I take it, just in time to hear Lorcan ask, “Is that it?”
“Is what it?” I retort.
“You call me up in the middle of the night to ask for money, and that’s all I get—good?” I roll my eyes, appealing to Roberts to take the phone away, but he doesn’t. “Viola? Are you hearing me? I’m not some ATM you can just hit up whenever you feel like it? At least tell me you’re okay….” He trails off. “And that Jude is okay.”
“I’m kind of busy up right about now,” I say down the phone, eyes never leaving Roberts. “Give me a week. Then you can visit me.”
There’s a huff and then, “Fine. Just fucking fine.” A pause, and then afterward, “Just be careful. Check your emails if you can.”
After Lorcan hangs up, Roberts puts his phone away and starts toward the door.
“I need you to do the switch in three days.”
He nods at me, and then he’s gone, locking the room with me inside for the rest of the night.
I spendthe next day trying to work out where they’ve taken Jude. I don’t have long. I need to find him by Monday night when Roberts is back. In between the study period, group therapy sessions, and physical activities, we’re pretty much left to our own devices, so I use that time to wander the hallways looking for the separation rooms that Roberts mentioned.
The only difference, from before Jude was taken to now, is that I’m watched like a hawk. And the brunette nurse is gone. My name, or should I say Dahlia’s name, is also on the clinical assessment board. I have a session with the doctor in the afternoon.
That doesn’t worry me; it just means I need to find Jude soon. Though, if the doctor is Dr. Shalpert, I’m screwed.
During my wanderings, I happen to see Byron in one of the common areas looking more alert than he was the last time I saw him.
The drugs we were giving him must have broken through his catatonia. One of the nurses looks up as I enter. I give her a vicious smile, causing her brow to furrow, as I make a beeline toward Jude’s cousin.
“Hello, Byron,” I say, crouching down in front of his wheelchair.
The skinny kid looks straight at me, light-colored hair, and eyes pale blue, reminding me of someone. Probably his dead sister, Aurora. He leans back, suddenly wary.
“You recognize me?” I keep my voice low, hoping he will do the same.
He nods. “You were with Jude,” he says softly, eyes fitting to the nurse watching us and then back to me. He moistens his lips. “You told Jude to give me those pills—the ones that fixed me.”
Nodding my head, I give him a sweet smile, putting on my best I’m-not-here-to-hurt-you act. It works because Byron smiles back, imitating me a little.
“I’m a friend of your cousin.”
“Where is Jude? No one will tell me where he is.”
“They took him away for a while. But don’t worry, I’m going to get him back.”
That seems to placate him. He gives me a shy look from under his lashes. “You look a bit like Aury.”
I know that I look nothing like his dead sister, but I don’t say that. I need to keep Byron sweet. He’s just a kid. Fourteen years old. Jude told me that Aurora was meant to be watching him when he supposedly died. She woke up, and her car was in the lake. Byron was gone. They found his body later, already dead and bloated from drowning.
Only there was no open casket at the funeral.
But Byron, dying, suddenly put the entire Duke’s fortune in Joseph’s lap. Lorcan was already in line to inherit half. Even though he was adopted, his grandfather made an exception. Why would Joseph go to all this trouble to hide his nephew just for more money?
It doesn’t add up.
When I see Lor, I’ll tell him he needs to get Byron out of here. The kid doesn’t deserve to be locked up. No one fucking does.
Except for me.
“Do you know why you’re here?” I ask him. It’s a long shot, but it would explain why he was drugged into such a state that he couldn’t talk. He knows something.
He blinks at me. “I’m not allowed to say.”