by Kent, Rina
She gasps. “You… did?”
“I hit the door and called your name, but you never answered.”
It was the last time I called her name. I can almost feel the ache in my chest as I hit that door until my knuckles were bloodied.
“Then I finally managed to open the door. You and the red woman were lying there”— I point to a spot near the entrance—“in a pool of blood. You were on your side with a dark hole in your chest. Half of the red woman’s face was gone, spluttered all over the wall and the floor, but I didn’t look twice in her direction. You know why?” I dig my fingers into the flesh of her scar over her shirt. “You weren’t moving.”
She places her hand over mine. “I’m so sorry you had to see that.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I’m not. I’m here, Aiden.”
She is. This isn’t a dream or a nightmare. She’s right here with me.
Like she promised.
“Did you find your way out of the mansion?” she asks.
“No. I think I fainted or something. The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital and Jonathan was sitting beside me. One of his insiders or security guards must’ve gotten me out.” I smile with no humour. “The moment I opened my eyes and saw him instead of Alicia, I knew something was wrong.”
She surrounds my arm with her small hand. “I’m so sorry about Alicia.”
“Stop apologising.” I lift her chin so I’m staring down at those hypnotic eyes. “You’re not to blame. You were a victim as well.”
Her bottom lip trembles like when she was about to cry as a child. “You didn’t see me as a victim, Aiden. You told me you’ll destroy me the first time I stepped into RES.”
“That day, I saw the ghost of the red woman. And yes, Elsa. I was angry at you for not keeping your promise. I was even more pissed off that you didn’t remember me, so I wanted you to pay.” I grin. “Then I decided you’re mine.”
Her adorable features light up. “That’s a drastic change.”
I lift a shoulder. “Could be.”
“And you’ve been such a dickhead.”
“You still love me.”
Her cheeks redden, but she remains quiet.
“Say it,” I grip her chin tighter.
“Aiden…” I can see hesitation in her eyes, hear the quivering in her voice. Soon, she’ll be hiding in her frozen castle, refusing everyone access.
“Say it, Elsa,” My tone becomes harsh and non-negotiable.
A sigh rips from her. “I love you, Aiden. No matter what.”
“No matter what, huh?”
“Yes, dickhead. No matter what.”
She wraps her small arm around my midsection and buries her face in my chest. I rest my chin on the top of her golden locks and inhale her coconut scent.
“You used to smell like cotton candies and summer,” I tell her. “And fucking Maltesers.”
“Hey!” She pushes at my chest. “Don’t go insulting my Maltesers. I love them, okay? Besides, you should be honoured I shared them with you. They’re delicious.”
“Not really. I only ate them because you kept shoving them down my throat.”
“You ungrateful arsehole.”
I chuckle, running my fingers through her hair. “I haven’t eaten them since back then.”
“Me neither. I remember wanting them when I was a kid, but Aunt’s strict diet didn’t allow me regular chocolate and sweets. I never asked Uncle for them, though.” Elsa pauses. “I guess deep down, I knew I shouldn’t eat them alone.”
“I’ll buy them for you.” I smile.
“I’ll share.”
We remain like that for a few minutes. For a moment, I forget that we’re in the basement where the red woman tortured me and then died.
I forgot the sight of Elsa lying motionless in her own blood.
For a while, it’s just me and her finding our roots.
When I kidnapped her here, all I wanted was to give her back the connection to her past. Not knowing what would happen was dangerous and left me with no backup plans — except for really kidnapping her and never returning.
I’m not comfortable with the unknown. I thought if she remembered she saved me on the expense of her mother’s death and her own metaphorical death, she’d hate me.
“Do you regret saving me?” I ask in the quietness of the room.
It’s the only vulnerable question I’ve allowed myself over the years. Her mother would still be alive if she didn’t save me.
Her electric blue eyes bore into mine with a deep sense of affection. “I regret many things, but saving you was never one of them. You were my light and I had to protect you.”
“Even if the cost was your mother’s life and your memories?”
“That’s mental illness. It’s neither yours nor my fault.”
I nod once.
I doubt she truly believes that, but I’ll let it pass. We have the entire future to revisit this.
“Who do you think saved me?” she asks.
“I don’t know. I was already passed out at the time.”
She bites her lower lip like she does when in deep thoughts. I lean down and kiss it, making her blush.
“I remember how Ma pulled the trigger, but I don’t remember hearing your voice,” she muses. “Then… Someone held me and —” She gasps. “Oh, my God! There was someone else.”
