The Bad Guy's Doctor

TWENTY

"Arsenio, open the door." I turn the knob once more, the lock restraining the movement. I gaze down at it, before looking up at the dark oak.

"Sorry, love. Not until this is over and I find the requester." I blink. He intends to keep me in... hiding. In a guest bedroom stocked with everything that I might need, a mini refrigerator, a closet full of clothes that were all my size, and a stocked bathroom. The windows were barred from the outside, a fact that I never thought would work against me. They kept things in as well as out.

"Open. The. Door." My hand tightens on the handle, and he apologizes once more. As much as I wanted to leave, there just wasn't a way out. I slide my eyes around the room that I awoke in.

"Althea?" I don't offer a response, striding over to the other side of the wall. A heat detector. To make sure that I was still in the room. I blow out a breath. "Please don't be mad."

"12 hours." I pick up the files that he left for me on the table. Copies of the originals, most likely. "I'll give you 12 hours. Don't do anything reckless."

"Thank you, sweetheart. I won't let you down."

- - -

"A massive purge of secondary compounds all over the nation, leaving hundreds out of business and with an astounding amount of casualties, Mark, can you tell us more about the scene?" I smooth the bandage over Arsenio's arm, my attention clearly on the news broadcast. He sits on the ground while I patch up his wounds, the last to be treated.

"Yes, if you look over here, there was a massive explosion that completely destroyed what used to be an abandoned warehouse." I glance up, nothing but scattered debris, decimated brick walls, and soot greeting me. It was a large facility, and the amount of firepower that it must've taken to do this much damage... "On closer inspection, some police have confirmed traces of chemicals and... medical equipment."

I freeze. A warm hand curves itself around my own, before pressing it to his cheek. Amber eyes gaze up at me with anticipation. "We found the main line of requests." Soft lips press against my palm. "But we didn't find her." Emilia Helios. I finally glance back at him. His breathing shallows.

"Does Cain know?" He shakes his head.

"We don't need him to know, sweetheart." I sigh. There's a flash of pain in his eyes. Arsenio moves, sliding onto his knees before me, hands on either side of my thighs. "I would kill her for you."

I blink. "What?"

A strand of hair falls over his eyes. "I'll kill her for you." His words are sharp. Definite. With fire and brimstone behind his resolution, the coldness in his eyes like the snow. I swallow. I don't miss how he changed his statement. Almost as if he made up his mind in the split second. "I'll get rid of her, pretty. I don't want her to bother you anymore—"

"She's your mother—"

"And she is getting in the way." He takes both of my hands, holding them between his. Presses kisses to my knuckles. "My twelve hours are over." They are.

I tap a finger against his chin, lifting it up. I tip my head. A knife wound to the arm. Bruises on his ribs. A scrape against the back of his neck. "I guess it's my time then, pretty boy."

- - -

"And the girl?" The handcuffs around my wrists slide uncomfortably against my skin, already rubbed raw in the time it took for us to finally meet at the drop off point. Cain, smoking a cigar, tosses my captive a glance. I'm shoved forward by him, his expression stony.

Cain's men knew nothing about my plan. To them, I was just another item being swapped for a paycheck. I don't recognize the man standing before me, who glowers down at me with beady eyes. "Marvelous."