Page 181 of Brainwashed

I roll my eyes. “If you keep acting up, you don’t get the secrets. Or the food.”

“Sorry, Doctor,” he sighs through his smile. “I’ll behave. Seriously, though… You can tell me anything.”

Sucking in a deep breath, I consider what I’m about to say. Something I’ve never said out loud to anyone.

“When I was fourteen, I was abducted.” I speak the words; my truth.I’m telling Felix Darcey my past.“I was drugged, and I woke up in the basement of an empty house. I was tied to a support beam by my neck with rope so tight I was suspended, my feet barely touching the ground. My wrists and ankles were also bound.”

Felix’s eyes have never been wider as he stares at me, shocked but also clearly invested. “Holy shit.”

“Yea. My head was all foggy when I first woke up, but as I came to, I realized the rope was weak enough that I could try to stretch it. Enough to get my hands or feet free. But I had to push myself forward to do it, putting more pressure on my throat. That’s where the scars came from.” I open my collar wider, then hold up my wrists. “They were second degree rope burns.”

“But so… obviously you managed to escape,” Felix says, the hopefulness in his tone making me want to laugh. He isn’t glad that his last victim escaped… It’s funny to think that he’shappyI escaped my captor.

“I did.” I nod. “The man responsible came in as I was trying to wiggle free. He…” I stop and close my eyes, remembering to breathe.

Felix turns, sitting almost on my lap as he touches my face. “Hey… You don’t have to tell me everything. You’ve given me enough—”

“No, it’s fine,” I mumble, placing my hands on his waist, keeping him where he is. “The man who did this… His name was Stephen Love. He’s my uncle.”

Felix gasps, lips parted while he just stares at me.

I clear my throat. “Turns out, this was his thing. After I got free and went to the police, it came out within our family that he’d kidnapped, raped, and tortured seven other teenage boys. Even killed one, though we never found out where the body was.”

“Jesus fucking Christ…”

“Mhm.” I shift, running my hands up Felix’s back. Touching him really seems to relax me. “I can’t believe I’m even saying these words out loud.” I huff and shake my head.

“So he was caught?” he asks.

My jaw clenches. “No. No, he wasn’t. You see, my family are all doctors. Respectable members of the community. Their reputations are everything to them… So when they found out what had happened, that my uncle, my own flesh and blood, had drugged my lemonade when I was over his house mowing his lawn, they made the conscious decision to cover it up.”

“What?!” Felix barks.

My lips quirk at how cute he is. “Yep. My grandfather knew the police commissioner and the district attorney. They swept it all under the rug. Specifically never informed authorities about the murder, knowing that without a body it wouldn’t be an issue. They sent my uncle to a facility in Chicago for a year, but after that, he got out. He wasfree, and he has been for decades.”

Felix looks like he’s torn between wanting to cry or kill for me. It’s amazing… This man, thesociopath, who killed thirty-seven people without feeling a thing, cares about something that happened to me twenty years ago. He fuckingcares… and it’s astonishing.

My own family doesn’t give enough of a fuck to be outraged.

Sliding my hands up his throat, I murmur, “So you see, Felix… Yes, you’re a lunatic. You’re a psychopath and a vicious killer without remorse, and you fully deserve to be locked away. But there are people walking around free every day who have done the same things, or worse. You’re just a human being, we all are. Evil doesn’t exist. It’s only the reality of the world’s chaos. And we just keep spinning.”

He gawks at me, a little sound escaping between his lips. “You wrote that book… didn’t you?” I blink at him. “Beneficial Brainwashing. You wrote it… You’re Dr. Strange!”

I can’t help the massive grin that hijacks my mouth, and I have to chuckle at the look on his face. “I’m honestly surprised you didn’t catch onto that sooner.”

“Well, yea.” He shakes his head. “The book is lousy with Love.”

I snort. “That’s so stupid.”

“Thanks.” He grins. “No, seriously, though! What the hell?! The book is great, by the way.”

I’m really trying to smother the smiles of a crazy person on my lips. “Can you figure out how I got the nameDr. Strange? And no, it’s not a Marvel thing.”

Felix makes a face. “No shit.” He goes quiet for a moment before his head tilts and his eyes bug out. “Ooh! The Depeche Mode song,Strangelove! You’re Strange, and Love.” A laugh rumbles from me. “And Melvin could be Mel… and Mel backwards is Lem. Holy shit, I’m awesome.”

I can’t stop chuckling. “You get a gold star.”

“Is that all?” he hums, pressing a slow kiss on my lips. When we pull apart, breathless, he plucks at one of my dreads. “Thank you for telling me your story. I’m sure it’s not easy to talk about.”