Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 128356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Violet doesn’t show the same signs as Mario. She has more ‘involuntary’ nervous system reflexes, and that struck me as weird despite the doctors’ platitudes.
Once, I said, “You don’t possibly think you can escape me, do you?” And to my surprise, her eyelids twitched, and so did her fingers.
Mario has never shown any of those signs, but the doctors keep saying that different people have different ways of reacting when in a coma.
I should’ve known better than to trust Julian’s doctors and establishments. Everything in the medical field is under his or Regis’s thumb.
Including Violet’s coma.
The final piece of information that confirmed my suspicion was Violet’s disappearance from the hospital two days ago.
I remember the fucking tightness in my chest when I walked in like I usually do early in the morning—because Dahlia spends most nights by her side—and I didn’t see her lying in bed.
There was no pale face or frail body or shell of a person. Only emptiness—and Mario sleeping peacefully.
The nurses mentioned a transfer to one of our headquarters, and I knew Julian must’ve been behind it. There’s no way a meticulous, well-planned transfer would happen without his interference or approval.
Turns out that Julian and Grant—Kane’s father—were using Violet’s kidnapping to twist Dahlia’s arm. Maybe hurt Kane through her. Maybe delete her and her annoying snooping habits from town.
I didn’t give a fuck what the reason was. All I cared about was having Violet back exactly where she belonged—under my thumb.
So I barged into Julian’s office and threatened to crush his skull if he didn’t tell me where she was.
He merely ignored me, so Kane spoke to him, trying his boring diplomatic shit that also failed, because Julian doesn’t change his mind when it’s set on something.
I searched all our safe houses, holding out hope that he’d be keeping her in one of them. Naturally, he’s not that stupid, so I couldn’t find a trace of her.
Today, however, Lucia managed to locate her in one of the unmapped hospitals.
Well, it’s an illegal experimentation center window-dressed as a clinic on a small island right off the coast. I had no goddamn clue this shit existed in the Callahan empire, but then again, Regis has never considered me his actual heir, not when golden-boy Julian exists.
Seems Julian’s tyranny and degeneracy run a lot deeper than I thought, because that goddamn place looked like an asylum. It was full of patients, many of whom I recognized as Vencor members who betrayed the organization and, therefore, were dead.
But apparently not, because Julian is using them as his lab rats.
Despite the high security, I managed to raid it with the help of Lucia—and my Callahan last name that made the guards hesitate to hurt me.
Point is, I got Violet out, kidnapping one of the doctors as well so he could look after her.
Under some torture, he mentioned a coma drug experimentation and swore he’d recently started working on the project and didn’t know much.
He said Violet’s vitals were pretty good throughout the period they were monitoring her and that if she didn’t take her assigned daily dose of the drug, she’d start to wake up soon.
It’s been almost twenty-four hours, and she still hasn’t.
Maybe Julian’s drugs messed with her indefinitely.
No—she’s moving, her eyes fluttering and her body restless. She’s no longer in a coma.
She has never been in a coma.
Why did Julian do that to her? If he’d wanted to hurt her, a simple injection or food poisoning would’ve done the trick. Or was she aware of what was happening? She wouldn’t…do this willingly, right?
I have so many questions, but the most important thing is that she’s here and safe.
“Yeah,” I say to answer Kane’s question.
A long sigh escapes him. “Is she waking up?”
“Slowly, as the doctor keeps saying.”
“Good. Dahlia will want to see her.”
“Fine.” I tighten my grip around the phone. “And, Kane?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry about your father.”
“I told you I’d kill him one day for all he did to me.” Another sigh, this one sounds too loaded. “That day came sooner than I expected. Hurting Dahlia was the final nail in the coffin.”
“Is she okay?”
I couldn’t care less about Dahlia, and I truly dislike her meddling ways ever since Violet’s coma. Not only has she wormed her way into our lives, but she’s also kind of got Kane wrapped around her little finger.
The past few months, I’ve had to watch with pure disdain as my friend, who I honestly thought lacked any form of illogical feelings, as he calls them, became too addicted and obsessed with that girl.
And that’s bad news, because he’s slipping and making mistakes he shouldn’t.
But while I don’t care about Dahlia, Violet does. She’s her only family, and I’d rather she doesn’t wake up to find her sister mutilated.
“She’s fine. Just some cuts,” Kane says. “I have to supervise getting rid of Grant’s body. Check on Pres. I don’t like his sharp manic episodes lately. Talk soon.”