Page 50 of Worth

I have never wanted anything more in my life than I do the gorgeous, strong, unpredictable woman in front of me.

And that includes the idea of escaping when I was trapped as a Skin.

Slamming the door shut on Blake, and on that thought, I lock it. But I can’t move, still stuck staring at the single piece of wood dividing me from her.

“You are such an idiot,” Aiden sighs. I turn my head enough to see him standing with the cum-soaked shirt over his dick. “Any man of hers better walk the line.”

I furrow my brow. “What?”

He shrugs. “Shania Twain,” he replies, then steps up to the door, giving me a full view of his ass. “I’m gonna get you some breakfast, Kitten.”

She doesn’t reply, and he shoots me a look that tells me I’m going to be in really deep shit when he finally retaliates. He disappears toward his room, probably to get dressed.

I look back at the door, hesitating. What the fuck is this? I feelguilty?

A whisper reaches me through the door. “Bad boys get what’s coming to them, Zander. I will make sure you get what’s coming to you, and Aiden will help me when I do.”

A chill travels down my spine. I force myself to move away so I can figure exactly how the fuck this punishment for Blake feels like I punished myself instead.

Chapter 17

It’s been fucking weeks since Blake disappeared without a trace. I can’t find her anywhere, and I have more resources that anyone could dream of.

She’s just…gone.

There’s been one false alarm, facial recognition detectors getting a hit and making my adrenaline pump. But when it was investigated, it turned out to be someone other than Blake. Margin of error is slim with facial recognition, but it does still exist.

My patience is running thinner than ever. IneedBlake. I’m dying without even a glimpse of my girl.

A knock sounds on my office door, but before I can even consider whether to ask who it is, it swings open. Father stands in the doorway, fiddling with his tie, not giving me the smallest hint of flattery by actually looking at me. I haven’t seen him in person, in almost the same amount of time that Blake has been missing.

“Update on Test Group 13C,” he demands.

I bristle, certainly not having missed him. He’s a control freak and always has been. He doesn’t know shit about testing, yet he spouts off his demands, making us—the lab scientists—do his bidding, no matter how fucked up it is. So many Skins—women, especially—have died because of my father’s depraved ideas.

Stephen Vetella is the devil. Which makes me spawn of the devil.

I didn’t use to see it. I thought my father was the shit. Rich, successful, had women flocking to him like he was the second coming of Christ. But ultimately, Father fucked up when he sold Blake. I didn’t see him the way I had before, with the adoration of a boy who loved his father too much. Now?

I see him for exactly who he is.

“All still alive.”Surprisingly true—this time, anyway.“Some are asking for food and water. Others refuse to eat.”

Father scoffs. “If they won’t be grateful for the food, quit offering it.”

I stare at him. “No,” I respond firmly.

He turns a glare on me. “Icall the shots, you ungrateful little shit. You wouldn’t run the nation’s premier Lab without me backing you.”

“You wouldn’t have a Lab to control without me, Father,” I shoot back. “You have no real authority here. Only the authority I give you.”

It’s not exactly true. He’s more right than I am, but only because he could take away my power as easily as he gave it.

His eyes blaze with anger, and then his face relaxes into a wide grin; the grin of someone who knows something the other doesn’t. “Did you hear about Blake?”

My heart leaps into a staccato’d rhythm in my chest, but I’m grateful for the diversion to another topic. I’m not starving those test subjects. “About her escape? Yes.”

He clicks his tongue, a flash of disappointment over my knowing crossing his face. “She always was a wild one. I bet Ainsbury has his fun with her. Too bad he’s such a lazy shit and let her tight little ass get away.”

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