Page 68 of Verses and Blooms
“I think those two are on our side,” I said quietly. Every one of my guys had sung their praises, even Rydell, who didn’t seem to like much of anybody.
“We are,” Vance promised, but he was facing me now. “What happened here?”
“She was nearly assaulted by her previous counselor in thisexactoffice,” Alice said sharply.
Anger flashed across their faces before Vance pressed his comm. “Chief, we’ve got to do something about these counseling offices. Apparently, nobody shared that the previous counselor was assaulting people. They’ve got this girl in here trying to do therapy in the same damn room.”
He paused, nodding in agreement before his eyes flicked to mine, offering a hint of reassurance.
“Chief isn’t happy about this. He wants you to head over to the conference room up front. They moved the data center to a better room anyway, so it’s clear now. I’ll get the furniture swapped out today.”
“Does that work for you?” Alice asked, turning to me.
“Much better than this,” I said. I hadn’t realized how much I didn’t want to be in that office until she pulled me out of it. I let out a shudder and followed her into the atrium.
This time walking through the building, I studied the changes. The usual gossiping nurses were nowhere to be found. There weren’t half-asleep patients stumbling around. In fact, every patient I saw looked alert and aware, something I’d never witnessed here.
The atrium seemed brighter now, as if they’d been keeping it dim and depressing before. The floors sparkled, and I spotted a few janitors and cleaning crew members walking around. It was a pity that it took something so vile to bring out what they should’ve been doing all along.
Alice didn’t speak again until she bustled into the conference room, placing her notebook on the table and waiting for me to sit before closing the door.
She paused, hand on the knob.
“Are you okay with me closing it? I assume this will be a private conversation you wouldn’t want others privy to?”
I glanced past her at the two guards still standing outside and nodded. “I’m fine with the door closed.”
Alice sat back down and gave me a professional smile. “Let’s start with the fact that I’ve read your file.”
“I’m sure that was an exciting read,” I cut in with a dry laugh.
“It was definitely enlightening,” she hedged, at least laughing with me. “It seems like it’s been a long time since anyone showed you true kindness.”
“It was,” I conceded. “Until my pack, at least.”
“It’s very interesting that you all found each other here and come from such similar situations?” she mused.
“I don’t know that I’d call our situationssimilar,” I said. “Maybe just the fact that we’ve all been through hell, but we’ve endured very different forms of trauma. Outside of my omega and I, not all of us were in captivity for years.”
She nodded. “That’s true. I shouldn’t oversimplify, especially with something that important.”
For what it was worth, she seemed genuine.
“I’m very glad you found each other,” she said softly. “Now, obviously things here have not been ideal. Do you want to talk about that?”
Once she opened the floor for me to talk about ARC and its problems, I couldn’t stop. I explained everything from being found in the ditch, to being brought here, and everything that happened since. It wasn’t a short story, but she stayed attentive through the whole thing, taking notes and nodding along.
She tried her best to keep a calm mask, but I caught the disgust and horror at a few of the finer details.
“Wow,” she said when I finally finished. “How about we get a drink and some snacks before we dive into all of that.”
I nodded, sinking into the chair. It felt good to finally let it all out. She poked her head out, asked my guards to grab a few things, then sat back down.
“Now, do you want to tell me about your latest abduction?”
“They caused a mass poisoning,” I admitted. “I still feel so bad about that. Everyone here suffered, and I know people keep telling me I wasn’t the one who poisoned anyone, that I didn’tchoose to be abducted, and they’re right. It just doesn’t change anything. I still feel awful, though.”
“You don’t need me to repeat what you’ve already heard,” she said gently. “You were put in an impossible situation, one that was meant to be a diversion. People like your captors don’t care about collateral damage. But at the end of the day, no one suffered permanent damage.Exceptfor you. And not one person here blames you.”
