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"Good story I’d stick with that" Head down, Michael went back to his ht Bill would have written her off once she’d run again, but the iven the ladies preferential treatet advanced, and Michael wasn’t that patient

"Will you put that bloody hell thing away I’, Michael rolled it up and tucked his phone into a front pocket "Yes, Dad"

"You are a bloody hell piece of work," Bill snarled, his accent becorip "I won’t risk you until I haveter to die in a bed"

"We still don’t know if theterive it to her" Michael tapped his fingers on the worn fabric of the chair, unsure of what to do with his hands now that his phone was gone He knew he sounded petulant, but he’d refused his pain meds, and his chest hurt every time he breathed

"It’s not ready, you’re not ready," Bill said, and Michael’s eyes narrowed, an old anger surfacing "We wait"

"You wantshallohen Bill’s silence told hi when his ribs ached "I read her file I knohat you did to her Wiped three years of her memory to keep her useful Gave her a false one Twisted her into an obedient bitch who’d die for you I’ you do that to me"

"That’s where you have it wrong" Bill’s face was empty of emotion "Peri would never die for me," he said "It’s the thrill she’d die for The chance to outwit the odds She’s perfect"

Michael jiggled his foot i, but he didn’t like that she ht understand It was his feeling, not hers "A perfect pain in the ass," he muttered

Jerked back to the present, Bill curled his lip Motions rough, he took another s froain "And if she’d just accelerate herself and realize I’ve turned her into a goddess, she’d come home"

She has the accelerator on her? Michael froze at the sudden realization That little nugget of information hadn’t reached him "She has it?" he said as Bill set the bottle doith a sharp click "Has she used it?"

"I don’t know"