Page 184 of Taming Seraphine
By the time the man carrying me ascends the stairs, the drugs have worn off enough to allow my limbs to twitch. Rough hands thread through my hair and yank up my head, forcing me to meet Samson’s eyes.
They’re even more soulless than ever. Blown pupils ringed with a thin strip of green and surrounded by dark circles. “Welcome back, Sera. You’ve caused me a lot of trouble.”
I want to spit in his face, but the muscles around my mouth won’t cooperate.
“Mr Capello?” Miko asks. “You said things would be even between us if I brought Seraphine?”
The tremor in Miko’s voice tells me he’s just realized he’s walked into the stronghold of a psychopath and won’t be allowed to leave. Samson will use Miko as a hostage to lure Anton and Leroi out of hiding. If the trio are truly a family, there will be a fight. If not, then Miko might not live to see tomorrow.
Nausea ripples through my insides. I’m so sickened at the thought of falling into Samson’s clutches again that I can’t even find any pleasure that Miko just walked into a trap.
The man carrying me stops mounting the stairs, and Samson directs him to a white room that smells of antiseptic. When he lays me on a hard surface, I finally get to see my surroundings.
We’re in an infirmary, but I don’t think Samson wants to provide me with medical attention. I scan the room for weapons or any means of escape, but it’s windowless, with a single door that’s blocked by two leering guards.
I’m lying on an operating table, and there’s a small trolley beside me containing surgical tools. Alarm squeezes my chest at the horror of my situation, but I slide an arm toward the scalpel.
“Should I strip her, boss?” the man asks.
My skin crawls, and I try to roll off the table, but Samson holds my neck in a tight grip, his fingers digging into my flesh.
“No,” he says with a wide grin. “Sera will strip for us after our guest installs the new chip.”
I shudder, my flesh crawling at the thought of exposing myself to these monsters. It took me years to build a tolerance for Samson, yet that’s now crumbled under the pretense of freedom I enjoyed with Leroi.
Miko’s breath catches. “Wait. I don’t know how to implant electronics into humans.”
Samson releases my throat, spins on his heel, and grabs Miko by the scruff of the neck. “Then you’d better learn. You and that bastard tampered with my sister and I can’t track her on the app. I want her back exactly as you found her.”
My jaw tightens. I’m not his sister.
“What’s with that face?” Samson grips my chin. “I went to all this trouble to bring you home, and you’re not even grateful.”
“It’s probably the muscle relaxant,” Miko says.
Samson leans so close that I can smell his acrid breath. It’s a stomach-churning mix of alcohol and something metallic. He’s probably back on the drugs.
“Did you fuck him?” he asks, his gaze trailing down the borrowed male clothes I’m still wearing. “Of course you did. I saw the way you were with him when you stepped out of that club. But what I want to know is why he isn’t dead like all the others?”
My nostrils flare, and I jerk my head, but the drugs slow my attempt to escape his grasp.
Samson can go to hell. Leroi might have been a liar and a schemer, but he was the first man who didn’t make me feel like an object. At least until I discovered he was warming me up for Anton.
The grip on my chin releases, only for Samson to return holding a collar.
“Put it on her and plug it to the mains socket,” he says.
Miko takes the collar with trembling hands and fastens it around my neck. My eyes water as the cold metal digs into my skin. I can’t let this happen.
“Boss,” a deep voice says from the doorway. “There’s a convoy of vehicles approaching from the top of the hill. Some of them are armored.”
“What?” Samson roars. “We weren’t supposed to be on their radar until next week.”
He charges out of the room with his guards, and the tightness in my chest loosens long enough for me to grab the scalpel.
SEVENTY-THREE
LEROI