Chapter 68
NOVA play: All I Wanted by Paramore
The world felt like it fell away the second the doors to the elevator opened. I’d seen the bullet holes but refused to allow myself to consider what they might mean.
I needed eyes on Jay.
I needed to know that he was okay—that he wasn’t hurt.
The second my gaze found him, a strangled sob burst through my throat. My body moved on instinct, and I threw myself forward, fighting Sebastian’s impossibly strong grip on my wrists.
“Jay!” I cried, trying to get to him.
Had they hurt him?
Why was he tied down to the testing chair like that!?
My eyes darted around the lab, frantically processing the situation as Luke strode out of the elevator and into the lab, clearly unconcerned with the fact that the elevator doors were riddled with bullet holes.
Two armed guards, Melanie of all people… and that Dr. Grey guy that had inserted the chip in me… they had a surgical table set up next to the testing chair.
I cataloged the items on it, breathing a sigh of relief when I didn’t find the extractor on it. The NeuroExtractor was where I’d left it, charging on a desk in the center of the room.
The surgical table had one of those implanter guns on it, and several syringes and needles filled with mystery substances.
Sedatives?
What were they planning to do here?
Luke and Grey were speaking to each other, but I could barely hear what they were saying over the roaring in my ears.
Every fiber of my being was screaming at me to get to Jay. To untie him. To make sure he wasn’t hurt.
Our eyes were locked onto each other across the room, and I choked on another sob as I watched a tear slide down his cheek.
“Milo… baby… I’m sorry…” he whispered. He was so pale… so afraid.
The confident, intelligent, untouchable man that I’d fallen head over heels for was nowhere to be found. The man I was looking at right now was the raw, terrified, lonely human being that Luke had been manipulating and abusing for years.
I was looking at what was left of the person Jay must have been before his father had been killed.
The guilt he was feeling was so potent that I found myself choking on it.
He thought this was his fault.
“No… No, J-jay, this isn’t your fault, it was my idea to—”
“Enough!”
Without warning, one of the armed men cracked Jay across the face with the butt of his gun.
I screamed as Jay’s head snapped violently to the side and a crimson arc of blood splattered across the concrete floor.
I fought Sebastian’s hold on me harder, desperate to get to Jay, but his grip only tightened.
“Stop it!” Seb hissed in my ear as I bucked and struggled against him. “The more you fight, the more they’re going to hurt him! Be fucking smart, Milo. Jesus fucking Christ…”
He sounded absolutely wrecked. Like the sight of Jay being hit like that upset him just as much as it did me.
I fucking hated him for holding me back, even though part of me wondered if he was only listening to Luke because of the implant. I couldn’t reconcile what he was doing to me with the fact that I was almost certain he didn’t have a choice here.
It didn’t matter that he couldn’t help it. He was the only thing keeping me from checking on the love of my life as Jay spat another mouthful of blood over the edge of the chair.
“Let me go!” I cried, but Seb shook his head, his chest rumbling with a deep, frustrated growl.
“You know I can’t do that, Milo. Please. Don’t make this worse for everyone than it has to be. Listen. Be good. Please.”
Rage like I’d never experienced in my life bubbled up inside me at Seb’s words.
Be good!?
“Fuck you, Seb,” I growled, and he tensed behind me.
“Milo…”
“Just… shut up, Sebastian,” I hissed, clenching my fists where he still held my hands behind my back.
“Mr. Murphy, I hope I now have your attention,” Luke drawled. He stepped deeper into the lab, taking up space near Jay’s head.
Luke sneered down at him as Jay tilted his head back, thick, wet blood streaming from both his mouth and his nose. He spat another splatter of crimson at Luke’s feet, challenging him with his gaze to do something about it, but Luke just let out a dry, humorless chuckle.
“You’ve always been an animal, just like your father. Bleeding fucking hearts,” he scoffed, and Jay narrowed his eyes at him.
“That’s why I needed to put your father down.” Luke reached out and cupped the side of Jay’s face. Jay snarled, jerking away from him, but Luke dug his fingers into Jay’s face hard enough that he winced.
“You, on the other hand, were still useful. All the brilliance of your father without any of the common sense. So much easier to control. Especially once that asshole was out of the way…”
“You fucking bastard—” Jay roared, but Luke squeezed his cheeks hard enough to force his mouth open, and any words he might have spewed turned into garbled moans.
“Ah-ah-ah. None of that. Don’t make me gag you, little boy.”
Jay scowled at Luke, but stopped struggling, his eyes sliding to meet mine over his captor’s shoulder.
