Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
“I’ll come right back to you.”
Her puffy lips turned slightly down. “I’ll be right here.”
I turned before I gave in to the urge to make her scream my name again, quickly dressing myself. I felt her eyes on me the entire time and made sure she got a good look.
“You’re such a tease,” she called softly with a laugh.
I strolled to the door and pulled it open, barely blinking at Lana and Mel standing across the hall. I’d known they were there the second they’d hesitated to knock.
“Ciaran sent us,” Lana explained without my asking.
“Oh, he sent us, did he?” Mel taunted playfully.
“I meant he suggested we come up here,” Lana corrected, shooting the other girl a mock look of annoyance. “And we weren’t creeping, we just didn’t want to interrupt if you two were…busy.”
“If she wasn’t screaming, she was done.”
“I will note that down for future reference,” Mel replied. She stepped forward, tilting her head back to look up at me. “Can I get to my girl, now?”
“Mine.”
“Ours,” she challenged.
I bit back a grin. “Mine. But I’ll allow you to stay close.”
“While you two have a pissing contest over custody, I’m going to see Grace.” Lana slipped around both of us, mushing herself against the doorframe to avoid her chest brushing against me. As she entered the room, I caught a whiff of whatever she’d used to wash her hair.
Mel watched her and then stepped back with a sigh so that I could leave without touching her either. “I can’t flatten myself out like that.”
Because she was in pain.
“Then don’t. You’ve already done more than needed.”
I saw the realization sink in that I knew all about the deal she’d made. We all knew. All of us except the two people she wasn’t going to tell.
“I’m not convinced it was enough,” she said quietly, moving around me to join Sunshine and Lana.
I proceeded down the hall with that statement echoing in my head. Melantha had always been one of the harder psyches to figure out. She never gave any of the others an in.
Maverick had worked endlessly, and the most he’d gotten was a kiss. It shocked him to the point he’d been standing in the same spot it happened when Ciaran and I happened upon him at nearly four in the morning—hours after the fact. I knew of the three women, four if I counted Hayven, Melantha remembered everything that happened when they were locked away. The only reason she wouldn’t speak a word all came down to the one thing that was never questionable—her loyalty.
I moved soundlessly down the stairs, skimming the digits on the timer as I followed instinct to where my brother was. I found him and the others in a game room of sorts. Ironic considering the show we were on.
“Little bro,” Charon greeted me, kicked back in a recliner. If there were liquor here, he would’ve downed half the bottle.
“Four minutes,” I stated as a reminder that was how far apart in age we were. I’d let him be born first—he needed the big brother complex. He delighted in holding the title over Kennedy.
Maverick and Dion were on opposite sides of an air hockey table, Brody standing off to the side watching them play. Ciaran was at a bar, sans alcohol, drying his wet hair with a towel, two stools between him and Carol.
“Anything?” he asked as a way of greeting.
“No more than before.”
He nodded, expecting that answer. “They planted those photographs they mocked up. I thought we’d burned them all. Doesn’t matter her sister and my brother were long gone by then because she doesn’t know that.”
A silence fell over the room, the only sound of the puck being hit back and forth before Maverick swore and stepped back.
“How the hell do we handle this? Do we just wait for this forced bout of amnesia to disappear?”
“She’s the expert,” Brody remarked, gesturing to Carol.
I moved further into the room and took a seat on the black loveseat adjacent to my brother. When she realized we were all waiting for her to speak, Carol took a deep breath and glanced around. "The Infernal Syndicate used a combination of electroconvulsive therapy and experimental neuropsychological techniques to alter their memories. The process was designed to disrupt their memory consolidation and recall mechanisms forcibly."
She paused, making sure everyone was listening. "Memories are complex and interconnected with our senses, emotions, and experiences. The methods they used were intended to fragment these connections, making it difficult for the brain to access them.” Her expression turned thoughtful. "As their memories start to return, it might be gradual. Triggers could include familiar scents, sounds, places—anything that might reignite those neural pathways. For example, revisiting significant locations from their past, hearing a certain song, or experiencing strong emotions could bring fragments of memories back."