The Price of His Control

glass tower, the key card feeling heavy and wrong in my hand. This place, Mark' s penthouse, had never felt like home, but now it felt like a

sister. My litt

The first thing that hit me wasn't the sterile, scentless a

ike a phy

He wasn't alone. A man I didn't recognize, older, with a kind face, was with him. They

rawl. It was a world away from the cold, damp earth I h

one he used for business partners and magazine covers, froze on his fa

ed shoes. Disgust flickered across his features. He d

ou doing? You didn

as all for me. The friendly man beside him looked uncom

nit before coming up. You know the rules. You're

s if I were carrying a plague. The older

a break. She's just been t

all due respect, standards are what keep us safe.

d 'nurse' like

as if summoned. She wore a crisp, white pantsuit and a look of pract

ilk. "Sarah, you look exhausted. Why don't you go down to

a problem to be managed. She was reinforcing Mark' s obs

muffling my ability to speak, to fight back. All I coul

touch me. He never touched me when he thought I was "contaminated." Instead, he grabbed the sm

were a dead rat. He marched to the trash chute built into the wall, a high-tech monstrosity for

void of any warmth. "Get out. And do

back to his guest, he placed a reassuring hand on Dr. Chen's shoulde

only applied to me. They didn't apply t

changing into pre-approved clothes, leaving my personal belongings downstairs, all of it wasn't

t my dying sister come here, but welcomed Lisa's family. It was in the way he saw me,

g that had been slowly dying

rned around, pressed the button for the elevat

with Dr. Chen again, Lisa standing beside

. I walked out of the lobby, out of the building, and into

back. I started mentally packing a bag, not a physical one, but a list of things I needed to take from that a

sterile, loveless world. I was done. Whatever he offered, whatever he threatened