Did he even care about her, or any of them? Had he cared about his wife when she was a patient here, or had she merely been a pretty thing he wished to own? He underestimated us. All of us. I was trembling now as he leaned over me, but I looked that madman straight in the eye. “What makes you think she even needed my help?”

“You expect me to believe she escaped from a locked isolation room by herself?”

Fight flooded my veins. Pure heat. “I’m as locked up as she. How could I have helped?”

With a growl, he yanked my arm toward him and clamped cuffs on my wrists, metal digging into my flesh where my bones jutted. “I’ll show you locked up.” They were heavy. He jerked both cuffs tight, leaving a chain dangling between them, and shook the key in my face. “This is a moral institution, Miss Fletcher, and I will not tolerate liars.” His anger vibrated through the room. “You were gone from your bed last night when she went missing—you, the only known friend of this Bridget Hurley. You’ll face trouble for this, if she’s harmed. I’ll make sure of it, you wretched little—”

“It is you who have lost her, Dr. Thornhill. You lost her, just as you did your own wife.”

The blow to my cheek was so swift it whipped my head to the right, face stinging and neck tight with pain. I caught myself on his desk. I hovered over his papers, hair curtaining my warm face. My breath came in quiet gasps as hot and cold chased each other over my skin.

The key clattered against his desk where he threw it. “There are some who are too far mad to ever be let free. They bring no value to humanity by existing within it and are naught but a nuisance. A threat, even.”

I steadied my breathing. “Bridget is—”

“I was referring to you, Miss Fletcher.” His face came near mine. “But I never let your sort win. What kind of world would we have then?”

I breathed hard, but I scarcely got any air into my lungs. My head was light. Those eyes—those wild eyes that couldn’t focus on mine. Red veins rose along his neck.

“Until you tell me where she is, you will remain in those. Night and day.”

The force of his anger rolled over me. I closed my eyes, waiting for lashes across my knuckles. A shove into a dark closet. His face hovered near, warm breath on my skin. “Also. Never ever mention my wife again.” His voice hissed out in harsh bursts of air. “You are not worthy to speak her name.”