Sweet Retribution (Rydeville High Elite #3)(91)

“Did Dr. Lacy do an egg extraction?” Rick asks.

The doctor shakes his head. “No. I stopped that too. We had some redundant eggs in storage, and I took some of them and falsified the records, in case anyone went checking.”

Bile fills my mouth, but I don’t ask what happened to the woman they belonged to, because I can’t get distracted, and his explanation is quite likely going to make me want to throttle him.

“You seem like a risk-adverse kind of guy to me,” Drew says, leaning down over the doctor again. He flinches, clearly terrified of my brother, and for good reason, it seems. “And while I’m grateful you did my sister a solid, I’m not buying the explanation.” Drew squares up to the man, and he’s trembling all over in a way that has nothing to do with the arctic temps in this place. “Why did you really do it?”

“I told you,” he squeaks, as sweat beads on his brow. “Not all of us who work there are monsters. A lot of us are forced into it, and they use blackmail and coercion to keep us on side, but I have a conscience, and I couldn’t do that to a young woman.”

“And?” Drew’s look is glacial as he stares into the man’s eyes.

The doctor exhales heavily. “If I tell you this, you’ve got to promise me you won’t act recklessly.”

Butterflies stampede across my chest, and I pin panicked eyes on Kai. He’s across the space, holding me against his chest, in the blink of an eye.

“You don’t get to make demands!” Drew snaps, straightening up and sharing an intense look with me.

This is it. The moment of truth.

I exhale heavily, nodding.

Drew returns his focus to the doctor. “Is she alive?” His voice is hard, his expression tight, but I know he’s reining in his emotions on purpose.

The doctor’s eyes pop wide. “You know?”

“Please.” I drop to my knees in front of him. “Please tell us. Is she still alive? Is our mother a patient in Parkhurst?”

Drew and Kai stand behind me, one on either side, as blood thrums in my ears and a silent screaming takes up residence in my skull.

The anticipation is killing me and I. Need. To. Know.

“Yes,” he says, and a sob rips free of my throat.

Tears roll down my face, and I clutch onto Kai’s hand as he leans in closer to me.

“She’s alive?” Drew asks again, in a clipped tone.

“Your mother is alive and well. Or as well as anyone can be in that place.” He slants remorseful eyes at me. “She has sympathizers in the facility, and she’s the one who found out you were brought in. She discovered what they were planning, and she caused bloody murder every day for a week until I was called back early from vacation to handle her.”

“She’s the woman in C9?” I say, and he nods. “Oh my God.” Tears stream from my eyes, and I reach up and clutch Drew’s hand with my free one.

“She earned a week in solitary for attacking one of the other doctors,” he said, “but she did it on purpose because there is less security in that part of the building. When I arrived, she begged me to help you. To stop what that bastard Hearst was planning. Your mother is a very persuasive woman, and it didn’t take much for me to agree. I knew the risks I was taking, but I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do.”

“She visited me, didn’t she?” I ask in a whisper.

A smile ghosts over his lips. “I snuck her up to your room through the back hallways so she could see you. I’ve never seen her face light up like it did that night.”

I stand, clinging to my stoic brother. Drew is giving little away, but I know he’s feeling this as much as me. He’s just better at hiding it. Kai untangles his hand from mine, but he doesn’t stray far. “How is she?” Drew asks. “Does she know I’m at Parkhurst regularly? Does she know what’s going on in our lives? What our father is up to?”

“She doesn’t know everything, because we’re largely cut off in the medical facility, but she knows enough. She’s been begging me to find a way to help her escape, especially as your eighteenth birthday approaches, and I’ve been trying to devise a foolproof plan, but we don’t have the contacts or the means to get her out of the state safely. I haven’t wanted to make a move in case I jeopardized her life and mine.”

“We?” I ask.

“I have a few trusted colleagues in the facility who feel the way I do. What’s been done to your mother is disgusting, and for years, no one believed her when she told us who she really was and how she came to be in there.” He shakes his head. “Your father is a truly evil man.”

Tell me something we don’t know.

“And, mentally, how is she?” I ask, because I remember the zombie-like expressions and apathy of most of the patients.

He pauses for a few beats before answering. “She has her good days and bad days. She was subjected to a lot of questionable treatment until I arrived at Parkhurst. She’s stable, but there’s no denying there are long-term effects as a result of what she’s endured.”

“Does he visit her?” Drew asks.

The doctor shakes his head. “Not that I’m aware of.”

Of course, he doesn’t. Out of sight, out of mind. I’m still in shock, and I’m not sure it’s fully sunk in. “Mom isn’t dead, Drew,” I whisper, clutching onto my brother’s arm and smiling at him through tear-sodden eyes. “We haven’t lost her.”