“And?”
“They’re both physically well. Rose has a broken nose. But you were the one who suffered the most injury that night. And for that—again—I am truly sorry.”
“Jeremy,” I look right in his eyes. “Stop apologizing. It’s unlike you. I told you how little those words mean to me, anyway.”
“You think they’re empty,” he says. “Coming from me.”
“Not just from you, no,” I shake my head. “From anybody. Apologies have never meant a lot. Actions define a person better than later remorse.”
“Spoken almost like a man,” Jeremy chuckles.
“Well, I’m not as sentimental as most women.”
“No,” he agrees. “You most certainly are not. Another reason you hold such sway over me.”
The smile that forms on my lips is completely natural.
“So,” I say, looking away to hide my growing blush. “Your father didn’t know Rose worked for you. Likewise, she didn’t know Hugh was under your employment. Right?”
“Correct.”
“But they do have history.” I sit up and face Jeremy. “Tell me. Who is Rose? What has she done to you? Why did you cry out for her to get away in your nightmare?”
“I had a flashback,” Jeremy says. “To my youth.”
“Tell me.”
“Rose was…she was one of my father’s associates. She worked with him side-by-side in his company.”
“I knew it!” I burst out. “I knew she was more than she appeared.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t even begin to explain our relationship.” Jeremy sighs. “These are dark memories, Lilly. Ones I did not think I would be forced to revisit.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “But I have to know.”
“Yes,” Jeremy exhales. “That you do.
“It started when I was twelve. My father did not bring any of his colleagues to our home. He hosted the occasional festive dinner where all of us had to pretend we were a normal, functional, family. But other than that? Nothing.
“It was a charade, every time. My father and my two older brothers were bound together on one side. My mother and I were on the other. A split had come over our family. It was long overdue. Sides were chosen and alliances were made. Of course, like any internal conflict, the lines were perpetually blurred.
“I looked up to my brothers, despite their obvious disdain for me. And I always tried to live up to my father’s expectations. I told you the story of the gun. Even with that hanging in the background and constantly looming over us, tainting whatever relationship he and I might have had, I still wanted to make him proud. But I was just a boy. I didn’t know any better.
“Anyway. The year I was twelve, I was first introduced to Rose. She came over for the holiday dinner. I remember it clearly because the sort of open affection my father displayed toward her that night made it obvious to me they were having an affair.
“Of course, as a boy of twelve, I didn’t even know the meaning of the word. I just knew that the way my father interacted with Rose was the way he should have always interacted with my mother. That made me hate him—and her—even more.
“My mother was not particularly ill-affected. I mean, she was stuck: trapped by her marriage and bound tightly to my father. But I think the real reason she remained with him…and the reason she was still his wife on the day she died… was because of me.
“She could not just leave him. Leaving him would mean leaving me. And she could not simply take me away with her. She’d already lost one son. Remember? My twin. She would not give up a second, no matter how harsh her living conditions were.
“So we all met Rose for the first time that night at Christmas dinner. In the new year, she started to become a staple in our home. My father would bring her with him after work. They would lock themselves in his office together. When I asked my brothers what they were doing, they snickered and told me, ‘work’.
“It’s clear now, with the benefit of hindsight, with the benefit of age, what was going on. But as a twelve-year-old boy? All I had was an inkling. I had no idea they were having sex. I had no idea they were fucking in the same bed in which I was conceived.”
Jeremy’s voice takes on a heated zeal. “But one night, I saw them. I walked in on them, Lilly, while going for a glass of milk. They were fucking right in the open, right in the middle of the kitchen floor.
“They didn’t expect anyone to find them. It was late at night. The entire house was asleep. They thought they were safe—or maybe they just didn’t care.
“Anyway. I watched them, fascinated, disgusted, repulsed, intrigued and curious all at once. You don’t know what it’s like to walk in on your father having sex—especially when it’s your first live encounter of the act. It stays with you for life. The images… I can recall the images with crystal clarity, even now.”
He trails off. His jaw clenches.
Suddenly, so much more of Jeremy’s behavior and attitude towards sex makes sense.
But this isn’t at the heart of it. Not even close. I have a suspicion of what he’s building to. It’s been there, lurking in the back of my mind, ever since I heard the words: Don’t touch me, Rose.
He continues:
“She saw me first. She gasped, and brought my father’s attention to me. He cursed and broke away.
“Now imagine this: Your father, stalking toward you, half-nude, his erection at the same level as your face, swinging back and forth with each angry step. What do you do, if you’re twelve? Do you run away? Or do you stand frozen on the spot, half-amazed, half-terrified?
“Of course you can’t move. Of course all you do is stare. When my father struck me and knocked me down, screaming at me to get out, only then did I scamper away.
“We did not speak of the incident the next day…or the following week. I could not share it with anybody. How could I? I was ashamed, embarrassed. And my father’s lewd glances told me he knew exactly how I felt.
“So I tried to imagine the whole thing as a bad dream—as nothing more than a night terror. But nothing could erase the memory from my mind.
“As the weeks passed though, slowly, the impact of it started to fade. With every day the immediacy of it started to become less and less. I thought about it less often.
“That is, until the day after my thirteenth birthday.
“We didn’t celebrate. Only my mother gave me anything. I don’t even remember what the gift was. But the following night, my father came home with Rose in tow. The look she gave me when she entered the house was something sinister.
