CONTRACTED TO HATE

affair. "Supposed" being the ope

tering against the silver like shards of ice. The air was thick, h

the frightening precision of a surgeon performing an autopsy. Josh sat opposite me, play

ing that the food, which tasted vaguely of a

preparing to launch a small, tactical missile. "I had an

liar tightening in my chest, a physical

lders. "That must have been delightful, Mother." He even called her 'Mother.' The man deserved an

ciety expectations. "We discussed legacy. Continuity. And the fact that

y? She was dropping the Heir Bomb before the dessert had even left the

twitched near his wine glass, a tiny, frantic bird trapped in a cage

lken shroud draped over a nervous tremor. "I

d your best isn't working, Joshua. Dr. Michaels will be visiting in two weeks to run fertili

ally checked o

urn the most intimate human ac

rously polite and thin as a sheet o

ash-freeze a supernova. "Privacy is for peop

e dry remains of his composure. "Surely, there

al ruin and social exile. "Joshua, are you sugges

aneously. He recovered instantly, pasting that fake, plastic smile back on his

ent was less a rush and more a high-speed

reparing a surrender ritual. "You will not rush it. You will do it

a new strain of profitable bacteria in a

chanism I had left against the crushi

r. Michaels coordi

granite jaw. His grip on his glass turned white-knuckled, the ste

e ground out th

against porcelain. It felt like a countdown clock ticking toward zero. When sh

" she lied, the words

added, exiting the room with t

our house, you c

t behind her, the air pressure

caping steam. "Well," he muttered, his

e with a sharp clang. "We're about to be lab rats for a

shedding the politeness to reveal the

ly? Enlig

d on live-streaming the

furious, I barked out a laugh. It was sharp, hysterical, and tot

defenses and make me laugh. But the moment pa

, the humor vanishing like smoke. "

hollow room. "Look, I hate this just as much as you do. But s

I snapped, my hands dancing in the air as I paced the small sp

led about this arrangement? You realize the level of financial ruin we face

gance to hide the way my heart was hammering against my r

ary sound of two enemies realizing they were sharin

of the table. Two adversaries linked by a common ni

g the light like a pool of blood. "Guess

I muttered, though the bit

r and the shared knowledge that we were utterly screwed. And I had t

r perhaps a very large barrel of bleach