Chapter Eighteen
Kenzie was dying.
She was fairly certain of it. In a lot of ways, death was welcome. The pain was… She’d thought she was tough, but this was fire in her veins. Unrelenting waves of pain, and there was nothing she could do because the devil had paralyzed her.
“You remember this, right?” he’d said as he stood beside her bed.
There was a “nurse” helping him. A young woman with hollow eyes.
She’d placed the IV while guards held Kenzie down, though she hadn’t struggled at the time because it seemed such a useless thing to do.
“You’re quite brave. I appreciate that in a female.
When the time comes, I won’t disgrace either of us with animal rutting.
I’ll do it like the civilized men do. I’ll harvest your eggs and then find a broodmare to carry our sons. ”
She should have fought, would fight if she ever got off this table because dignity be damned, this was hell.
Not being able to move was part of the horror. She was aware, her eyes wide open, but she couldn’t scream now, couldn’t do anything but endure.
And the worst? Huisman was still fucking here hours and hours later. He sat just out of her view, which was straight up staring at a gray ceiling.
Not how she thought she would go out.
The cycle ended, and she could breathe for a moment.
How long had this one been?
“Milena, I need a printout of her vitals for the last hour.” Huisman’s face appeared in her line of sight.
He stood there with his clipboard and glasses perched on his nose.
He wore a white coat like he was a big-boy doctor.
“She’s surprisingly steady from what I can tell.
I expected heart damage from previous sessions. ”
Shit. She wanted to spout shit, but she couldn’t talk yet. This was the second go-around, but she was already learning the schedule. The drug would leave her system and then the paralytic would take another five minutes or so. Maybe longer, since this was the second time.
She tried moving her left hand. She managed to rub her thumb and forefinger.
Breathe. Survive. That was all that was left now.
“I should have done a baseline EKG, but I was overly eager to get back to our fun.” Huisman gave her a grin like they were playmates.
She wished she could spit in his face, but her mouth was dry and nothing seemed to work anymore.
What had Kala told her? She and her sister had gone over everything she could remember about her time with Huisman.
It was a ritual they’d done for the last few years when something important happened.
In case one had to take over the role, it was necessary to try to remember every detail so throwbacks could occur.
He was faltering, wondering if he had it wrong, and she didn’t want to know what happened if Huisman figured out she wasn’t his favored egg donor.
Though her eggs were fine, thank you very much. She was pretty sure their eggs were similar, though Kala’s were coated with an extra veneer of sarcasm. Maybe that would help since any kid of this man’s was going to go through some things.
Yes, she remembered. Kala had been able to do one thing.
She concentrated hard and forced her middle finger up.
He chuckled. “Yes, I believe that was your response last time. Your heart is a remarkable thing, Kala Taggart. You can handle pain in a way I didn’t imagine.
I would have expected you to have at least one cardiac episode.
I even tweaked the drugs so they would damage your heart muscle less.
Can’t have you dying on me before I get what I need.
” He frowned, and a look of distaste came over his face.
He reached down and moved her gown back, exposing her clavicle.
“I suppose your husband gave you those. He’s an animal, you know. ”
Her bruises. The bite marks where Ben set his teeth on her and sent a thrill across her skin.
A flash of him moved over her brain. Ben’s gorgeous face smiling down at her when he thrust up and joined them together.
And then she heard him saying he couldn’t love her.
She wished they’d had a shot, a real shot.
Her teeth chattered, and she realized she could talk again, though her mouth was so dry. Her body felt heavy, but she wasn’t giving in. “I thought you liked ’em submissive, asshole.”
“Interesting take,” he allowed. “Though I don’t think we’re viewing it in the same light. I suppose you’re right and if the male in your life is pleased by harming you, it’s your job to give this to him. I simply don’t understand the impulse.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Every word felt forced and jagged coming from her mouth.
He shrugged. “Oh, this is all for science. Sacrifices must be made. Like your father sacrificed mine.”
“Like a moron named Levi Green killed your father to save his own hide.” She shook her head. “You’re delusional.”
He took a readout from the sad-looking nurse/slave. “And you are incredibly strong.”