“The truth of the matter is that she remembered the incident, too. That night, when I was falling asleep, I heard the lock on my bedroom door being picked. I’d long since learned to keep it locked to keep my brothers away—or at least to give me a warning before they came in to do something unpleasant.
“It was just a bedroom lock. You know. The sort that can be opened with a pin. I shot straight up, thinking it was Robert coming to give me an unwanted birthday surprise. When I saw the shape of a woman, with long, auburn hair, I froze.
“It was Rose. She snuck in and closed the door. Then, she came to me and sat on the bed. I just stared. I did not know why she was there or what she was doing. She and I never shared a word past ‘Hello’ .
“’I was told it was your birthday yesterday’, she said to me. ‘Congratulations. You’re thirteen now. Almost a grown man.’
“Something in her voice put me on edge. Something was implied in that word, ‘almost’.
“’I’m here,’ she smiled, ‘to help you become who you are meant to be.’ She reached under the covers and took hold of me. ‘Little Jeremy.’”
“Jeremy…” I say, disgusted. “That’s…horrible.”
He looks up at me. “Is it? Or was she right? Was it what I needed?”
“No,” I say. “You were a little boy. She molested you!”
“That was just the start,” he admits. “It happened that way, every night sh
e was over, for years and years. She called it ‘our secret’. She threatened to tell Hugh all sorts of vile lies about me if I said a word.”
I can’t even imagine Rose…the same woman…as a child abuser.
Jesus! No wonder Jeremy is so fucked up.
And I’ve now committed to him for good.
“So now you know,” Jeremy says. “That is who she is. My father’s mistress. My personal initiator into the world of sex. She’s intelligent and sly and manipulative—but I’ve stripped her of all that. When I took over my father’s company, I bound her by a contract not unlike the one I gave you.
“I turned her into my housekeeper: a position she showed so much disdain for when she was by my father at the top. I trained her to forget everything she was in the past. I trained her to become fully reliant on me.
“So you see? My intentions with you had a precedent: Rose. That’s why I was so confident of what I could accomplish. I’d already done it once. And now? Now look who she is: The person who cleans my toilets and washes my floors.” Jeremy gives a curt laugh. “What a long, awful fall from grace it must have been.”
“But you gave her a beautiful house,” I say. “Surely her life hasn’t been that bad. I mean, it’s nothing like what she deserves…”
“Isn’t it?” Jeremy asks. “After I had my initial fun, I understood that it wasn’t all about revenge. She’s earned my loyalty over the years. I still exert ultimate power over her life. But it is not so bad. At least, it wasn’t until…”
He trails off.
“Until what, Jeremy?” I prompt.
“Until the reunion with my father Friday night. They haven’t seen each other for…oh, it must be nearly twenty years.”
An uncomfortable feeling crawls up the length of my spine. “Jeremy?” I ask cautiously. “What did you do?”
His eyes shine. “I achieved my final vindication,” he says. “I’ve gotten the ultimate revenge.”
Alarm rips through me. “Jeremy,” I say again. “Rose. Charles. Your father. Where are they?”
He smiles at me then. “I can’t take you there,” he tells me. “But I can show you. Would you like to see?”
Trepidation of the worst kind pulses through me. “Do I have a choice?” I whisper.
“Of course.” Stonehart smiles. “But I suggest you hold off on making one until you see what I have to show you.” He stands and extends one arm. “Come, Lilly.”
I eye him warily and stand up. The bright sun outside is mocking. Deceptive.
Jeremy leads me up the stairs to our bedroom. He walks into the surveillance closet and types in a key phrase.
“I thought only I had access to the surveillance system,” I say, feeling decidedly on edge at this point.
“You do,” Jeremy says over his shoulder. “But these computers are not just linked to the cameras in this house. There’s a network of them through my estates all over the world.” He smiles. “You didn’t think I’d give all that up, did you?”
“To be honest…” I start.
I never get to finish. The images on the screen turn my body to ice.
I see Charles. And Rose. And Hugh. They are all three in tiny, separate rooms. They are all three in stark white strait jackets.
All three wear black collars around their necks.
I recoil immediately. “You monster,” I breathe. “What have you done?”
“So far?” he asks. “Nothing. But next…?
He presses a button. Rose, Charles, and Hugh start convulsing. Writhing, horribly.
Jeremy Stonehart has turned the current on.
“No, no, stop!” I scream. “Jeremy, stop it! Don’t!”
He raises an eyebrow at me and calmly hits the button again. His prisoners go still. Charles sags. Hugh falls over. Rose vomits all over her front.
“How could you?” I gasp, horrified. “How could you do that? How can you show me this and expect me to stay with you?”
“I expect nothing,” he tells me. An evil glimmer shows in his eye. “Except for your unwavering loyalty. You know too much to be allowed to simply go.”
“You’re sick.” I feel nauseous. “You’ll never have that. Never!” I look at poor Charles. He’s completely innocent. He’d never hurt a fly!
“A shame,” he says. “You’re stuck with me, Lilly. And if those are your true feelings…?”
He sneers. “Well, you should have killed me when you had the chance.”
The End
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This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been use fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.
UNCOVERING YOU 9: Liberation
Copyright © 2015 Edwards Publishing, Ltd.
All rights reserved.
Edited by Gail Lennon.
Cover design by Scarlett Edwards.
Interior design by Scarlett Edwards.
Published by Edwards Publishing, Ltd.
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Uncovering You 9: Liberation Page 13