The Life: Sacrifice (The Life 3)

He’d grunted through breakfast and only had smiles for the females in the house. Ma didn’t know what the hell was going on; she’s in her own world these days. I know what her deal is, but neither of us is talking. I’m not one of those braindead assholes who think blaming the victim is the way to go, but I know that she’s aware that I now know the truth about that night, and it’s probably hard for her to face me.

I understand why she watered that shit down, but how do I tell her that I don’t blame her? That this changes nothing about the way I see her and feel about her? If anything, I have more empathy and compassion for the girl she once was, the girl who’d endured that abhorrent shit and was still able to move on with her life, get married and raise relatively decent kids, and on top of that, have a heart like hers.

I also have a lot of respect for Pop. Not many men would’ve stepped up and taken on the raising of the son of a monster. The way he loves Ma, I’m surprised he could stand to see the reminder of Ricci every single day. Then again, he doesn’t know the whole story, and I won’t be the one to tell him.

When the bell rang for lunch, Lance jogged over to my side. “What’s up with Unc?”

“Beats me! Probably have something to do with what happened last night.”

“I figured, but what can it be?”

“Knowing Pop, you have to ask? Most likely, someone’s going to get their ass handed to them. Do me a favor, watch the girls for me; I have something to take care of.”

“You’re still doing that shit? I thought you were done now that you’ve found grandpa. What gives?”

“Just some last-minute stuff, nothing bad, I promise.” Of course, he didn’t believe me and the look he gave me said as much, but I ignored him and headed out of the building for my hiding spot.

I was supposed to take care of this yesterday, or was it the day before? But I got sidetracked dealing with Sicily and Gianna. Now that Pop sent out a summons, who knows how long his shit is gonna last, whatever it is, so now might be the only downtime I have. Besides, this thing is time-sensitive, and I can’t expect them to wait on me forever.

I made sure I was alone though I wasn’t expecting anyone to infiltrate my personal space and dug out my device, and attached the portable charger. I typed in the necessary information a very sterile-looking room came into view seconds later, where Dr. Naz’s face popped up on the screen. Crazy fuck! Genius, but crazy, nonetheless.

“There you are; we were beginning to think you weren’t going to call. We’ve had quite a few days here lately with our test subject. Roz has videoed each development for you as you asked, and we’re just about ready for the next stage.” He was all but jumping out of his skin with excitement.

No wonder he’s been waiting years for someone to work his magic on. The facility he runs had come across the radar in one of the cases I took part in with ANONYMOUS. It was thought that they were into organ harvesting, but as it turns out, they were a group of STEM geniuses whose intelligence had slipped into madness at some point, and their peers found their ideas outlandish and downright primeval.

On further inspection, though their ideas were a bit archaic, there was nothing illegal about their methods, so the organization moved on, but I remained fascinated. Their take on brain function and its importance to the value of life and longevity cannot be argued with.

And, as a team of the world’s leading experts on the subject, granted ones who’d been ostracized from their field due to their dogged approach and sometimes forgetting that they were experimenting on living beings, who better to ask?

So, when the time came, I couldn’t think of a better place to send Victoria. Short of ending her, this was the next best thing. At least she was making out better than her mother and should be grateful for that much as far as I’m concerned.

By the time this bunch is done with her, she’d either be cured of her narcissistic bullshit, or she’d become more of a monster than she already is. Either way, she’s out of Gianna’s life for good, and that’s all I care about. All the rest is just icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned.

On the screen, Dr. Naz pulled up a projector screen and started the show, his excitement seeming to grow with each word. I’m guessing he was pleased with the results of whatever jacked-up shit he’d done in the last few days. My only instruction when I sent her to them was to keep her alive. I don’t care how they do it. They can leave her brain in a serum hooked up to electrolysis while her body flops around on a gurney for all I care.