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Amy watched me as I leaned against the wall, barely concealing her triumph.
“From now on, I’m the one and only Thompson daughter. Nobody will ever dare call me
‘adopted‘ again.”
A few people in white coats shuffled into the
room. Amy simpered over to them. “Marcus,
this girl here has a serious mental breakdown.
You’ve gotta fix her. She’s unstable.”
The guy Amy called Marcus leaned in close to
my face.
I recoiled, but there was nowhere to go.
“You can’t touch me. Dr. Blackwood is my real
father, Dr. Peterson is my real mother, and
Ethan Blackwood is my brother, lead researcher
of this whole place. My real name is Jennifer
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8:17
of this whole place. My real name is Jennifer
Blackwood!”
I spat out my identity in one breath.
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“If anything happens to me, they’ll come down
on you like a ton of bricks!”
I clenched my jaw, anxiously waiting for
Marcus’s reaction.
“How do you know about this place?” he asked,
a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes.
“Because I’m telling the truth. I grew up here. I
was sent to my adopted parents when I was
six!”
My honesty seemed to give him pause. He
straightened up, turning to Amy, who stood with
her arms crossed. “Are you sure about this girl? If there’s a mistake, you’ll pay for it.”
<
Amy tossed a stack of documents from her
purse. Copies of my adoption papers, my
driver’s license, years of proof of my life as
Jennifer Thompson.
“I wouldn’t send you someone who wasn’t
clean, Marcus. Relax. Her name is Jennifer
Thompson, the Thompsons‘ oldest daughter.
Oh, wait. Not for long.”
After Marcus reviewed the documents, he
nodded with satisfaction.
A jolt of pain shot up my wrist. I looked up at
his sneering face.
The skin had been rubbed raw against the floor.
“Don’t think knowing a little about this place
makes you one of the family. Here,
disobedience only leads to one thing: becoming
someone else’s experiment.”
<
I cried out, trying to yank my hand free. The
man’s foot pressed down harder.
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“You can’t escape from this, sister.” Amy waved
goodbye before slamming the door.
“You better not get any ideas about escaping,” Marcus said, a dark undertone in his voice.
“Otherwise…”
A kick landed in my stomach. I couldn’t help the heave that racked my body.
“That’s only the beginning.”
Marcus’s voice was flat, like these things were
just part of his everyday routine.
How could this be? Even though I was sent to
the Thompsons when I was six, I knew that the
Blackwood family ran a legitimate business.
How could they be involved in something so
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8:17
“You can call my parents, my brother. They’ll
recognize me!” I begged, clinging to my last
shred of hope.
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“You think that because you wormed your way
into some insider knowledge that we’ll let you
call the boss? We could kill you and no one
would know.”
Another series of blows rained down on me.
3
I have never been through anything like that in my life.
My body couldn’t take much more. Just as I was losing consciousness, Marcus grabbed my hair, dragging me toward the door.
Pain shot through my skull. My eyes fluttered open to see a long, gruesome trail of blood
く
marking my path.
They dragged me to another place, the
opposite of the relatively clean room I’d been in.
If that room had been heaven, this was hell.
They hauled me through a long corridor, pushed
open a hidden door, and tossed me inside.
The air was thick with the stench of chemicals
and blood, making me gag.
A few people in hazmat suits approached.
“Newbie?”
“Looks decent. Is her health status
guaranteed?”
“The boss doesn’t know about this, right? We’ve
gotta keep it quiet.”
Г
“Relax, Amy’s been sending us people for years,
and nothing’s happened. We’re good.”
I gleaned crucial information from their
conversation.
They were doing this behind my parents‘ backs.
Fear tightened its grip on my heart.
“This is illegal… When my parents find out, you’re finished!” I finally choked out, my voice
trembling.
I swallowed hard, watching them stare at me
like I was a product, devoid of all emotions.
“Call Ethan! I’m his sister!” I grabbed one of
their sleeves, desperate.
I was kicked away, slamming to the floor. My
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hand landed on something warm and squishy.
I looked down, seeing a pulsing mass.
I retched, scrambling to the corner of the room.
Laughter echoed in my ears.
Marcus yanked me back. “Now that you’ve seen
this, you better behave. Maybe you’ll live a little
longer.”
