"Ruth." Someone was shaking my shoulder. I stirred, turning onto my back. Searing sunlight flooded the white room, and I shielded my eyes from it, squinting. Carlisle was sitting on the edge of the bed, still holding my shoulder. "Morning." He said, smiling.
"It's morning?" I looked next to me. Lex was long gone, the bed cold and made neatly around me.
"Barely. It's almost noon. You've been asleep for almost thirteen hours."
I sat up ina panic, my heart racing. The last thing I remembered was Lex kissing my forehead. Thirteen hours of pure blackness. I hadn't had a single dream.
"Here." Carlisle gave me a light blue bundle of linen. It was a dress, large buttons marching up the centre. "Get dressed. Lex is in the conference room."
I waited until the door was closed to shuck my silkypyjamas. They were wrinkled and had left little lines along my arm, where I had fallen asleep with the fabric pressed to my skin. I felt the side of my face, sure there were pillow lines in my cheek, but it felt smooth. I dressed quickly, the airy linen falling just above my knees.
The halls were silent, but a calm silent. Everyone was working, but I could feel the safe presence of others around me. In the conference room, Lex was sitting with Carlisle and another man I didn't recognize. They turned to look at me as I came in the door. The strange man moved to close a laptop, but Lex shook his head.
"Ruth, this is Reuben," Lex said. "I don't know if you've met him."
My eyes darted to the guns on the table, the unbuckled holster around his back. Another one of the guards. Reuben was younger than Carlisle, with the last vestiges of baby fat on his jaw. A long scar looped up his arm, disappearing into his rolled up white sleeve.
"Good to finally meet you, Ruth." His British accent almost made me blush involuntarily. I nodded at him, unsure if I could talk.
"Ruth," Lex said, beckoning me over. "How are you feeling?" He encircled my waist with one arm, fingers drumming my hip bone. The table was strewn with papers and open pens. The laptop seemed to be open to a million different documents, all in tiny font. I didn't miss the pill bottle sitting within arm's reach to Lex.
"What is all this?" I asked.
"Business. You didn't answer me."
I looked down at him. His jaw was set, in the way it went when he was in no mood to argue with me. I was conscious of Reuben and Carlisle watching our every move.
"I'm okay." My heart was racing, and I knew it was visible in my face how uncomfortably warm I was.
Lex wrapped two fingers around my wrist, testing my pulse. "You're not okay." He said lowly. "You have a fever, and you're practically fibrillating."
I shifted my weight to my toes, avoiding his glare. Lex didn't let up for a second, hand tight around my wrist. I was tempted to wriggle away, but there was nowhere to go. Finally, I gave in, letting my arm go limp. Lex had the pill bottle in hand in the space of a heartbeat.
"You said only for last night," I whispered.
"Humour me, baby," Lex said, putting half of one of the pills in my hand. I didn't have the energy to fight about it. Obediently, I put the pill in my mouth and swallowed it with the last of Lex's coffee. He raised an eyebrow, and I opened my mouth. The pill was gone. "Good." Lex, satisfied, turned his attention back to the table.
"We're almost done here," Reuben said, stacking papers.
"I'll go-" I tugged away, but Lex still had my wrist in a vice grip.
"Sit." He said. "We'll be done in a minute. I don't want you out of my sight."
Just as Sokol said, the drug made my vision fizz at the edges, and I sank gratefully into one of the leather chairs, knees to my chin. The men spoke in low tones, pushing papers into brown envelopes. Everything was sealed away, placed into a locked briefcase. Carlisle took it, heaving it off the table.
"I'll put it in your office. Meet you up top." He said. He winked at me as he left the room.
Lex looked at his laptop, and then the open door. "I have to go lock this away. Reuben, can you stay with her?"
Reuben nodded and sat in the chair next to me, hands folded over one knee. He had a calming presence, the opposite of Carlisle's almost effervescence. "So." He said. "I finally get to meet the infamous Ruth."
"That's me." I smiled at him. "What did Lex tell you about me, anyway?"
Reuben pretended to think. "Not much. That you went to stay with him after an accident, that you're engaged. He also said you can be quite the handful. Put him through the wringer, you have." His tone was teasing.
"He didn't say that!" I was indignant. I put my feet on the floor, ignoring the ringing in my head. "I'm not a handful!"
