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didn’t feel it. But she doesn’t wipe it away. And it slides all the way down her neck until it

disappears inside her shirt.

And I suddenly realize she’s playing for the cameras.

She’s in as much danger right now as we are.

And the only way we all walk out of here alive is if I sign this contract, take this new job as

Megan’s… stud? I’m not sure there’s a better word for it. And do exactly what they say.

“Just let her talk,” I add.

“Thank you,” my mother says. “Like I said. Love is a weapon.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know,” I huff.

“Yes. You probably do understand that better than most. But it’s very powerful too, Johnny. When I

suggested that you be paired with Megan here, no one was convinced. Least of all Monty. We

typically need permission from living parents to have a pairing.” She looks at Megan now. “So we

took you. And him. And… changed his mind. But I wasn’t convinced he was really on board. And that

bothers me. A lot.” She shoots Megan a super concerned look. “So I told him we were going to leave

you chained in that dungeon so Johnny could rescue you. Be your protector and take you on a grand

adventure. One that would bond you together like soul mates.”

She sucks in a deep breath of air and folds her hands in front of her on the table. Proud of herself.

And this, I think, is disturbingly real.

“And look what happened. It worked.”

“I wouldn’t call what we did over the past few days a grand adventure,” Megan spits.

“No,” my mother says. “The lab was a buzzkill. But it needed to be cleaned up. And we needed

you on board with the pairing.” She eyes me when she says that. Maybe even squints a little. Waiting to see if I have anything to add.

I don’t.

“Two birds, one stone, as they say,” she continues.

The little girl’s words back on Logan’s yacht come back to me. Oldest trick in the book.

Then, unbidden, the tattoo on my father’s arm. Sisyphus and his eternal punishment. Pushing that

boulder uphill. And my mother’s name written below it.

She was his downfall. She was his eternal punishment.

And Megan will be mine.

But I’m going to do it anyway. We’ve been through a lot in the past week. My mother’s scheme