Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Ava is now talking to Michael, who keeps eyeing her girls nearby. She’s dolled them up in cocktail attire, fancy hair, and makeup, but they’re still young and zombified. The girl with the black hair—the same one who’d stared deeply into my soul—is missing. Was she the one who’d been abused in Solomon’s office?
The guilt is back, clawing at my chest. I force my stare away from them, unable to stop thinking about Ava’s part in all this. I’m convinced more than ever that she’s trafficking the most vulnerable of humans to the highest bidder. Solomon seems to be the liaison between her and the end user.
So what’s Caius’s role?
CUP programs these poor souls. They force them into a twisted mental program that erases or alters their memories, destroys their will to free think, and molds them into a pre-specified model of a human that’s marketable to the rich and fucked-up.
No matter how good Caius’s lips feel on mine, he’s just as complicit as these people.
More chatter draws me from my inner thoughts. I find the source of the excitement. None other than Solomon Grayhawk enters the room. He’s freshly showered and shaved, beaming as he walks. Hooked on his arm is a girl with jet-black hair, a split bottom lip, and heavily bruised eyes. Her pale pink dress sparkles, drawing everyone’s gaze to her.
I jerk forward, a compulsion to snatch her from him overwhelming, but a hand clutching the back of my neck holds me back. Angrily, I whip my head to look at Caius, who’s glaring at me with warning. I scowl back, hoping he understands me clearly.
We need to do something.
Though I’m sure he reads me loud and clear, he ignores my subliminal message, pulling my back to his chest and wrapping me in his arms. Moments ago, his heated touch dizzied me. Now I want to smack his arms off me and run far in the other direction.
His lips find my ear and he growls, “Calm. The. Fuck. Down.”
I can’t calm down.
I’m wondering if I throw a chair at Solomon, would it give me enough time to grab the girl and escape?
To where?
You’re in the middle of a lake in a snowstorm, dummy.
Caius dips his mouth lower, pressing a soft kiss to the side of my neck. His fingertips caress my hips as he showers pretend love on my flesh. I get caught up in wicked sensations, finding myself leaning into him, aching for more. I’m not even embarrassed as his palms rove over my stomach higher and higher until his fingers brush the underside of my breasts.
In. Front. Of. Everyone.
“Caius,” I whisper, needing to shake him off me so I can focus. “Don’t do this.”
His open mouth suckles the flesh on my neck. I barely contain the breathy moan trying to escape. I’m so distracted by his touch that I don’t notice Solomon coming right up to us. As soon as he speaks, it’s as though I’ve taken a plunge in the icy lake waters.
“Someone’s feeling much better, I see,” Solomon says with a grin. “Have you met my friend, Romy?”
The girl stares at her toes peeking out of her black shoes. Bruises mar every visible piece of flesh on her. Small, thumb-print-sized bruises all over.
“What’s her name?” I ask, attempting to keep my voice calm.
He barks out a laugh. “How the fuck should I know?”
The air between us crackles with something horrible and wrong. I sense the challenge in his tone. Perhaps he’s even feeling out Caius’s loyalty. As much as I want to freak out on this man, I can’t. It’s not like Solomon would let me survive if I called him out for his depravities.
“LuLu,” the small voice says, cracked and nothing more than a rasp. “My name is LuLu.”
Solomon’s entire body tenses at her words. Ignoring me, he pins Caius with a disgusted glare. “Defected.” Then to LuLu, he says coldly, “No one asked you, LuLu. You’re to keep your useless mouth shut. Understood?”
LuLu lifts her head and sneaks a look my way. Defiance shines in her drug-induced hazy brown eyes. It’s the look of a person who will keep defying until it gets her killed. My stomach revolts at the thought of what her future entails.
I could save her.
How?!
“Romy hates when I talk shop around her,” Caius says coolly. “We can catch a meeting later over drinks?”
Solomon nods, though he doesn’t seem pleased. “I suppose that’ll work. This time, bring your supplies. Hers are wearing off.”
Supplies?
Drugs.
He wants the drugs—the same ones Caius uses to keep me compliant—so he can turn LuLu’s mind to mush.
I force myself to catalogue every detail of LuLu. Now that I have a name, maybe I could look into missing person reports online. Maybe she has a family looking for her if she was kidnapped or a runaway. If I could somehow contact them and alert them to her location—