"I know, love." Reuben chuckled, and then his face dropped. "I have to ask you, are you okay? With everything? You seem..." He trailed off, but I knew where his mind was going. The FBI had paid a visit to the house for the same reason; to make sure I wasn't being forced into something I didn't want. It was even funnier coming from him, though. He was a mercenary, and from what I gathered from Carlisle and Sokol, concern didn't seem to something they practiced.
"I'm fine," I said. "There's no reason to be worried."
"Ruth." Lex was outside the door. "Come on."
I left Reuben sitting in the chair. I could feel his gaze following us as we left the room, boring into my back. My head began to swim as we stepped outside, the stars dancing along the bottom of my line of sight growing bigger. I sagged against Lex, clutching his arm for support as all strength left me. He took my elbow, holding me up, and guided me to the wicker loveseat we had sat on when I first arrived.
"Hey, Ruth, look at me." Lex clicked his fingers in front of my face. With effort, I made myself focus on his face. "Can you make it upstairs?"
I shook my head. I wasn't sure if could even walk, let alone go up a flight of stairs. In a panic, I reached for his shoulder, burying my face in the unbuttoned collar of his shirt. I didn't even feel him lift me, wasn't aware we had moved until I looked up and we were on a couch, overlooking the top of the boat. I could see the bridge of the boat, blinking green lights behind a darkened glass window. Lex was stroking my hair, and chatting to Carlisle.
"Lex." I pushed myself up to balance on one hand. "I don't feel good."
"I know." He soothed. "Try and rest. I'm right here."
I laid back down, pushing myself so my head rested on his lap again.. My dress slid up my legs, the breeze cool on the fine hair of my thighs. The shade was cool, little darts of sun playing over my face as the canopy we were under shifted. Lex said something, his fingers tracing along my upper arm.
"Hmm?" I looked up at him.
"Nothing, darling. Just admiring you."
"Admire me quietly," I grumbled, closing my eyes again. Carlisle laughed from far away.
After the revelations of the night before, I found it hard to settle my heart. It didn't help that Lex— and by extension all the guards— were treating me like I was going to break. They were acting like I was moments from either cracking mentally or suddenly passing out. It made sense; as far as I was aware, they were used to watching over kidnapped girls.
Carlisle's comment in the car still bothered me. Sometimes, the fiancees, they run too. I had to keep reminding myself that they were loyal to Lex first, not to me. They would follow his orders, even if it meant I got caught in the crossfire. Lex wouldn't let that happen, I was sure of it, but the idea didn't sit easily.
"What was in those pills?" Carlisle asked absently. "She's really out of it, and you only gave her half."
"Some kind of sedative. I think she's just exhausted. She doesn't give herself enough time to recover." Lex's fingers travelled down my arm, over my waist. "She never has."
Thirst burned in the back of my throat. Without actually planning it, I was on my feet and then clutching the edge of the bar. It was mere feet from where I had been laying, but my lungs burned like I'd run a marathon.
Alcohol bottles and stacks of glasses were lined in racks along the back wall. I wondered, in passing, what happened to them if the ship hit a storm. The glasses were slick under my touch. As I picked one up, it slipped from my hand, shattering on the deck. I knelt to pick up the pieces, ignoring a sharp pain in my knee. Some of the pieces, when I picked them up, were spotted with blood. I held one to the light, examining it. A shadow fell over me, and I blinked, stars filling my vision.
"What are you doing?" Lex had my wrist in a bone-crushing hold. "Jesus, Ruth, not this again."
"I wanted water," I told him. "I dropped it."
"Shit." He swore, brushing glass from around me. "Your knee. Give me your arms."
For whatever reason, I found myself unable to argue. I held my arms up, and let him haul me to sit on the bar. "It stings," I complained.
"You cut it." Lex looked over my shoulder, addressing Carlisle. "Can you get the first aid kit? Or Sokol? I think this needs stitches."
"Is it that bad?" My leg stung, but nothing unbearable.
"I can't tell. There's too much blood." Lex had a white towel in hand and was trying to staunch the flow. "What were you thinking?"
I didn't answer, clutching the edge of the counter as Lex dabbed the blood away.
"Why does it feel like we're going back in time?" Lex straightened and set the towel on the counter. "We've been here before, Ruth, with you and your secrets."
