Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58747 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58747 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Flesh-eating bacteria will do that to a man.
I broke all the mirrors in my apartment when the ‘accident’ first happened. Ha. Accident.
The flood of memories brings all the barely-buried rage back to the surface and I snatch Daphne’s wrist out of the air when she reaches forward like she wants to touch my face, to touch the freakshow science experiment I’ve become.
“Don’t,” I snap, not letting go of her wrist. Her tears spill down her cheeks.
“What happened? You just disappeared. I looked for you but you weren’t online. Your emails bounced back undelivered. I went to your apartment but you were gone. I couldn't find you anywhere. I thought— Dad said you—”
“Tell me,” I sneer. “Where did the great Dr. Laurel say I’d gone? What lie did he tell you?”
Confusion colors her face. “What do you mean? I don’t understand.”
“He did this to me!” I roar.
She immediately starts shaking her head, looking horrified again for the second time in as many minutes. “No, Logan, you can’t believe that! Dad would never— What even happened? Is it a burn of some kind? Or—”
“Bacterial infection. The rare flesh-eating kind.”
Her mouth drops open.
“A strain so rare the doctors said they had no earthly idea how I could have contracted it. Except that Belladonna labs had a research sample in-house at the time.”
“Well then it must have been an accidental cross-contamination. One of the lab techs didn’t follow proper safety procedures or—”
“Stop being willingly obtuse,” I shout, letting go of her and spinning away, giving her my back. “Your father and Adam wanted me out of the company. They’d stolen my research and had already colluded to profit off of it. They just needed me out of the way.”
Is she still going to keep defending them even with the evidence right in front of her? Of course she will. I’m a fool if I think the past few days have made any difference at all.
“Logan. Nothing you’re saying makes any sense to me. What are you even talking about? What research?”
“I was the one who discovered the anti-aging capabilities of the molecule we were developing. Adam said we should explore the commercial possibilities in cosmetics as a money-making opportunity. All he saw was dollar signs. I said no, that we couldn’t get distracted from our core mission of focusing on curing Battleman’s and other rare diseases.”
I stare at the wall, unable to keep the bitterness out of my voice as I continue. “I thought your father agreed with me. He did, to my face.”
I turn and look at Daphne. She’s so perfect, her naked body shaped with the same care the gods must have taken when they shaped the first woman. It hurts to look at her and remember what her own father did to me. “But behind my back...” I shake my head as my teeth clench.
“How do you know any of what you suspect is true? Can’t it just be a horrible coincidence that the company was transitioning at the same time a terrible accident happened to you and—”
“Don’t be so naive.” I slam my palm against the wall and she flinches. I’m scaring her. How quickly I become the Beast again to her. But there was no hope of me being anything else now that she’s seen my face, was there? I was a fool to entertain any other idea, even for a moment. Especially considering I’m dealing with his daughter.
“He and Adam were in on it together. Adam made sure I had an open wound for the virus to enter through. On my face no less. He’s one grisly fuck. To want to infect someone’s face with a flesh-eating bacteria,” I laugh darkly, “that takes a truly twisted mind. Though to this day I don’t know if it was the brainchild of Adam or your dad.”
“Stop it,” Daphne cries. “My dad would never do that!”
“Then how do you explain the fact that when the city’s Disease Control investigators looked into it, they discovered the source of infection was my lab goggles? Your father and Adam spread the bacteria on the exact spot where Adam had split my cheek open in a fight the night before. Are you going to call that coincidence? Please continue to astound me with your naiveté.”
She glares at me but then I can tell my words sink in. “That still doesn’t mean—”
I scoff. “How about the fact that Adam had his father pay off said Disease Control investigator so that said lab report never saw the light of day? And I was shuffled off to a private hospital where no one knew where I was. The infection became so bad when I was in the ICU I coded twice. I died. Do you understand? They succeeded. They killed me.”
“Oh my—” She comes forward at this and tries to reach for me but I block her hands with my forearm and glare at her.