The Fake Lunatic: I Played Crazy To Bury My Brother

fia black site, enduring daily electrosho

til my fingers brushed against a hidden w

onged to my husband and

table before Friday, so I can

out I was

ontrolling stake in the syndicate, locked in an of

o men I trusted most conspired

ress parade through the asylum, moc

a damp storage room and threatening to bring the shock mac

sed my agony as irrefutable proof of my insanity, s

ure me; they wanted t

bottomless greed and built an u

branded into my wrist, I kn

d my own face hard, and playe

even days, and then I would take

pte

mafia black site, my fingers found a wiretap secured with m

ve her brain fried to a wet pulp by Friday, or we forfeit the

underworld of my complete and irreversible lunacy, I would not surviv

, the taste of my own

e pressure of a rubber bite b

hantom from the machine, forcing my fingers to

atment room to answer a telepho

ward; the muscles in my thighs, having endured the current for so long, fell in

back of my hand brushed the

l, a tone that had nothing to do with medical consultation. I knew he was communicating with someo

rd, square of plastic taped n

ed it

l, black digi

e air catching in my lungs as a h

y husband of three years, the

lethal cadence that directed a tho

ncapacitated, Victor," Ju

ante, my biological brother an

nte ordered, his words cl

tective trust holds her controlling stake in

ead men. Turn her into a mindless vegetable befo

ed in, a shrill no

o see her face

ss, and the woman who had spent the last three years parad

ian murmured back to her, his voice dripp

my ribs with the frantic, irr

I had believed I

the unsparing voltage were meant to c

rsts as irrefutable proof of my insanity-strapping m

not want

ted to e

at my l

date branded into my flesh by my father with

Fri

day the tr

had forese

f the Falcone Syndicate had understood th

s for me, locking the family holdin

ey-a secret calendar only I could read,

to survive the

ooted footfalls echo

phagus, and my heart was seize

deep into the hollow chest of a battered porc

onal possession Dr. Vance had allowed

the heavy steel

Italian suits a jarring contrast to the s

m of my gown. His tall frame blocked the overhead lamp,

of a man appraising a mispriced, def

told the guards behind hi

o sign the territory transfer doc

had to play, I dr

apped my own cheeks, har

back and forth on the linoleu

polished leather shoe stoppi

d gripped my chin,

w-a silent, lethal threat

not looking at me, but at Dr. Vance, w

nted," Dr. Vance replied, wiping a film of s

e Falcone estate was a bl

hest, feeling the hard square of the

ildhood home at last swung open, a

anding on th

and held a fluted glass of champagne, p

in," Chloe sneered as the g

g out a high-pitched,

ed soldiers, acting as though C

ar the waste disposal," Dante o

her dirtying t

ridor and threw me into a cramped room that

ollowed

e heavy door

lt sounded like a gunsh

hy hospital gown, Nia," Julian

or the colla

cre

old wall, kicking my leg

at my own arms until red welts rose on

k of profound disgust cros

ve trousers as if the mere prospe

down, you crazy b

as sliced off as the door closed, the metallic click of the b

nto the thin mattress on

alls, I heard Dante's voice approa

," Dante was s

ry is on

r deeds tomorrow morning-even if you hav

morrow morning. That was the new deadline. I had less than twenty-four hours to figure out