“You were useful, at least, until recently.” Luke shot a meaningful look in my direction, raising an eyebrow.
“Turns out, you’re not the smartest neuroscientist on campus. Not anymore.” Luke smiled at me, his eyes flashing with a nefarious sort of glee, and I quickly put together what he was implying.
Luke let go of Jay’s face, accepting the cloth handkerchief Melanie offered him to slowly wipe the blood off his hands, before meandering over to the desk Jay and I used to tinker with new tech.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the shattered pieces of the manipulator, placing them carefully next to where the extractor was charging.
“Your little slut might have succeeded in saving my son’s mind, but at what cost?” Luke asked, his tone deceivingly light and jovial.
“W-what—” I stammered, unable to stop myself. Luke’s gaze slammed into mine, his blue eyes turning cold and cruel.
“You two thought you were so slick, sneaking around and fucking each other on my property. You think I don’t know everything that goes on here? Filthy fucking Neanderthals. Both of you. I knew what the two of you were planning. Why do you think I had Sebastian take my place today?”
My mouth parted in shock at Luke’s confession. He’d known we’d been together? This whole time?
“I will say, I never thought you would have the balls to destroy my IP right in front of me, but here we are.”
My heart was hammering so hard against my ribs I was sure everyone in the room could hear it.
How had he known?
We had been so careful… Everything had been encrypted!
Seb began to quiver behind me, and I knew.
I knew he’d been feeding Luke information from day one. He’d known about Jay and me… we’d even told him that we’d been able to remove my implant.
Shit!
Luke’s smile widened as he watched me put the pieces of the puzzle together. I shook with unbridled fury.
“Yes, yes. It’s all very upsetting, I’m sure,” Luke drawled, as Jay let out an infuriated roar behind him.
“You fucking traitor!” he screamed at Seb, who physically winced behind me. “We were going to free you! We were going to take you with us!”
“Jay—” Seb choked, but Jay wouldn’t let him speak. His eyes went empty as he locked them on his childhood friend.
“You’re fucking dead to me,” Jay growled, and I felt Seb shake with emotion behind me as the words rolled through the room like a curse.
“Yes, well. As amusing as your empty threats are, we have work to do.” Luke smoothed his hands over his suit jacket before gesturing to what was left of the manipulator.
“You will repair what you broke, Milo. Then, we’ll run the demonstration that should have been performed on my son on your lover. So, it would be in your best interests to ensure it works properly, that way we won’t cause any… unnecessary damage.”
I narrowed my eyes at Luke and shook my head.
“No,” I snapped. “Never. I’ll never help you.”
Luke didn’t seem phased. He just let out a dry laugh and slid his hands into his pockets with a shrug.
“We thought you might say that,” he deadpanned before glancing over his shoulder at the armed men flanking Jay.
“Shoot him,” he ordered, and one of the men immediately pulled out a handgun and pressed the muzzle directly against Jay’s thigh.
Panic tore through me, and I screamed, throwing myself against Sebastian’s punishing grip again.
“NO! No, STOP! Don’t! I’ll do it! I’ll fix it! Don’t hurt him!”
“Stand down,” Luke ordered lazily, and the man immediately holstered his weapon without a word.
My chest was heaving with each breath, and my cheeks were wet. I wasn’t sure when I’d started crying, but I couldn’t stop.
Jay was staring at me with wide eyes, his face pale, and all I wanted to do was hold him and make sure he was okay.
They’d really almost just shot him!
“Jay…” I sobbed, and he strained against his restraints, trying to get as close to me as I was trying to get to him.
“Milo…” he whispered, and the space between us felt like an uncrossable canyon.
“Get to work, Mr. Murphy,” Luke drawled. “I think I’ve made it clear what will happen to Mr. Reynolds if you refuse to comply.”
Feeling like I was going into shock, I slowly turned my head to face Luke.
I swallowed, my throat burning with the effort, and I found myself nodding.
“Good. Release him, Sebastian. The quicker you work, Milo, the easier I’ll go on him. We’ll start with smaller memories and work up to bigger ones. As long as you do what you’re told, I’ll make sure he remembers you long after he’s lost his humanity.”
Lost his humanity?
“Isn’t that right, Mr. Reynolds? Just like your daddy, we’ll turn you into the animal you are, and you’ll disappear, won’t you? No one will remember you once we’re done with you. Not even Milo. You’ll simply be forgotten.”
The atmosphere in the room was so thick and heavy that I felt like I was moving underwater. Slowly, I made my way to the desk, unable to keep my eyes from darting around the lab.