Page 118 of Lumi

“I don’t know about Ireland, but in the US we have more male psychopaths. Some suggest that it’s because females are better at going undetected. They are less prone to violence and end up in prison less often than their male counterparts. Don’t get me wrong, though; female psychopaths are as scary as the men. At the core, they have the same lack of empathy and disregard for rules. But instead of outright threats, they might destroy someone who is in their way through gossip or ostracism. They want what they want and play mind games to get it.”

“What kind of mind games?” I asked.

“Hmm… it could be anything from flirtation, sexual behavior, faking a pregnancy, feigning suicide, lying about someone close to them dying, or they might make up stories about being raped, robbed, or diagnosed with cancer. They have no qualms messing with people’s minds and no remorse when they get caught.”

“Can we talk about something else now?” Charles raised his glass. “We’re here to celebrate Lumi, and I don’t want this day to be about callous people when we have so much to celebrate. I, for one, would love to hear about the results from the experiment you and Damian did this week. But let’s start with a hearty cheer for our Lumi.”

Everyone raised their glasses and cheered for me.

“Thirty-years old. That’s a big day.” Nathan laughed.

“You wanker! I’m twenty-nine.”

“Tell us about the experiment.” Liv encouraged, and I noticed how Jolene and Atlas both leaned forward.

“We survived!” My laughter sounded a little nervous, even to me. “It was hard, but I would say that I overcame my fear of closeness. Damian was incredibly sweet and patient with me, but that said, we are both relieved to have our hands to ourselves again.”

“I agree. It was a countdown until the minute we could take off the handcuffs.”

“Let’s talk about the screwdriver,” Jolene said in a leveled tone.

Damian faced Jolene. “As we told ye in the videos, we needed to change clothes. You can’t complain because we kept the minutes apart to an absolute minimum.”

Jolene was quiet, but then she sighed. “Fair enough.”

“Here.” Atlas pulled two envelopes from his inner pockets and gave them to us.

Damian opened his and pulled out the seven thousand dollars with a wide grin on his face while River asked us, “When did you get the handcuffs off?”

“The time box with the key opened at one in the morning on Friday, so in eight hours it will be two full days.”

“But…” Saffron angled her cute face. “Didn’t you say that you were sleeping when the bad man came to your house last night?”

“Mhmm.”

“Then why was Damian still there?”

“Oh.” Damian and I locked eyes and smiled.

“Good point detective Robertson.” Nathan tousled Saffron’s hair with a proud smile before putting his attention on Damian. “Do tell; why were you sleeping at Lumi’s place after the experiment ended?”

Silence filled the room as everyone looked at Damian and me.

“Something is going on. Look at how scarlet Lumi’s face is.” Nathan stared at me. “What’s the craic?”

I gave a tiny nod to Damian, letting him know that I preferred for him to share the news.

“All right, ye can all stop staring at us like we did somethin’ wrong. The reason I was at Lumi’s place was that I’m overprotective. I didn’t like how John White showed up at her office, so I convinced her to let me stay the night just in case.”

“It was a good thing you did. I’m so grateful that you were there.” Charles raised his glass to Damian.

“Thank you, Charles. But the truth is that John White wasn’t the only reason I was in Lumi’s apartment. While we were chained together, we talked a lot and discovered that we both have strong feelings for each other. One thing led to the other and…” Damian paused for a second. “We’ve decided to be together.”

“Together how?” Saffron asked.

“Together like Jolene and Atlas,” Damian explained.

River grabbed my arm. “Is this true?”