Hudson looked at her brother in surprise. He hadn’t? She thought back to the contract he’d handed her before she’d escaped, but she hadn’t paid attention to the signature lines, because the bride and groom didn’t get to sign a damn thing. Only three signatures were needed to approve a marriage – those of a West Colony councilman and two approved individuals who endorsed the marriage, usually family members or employers. All three had to be alive and kicking at the time the contract was signed, so with her father gone, it had been Dominik’s job to endorse.
“I suggest you get the hell out of here before I have you thrown out,” Dominik finished. “I haven’t seen my sister in two months. We’d like some privacy, please.”
Please. So polite. Hudson might have even believed he was being genuinely cordial if it hadn’t been for the purple vein throbbing in his forehead.
The two men stared each other down, but Knox was the first to look away. With a muttered expletive, he stalked out of the room and slammed the door – but not before Hudson caught a glimpse of the armed Enforcer posted outside of it.
“Am I prisoner here?” she demanded.
Dominik’s gray eyes, so much like her own, flickered with regret. “Yes. Commander Ferris ordered twenty-four-hour surveillance on you when he heard you’d been located.” His features strained. “He plans on interrogating you tomorrow morning. He’s going to demand all the intel you gathered when you were in outlaw territory.”
Her lips tightened. “I’m not telling him a damn thing.”
Dom sighed. “Yeah, that’s what I figured you’d say.”
She searched her brother’s face, desperately trying to find a trace of that darkness she and Connor had talked about. The evil he might be harboring. But all she saw was sorrow. Deep, soul-sucking sorrow.
“Why didn’t you sign the marriage contract?” she whispered.
He surprised her by chuckling. “Oh, come on, H. We both know I was never going to let you marry that bastard.”
Her eyes widened. “What? But you said…”
“I said a lot of things. It’s what I did that you need to be focusing on.”
Her blank look summoned another heavy sigh from him.
“Shit, Hudson, why do you think I sent you out in the field the day after I showed you that contract?”
Her breath caught in her throat.
“Because I knew you’d run.” His smile was gentle. “I know you better than I know myself, H.”
Her mind reeled as she absorbed the new information. He’d been protecting her?
She hadn’t even questioned his orders that day. An Enforcer had been injured – of course Dom had dispatched her to help. Except… he could have sent any of the other nurses. But he’d chosen her.
To give her an opportunity to escape.
“What’s happening here, Dom? It must be something pretty awful if you were willing to let me go.”
“I don’t know,” he said miserably. “Ferris has been riding my ass since Dad died. He’s put all these new protocols in place, and he killed the outlaw surrender program because he doesn’t want them living in the city. He thinks they don’t deserve it, that there’s no hope for their rehabilitation. He’d rather just see them all dead.”
Dominik raked his hand through his blond hair. It was messy, growing out, as if he didn’t care about keeping up appearances anymore. “I’m…” He puffed out a breath. “I’m so angry, Hudson. All the time. I get these urges to… to rip people apart. And I wake up sometimes and don’t know how I even got back to my room. I don’t know what’s happening to me.”
Fear skittered through her. “I think I do.”
“What? How?” he said in surprise.
“I met one of your trainees on the road. Max?”
Dominik sucked in a breath. “Max is alive? He dropped out of the program and killed two guards on his way out of the city, but the kid’s soft. I didn’t think he’d last a day out there.”
“He made it far enough to run into me and my group. And he told me that Ferris is giving the trainees injections.”
Dominik nodded. “Vitamins.”
“No, I don’t think so. Max noticed serious personality changes in the other recruits, guys he’s known his whole life. I think Ferris is giving you guys some kind of aggression drugs.” She bit her lip. “I think he switched your pills out after Dad died.”
Dominik paled. He rubbed his bloodshot eyes, looking more tired than Hudson had ever seen him. “Fuck. That… would make sense.” He pinched the bridge of his nose like he was warding off a migraine.
She let out a breath. “Did you know about Dad’s plan for me to marry Knox?”
“No,” he said immediately, his tone vehement. “I didn’t. I promise, Hudson. You know how hard I fought him when he decided that Knox would be the perfect lieutenant for me. But there was no arguing with the old man, so I sucked it up. I tolerated Knox because he’s a good soldier, but I never would have agreed to let him marry you.”
She believed him. She knew when her twin was lying. Although his eyes looked desperate and angry and confused, there was no dishonesty there.
“What’s going to happen to me now?” she asked as a wave of exhaustion washed over her. “Will I have to marry him?”
Dominik was quick to reject that. “No way. That’s never going to happen.”
“He thinks it will.”