Page 57 of Glitter Rose
I scan the room for weapons, for escape routes, for any sign that Knox was real. “You didn’t even know I was alive until these idiots saw me.”
“Perhaps not actively searching, but I always wondered if father’s treatments might have had… interesting effects on you. Given recent developments.”
Did he know all along what the treatments would do? What they’d make me?
“What do you want, Gabriel?”
“What every brother wants.” He spreads his hands. “To make sure his sister is safe. To bring her home.”
“So you can play mad scientist like Dad?”
“Father wasn’t mad, just ahead of his time. His work saved you, after all.”
“Right. Before it killed millions of others.”
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Oops.” I shrug. “Just a tiny apocalypse. No biggie.”
“Enough with the attitude.” He turns to his men. “Take her.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I say.
Gabriel sighs like I’m a petulant child. “Paris, don’t make this difficult.”
I inch back further on the bed. “Difficult? You abandoned me for a year,and now you want to play happy family? Fuck off.”
Alex and Mike exchange glances. The human mountain steps forward, and any warmth he didn’t have to begin with disappears.
“You have two choices.” Gabriel brushes invisible lint from his sleeve. “Come willingly, or my associates will assist you.”
Fuck it.
I lunge across the bed, sheets tangling around my legs as I scramble toward freedom.
So close. Three steps. Two?—
I’m yanked backward, my chin smacking the hardwood floor as Mike’s meaty fingers clamp around my ankle like a vise. The impact rattles my teeth, copper filling my mouth where I’ve bitten my tongue.
“Going somewhere?” He drags me toward him, my shirt riding up as I scramble for purchase on the smooth floor.
“Get the fuck off me!” I kick with my free leg, heel connecting with his forearm. No effect. Might as well have kicked a brick wall.
Gabriel’s expensive shoes appear in my line of vision. “I told you not to make this difficult.”
I spit blood onto his polished leather. “Fuck you.”
“Charming as always.” He steps back, wiping his shoe against the rug. “Alex, help Mike get her up.”
Camera Boy crosses the room, zip ties dangling from his fingers like plastic shackles. My heartbeat hammers in my ears as I thrash against Mike’s grip.
“Hold her still.” Alex kneels beside me.
“Easier said than done.” Mike’s fingers dig deeper into my ankle, sending sharp pain up my leg. “She’s like a fucking cat in a bathtub.”
I try to twist free, but Alex grabs my wrists, wrestling them together despite my struggles.
The zip tie cuts into my flesh as he cinches it. I cry out. Too tight. My fingertips already tingle from the restricted circulation.