Well, that’s what happened when she shared her heart with the right person.
She hadn’t moved for hours, and she couldn’t imagine they’d shipped her suit out, so unless they’d managed to destroy it, her parents had to know she was in Bulgaria.
If they’d taken half a minute to look at her research, they would know where to start the hunt.
“Is she like Sosa and the others? Did you steal her off the streets so you wouldn’t have to pay her by the hour and offer health care? Do evil organizations have health care? That would be weird.”
“She was trained at the chateau. I purchased her when she was…fourteen or so. She was trained to be a technical aid. I certainly wouldn’t call her a nurse.
She’s adequate at following directions and taking notes.
Probably because she knows what happens when she fails.
” He kept his eyes on the reports the youngish woman had brought.
“I have one like her in all the medical testing zones I keep. Don’t think you can talk to her.
She is well trained. She only speaks when required.
She lives here, and if she wants to keep her tongue, she’ll remain silent and loyal. ”
Kenzie managed to look at the young woman, who had closed her eyes as though remembering something terrible. “You threatened to take her tongue?”
“Only if she causes me trouble,” Huisman replied, and shook his head. “Well, it looks like I’ll have to try harder to get these numbers up. We’ll double the dose this time and perhaps give her a little longer. I want a full workup on her overnight. She’ll sleep down here after the last session.”
There was the whooshing sound of the door opening, and she heard a guard’s voice. He said something in French. Something about the girl in the lab and that he should come and see.
“Bring her to me,” Huisman said, and walked out of her line of sight.
When Kenzie had been brought in, she’d tried to study this place as much as she could. He walked toward the bank of computers and lab equipment.
“Get a blood sample and give her another dose of the paralytic. Can’t have her moving too much, can we?” His voice sounded like he was roughly thirty or forty feet away.
She was starting to get control of her hand again.
Tears sparked. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t lose it, but this was…
This had brought her tough-as-nails sister to cry and scream and beg for death, and she would be here longer.
What was happening to her heart? Were the muscles already weakening?
How long before the heart attack? Her sister had a heart attack.
She was going to die here.
She wanted to see Ben, but he was an illusion.
He never loved her. She was incidental to him, a way to pass time and make his job easier.
That was kind of her whole life, though, wasn’t it?
Relegated to the backup role. Her sister was the better operative.
Her brothers were more talented. Tasha was the leader. She was…background.
It hurt so much. So fucking much, but her brain seemed to want to torture her, too.
Why did it have to be him?
She felt something cold in her hand. She wasn’t tied down.
As Huisman had said, he didn’t need things like ropes and cuffs to hold a woman down.
He could do it with the power of his mind, or rather his research.
He’d done the same to Kala and laughed when the paralytic wore off while she was still under influence of the drug.
Kala had dislocated joints and nearly broken bones when that happened.
So at least she wouldn’t do that.
Milena put a hand over hers, the warmth feeling odd. When Kenzie looked up, Milena’s eyes were serious on her. She squeezed Kenzie’s hand, and that was the moment Kenz realized she’d place something small in her palm. Like a pencil.
Or a scalpel.
“These numbers are intriguing,” Huisman was saying.
Kenzie was able to move her head slightly so she could see the hypodermic needle in the nurse’s hand as she prepared to push the medication. Milena looked down and winked.
Fuck. Something was happening.
Milena pushed the needle in, her eyes darting over to Huisman. She leaned down and whispered. “Sosa says take him out.”
It hadn’t been a paralytic. She didn’t feel the wash of ice in her veins that accompanied her losing the ability to move. No, this was something that countered it. Suddenly Kenzie could close her hand around the scalpel.
Sosa. They’d underestimated her. Gabby might have broken the sisterhood Sosa tried to form, but it was obvious this one wouldn’t. Sosa had been trying to save them all for years. She hadn’t given up. She’d quietly built family from nothing.
This Bratz doll wasn’t about to let her down.
But she had to wait for the right time.
The door came open, and Kenzie forced herself to stay still and not turn her head to see what was coming her way.
“I want to see her,” Lou was saying as the door opened again.