It was true, and I knew it. I had smashed a glass in much the same way on our first night. My palm bore the jagged reminder of it. All the progress forward we had made in the past year was lying in shards at my feet.
"I know you're not telling me the whole truth about what happened to you in that coma. I will get it out of you, one way or another."
Footsteps interrupted him. Carlisle was back, Sokol in tow. I stiffened when I saw the doctor, his infernal medicine bag swinging from one hand. If I hadn't been certain I would fall, I would have leapt off the counter and thrown it overboard. As it was, I could barely sit straight with support.
"What happened?" Sokol asked, bending to observe my leg.
"She knelt on broken glass." Lex moved to the side, and took my hand in his, squeezing it in warning. He knew me well enough to know I was about to protest Sokol touching me.
"Doesn't need stitching." Sokol opened his bag. "The placement is too awkward. Too much of a risk of ripping the stitches." To my dismay, he pulled a bottle of isopropyl alcohol from his bag, followed by a pad of gauze.
Lex gripped my hand even tighter. "Don't fight it." He said in a low voice. "It will only make it worse."
My shoulders relaxed involuntarily, and I sat absolutely still as Sokol thoroughly cleaned the wound. It was not as bad as the sheer amount of blood would have suggested. I certainly had had worse.
"There," Sokol said. "Keep her off of it for a few days, although I suppose that won't be a challenge with the sedatives I gave you."
The urge to slap him overtook me as he looked past me and addressed Lex alone. Just as quickly as it came, it faded away. Don't fight it. It was just as before when Lex gave me the pill. Any voice inside me telling me not to listen simply went mute.
Lex offered me a hand, helping me gingerly down from the counter and onto the wicker couch. The bandaging on my leg pulled as I tucked up, leaning heavily on the armrest. I hadn't been this tired since well before the accident.
"Speaking of, what is in those? I've never seen her this docile before." The three of them were standing away from me, Sokol's back to me. I could see Lex's face over his shoulder, cool and composed.
Sokol gave a half-shrug. "It is my own blend, but mostly it is scopolamine."
The silence that fell over the deck was deathly. The colour had drained from both Lex and Carlisle's faces. I didn't know what scopolamine was, and I didn't care. I rested my head on my arm, trying to keep awake.
"You gave my fiancee a mind control drug," Lex said, dangerously calm. Carlisle had a hand on his arm, holding him back.
"It's not a mind control drug in such a low dose. It's more...a suggestion drug, better as a sedative. I give it to all the bosses when they have new girls. Keeps them pliable, less likely to panic and run." Sokol sounded so casual that it took a minute for his words to sink in fully. He, like Carlisle, thought I had been kidnapped, or else forced into some kind of arranged marriage. And he had seen countless other girls in the same situation, and instead of helping, he had drugged them.
Anger flared and died in me, replaced with that infuriating blankness.
"You misunderstand." Lex shook Carlisle off his arm. "Ruth is here by choice."
"Is she? You brought her here blindfolded. She doesn't even know where we are." Sokol was playing with fire now, and he knew it. "You can't control her, so I helped you. You should thank me."
It was then that Carlisle stepped away from Lex, hands up. Sokol had crossed a line, and there was no going back. At the time, it felt like the scene was unfolding in slow motion, but in reality, it barely took ten seconds.
Lex took a gun from the unclipped holster left loose on the table. In one swift motion, he shot Sokol through the head. Blood splattered across me, warm rain on my face and bare arms. Sokol's body hit the deck silently. The gun had been silenced, but the resulting report sent a shockwave through my chest.
I covered my ears, my eyes squeezed closed against the carnage in front of me. I screamed as someone pried my hands from my ears.
"It's me," Lex said. "Ruth. It's me." He shook me gently and swiped his thumbs along my eyelids.
I couldn't breathe, couldn't open my eyes. I was afraid of what I'd see if I did. I didn't fight as Lex took my hand and pulled me to standing. I buried my face into his chest, and he led me down the stairs, into the cool interior of the boat.
A/N: this got long very quickly, so I've cut it into two chapters. the next part will be up soon 😊
thoughts??
(scopolamine is not really a mind control drug when ingested in proper prescribed way, however there is a compound in it that is found in nightshade plants that can be turned into a strong sedative that can lower one's inhibitions and leave them open to suggestion. this is suspension of disbelief but I tried to make it as close to reality as possible)
Ives