way she contemplated, she also didn’t know that their suits’ functions were broken because of AIMI. Thank God for small mercies.
Daisy’s eyes locked on Wyatt, trying to get closer. “Knock her out,” Daisy said, and jerked her chin toward Liza. “You want your mate back, then you knock your sister out. Hard.”
Anguish swamped Wyatt’s gaze as it landed on Liza. She didn’t need him to respond to know he’d do it, even though he’d hate himself after.
“It’s okay,” she said to him. “Knock me out.”
Every line of his body said he was forcing himself to move. Every step he took was one his heart didn’t choose. But he didn’t hesitate. He boxed Liza’s temple.
Agony spliced through her head. The ground shifted. Blackness closed in and she toppled to the floor.Goddamn.
The last thing Liza saw before darkness swallowed her whole was the shove Daisy gave Misha, her subsequent fall to the ground. A scream of agony, hands clutching her belly.