32
Elsa
Past
I’m moving.
The ground shifts from underneath me and someone holds me in their arms.
Daddy?
No. Daddy needs help.
It’s dark in here. I can’t open my eyes. I can’t speak.
I can only remain motionless as someone carries me. The faint shuffling of footsteps is the only thing I hear.
“You’ll be fine. You’re Steel’s legacy.”
The voice is distant, almost from another room. Or maybe is it from another place?
My head lolls against the arm carrying me.
Daddy. Save Daddy, too.
Did Grey Eyes leave safely?
I want to ask those questions and more, but my mouth doesn’t move. Nothing moves.
A small whimper reaches me from the ground. The sound is so haunting and pained, it rips through me.
Ma?
Am I imagining it?
The sound comes again like a howl in the winter.
This time, the one carrying me stops and turns around.
“You just wouldn’t die, would you?” The voice sounds disapproving, angry almost. “You don’t deserve this life, Abigail and we both know that. It’ll all end today.”
And just like that, they march ahead. The whimpers grow far and quiet the more he walks. We’re leaving Ma behind. Why?
I’m trapped in and out of the darkness as if we’re playing hide-and-seek.
The person strides on and on.
I want to call for Daddy or Ma, but I can’t.
When I think they’ll never stop walking, they halt and place me on something soft. “Take her to the hospital. Call Blair and Jaxon Quinn, then watch from afar. Don’t interfere, and only make sure she’s safe.”
Daddy. Daddy. Save Daddy.
“Burn the whole mansion down,” the voice says in a sure tone.
“Are there any survivors inside?” Someone else asks.
“No,” the voice says. “We’re leaving. Now.”
Daddy.
Daddy is still in there.
And Ma, too.
My eyes flutter open the slightest bit. Two men climb into the back of a black van. One of them is Dr Shepherd, Dad’s personal doctor.
He leans over a body wearing a bloodied white shirt.
It’s Daddy.
Don’t leave me.
The other man sits on Dad’s other side, watching him closely.
“Burn it,” he tells a man in black standing near the van.
The man speaks into his hand and the mansion catches on fire.
I stare a
t the man beside Dad through blurry eyes. He watches the house being eaten by flames with a neutral expression as if there isn’t a person inside. A person whimpering and asking for help.
“Let’s go,” he commands and the van flies down the road with other black cars following it.
His voice.
It’s him.
The one who told my ma she doesn’t deserve this life and that it’ll end today.
The one who’s currently burning my ma inside.
The one who’s taking Daddy away like heaven took away Eli.
The one without emotions as he does it all.
Uncle Agnus.
33
Elsa
Present
I jump to my feet, my heart thundering viciously in my chest.
Agnus.
Uncle Agnus.
He’s the one behind the fire and the one who killed my mother. Well, she shot herself, but she wasn’t dead yet. He burned the mansion down while knowing she was in it.
He was by my father’s side all this time, and he kept an eye on me.
For what?
All this is completely abnormal.
Aiden stands and wraps my jacket around my shoulder. “What is it? Did you remember something crucial?”
My eyes bore into his darker ones, and my breathing calms down a little. “It was Agnus. He saved me and Dad, but he killed my mother.”
A frown etches between his brows. “Your mother was already dead.”
“No! I heard her whimpers and so did he when he carried me out of the basement, but do you know what he did? He just walked the fuck out. He wanted her dead, Aiden. He burned the mansion while she was in it.”
I’m shaking, my entire body going into some sort of shock and anger all at once. “He killed her… He killed my mother.”
“Calm down, Elsa.” Aiden rubs my arm, his voice strong but soothing.
“I can’t calm down! He killed Ma, Aiden!”
“She shot herself,” he grinds out, holding on to patience he doesn’t own. “She wanted to die.”
“Just because you wanted her to die doesn’t mean she wanted to die.”
His left eye twitches and I regret the words as soon as I say them. What the hell is wrong with me?
Ma is a monster in Aiden’s eyes. She was a monster to me as well, but I keep holding on to the fact that at some point she was my ma. Sweet and caring and with a blinding smile.
“I-I’m sorry, Aiden. I didn’t mean —”
“I never wanted her to die. I only wanted her to leave me the fuck alone.” He squares his shoulders. “You’re better off without her. She shot you and your father. What else do you need to let her go?”
My lips tremble and I fight the need to hit and scream at him.
I don’t because he’s right.
Ma was messed up, but maybe I’m messed up, too, if I can’t completely hate her.
Once we return, I need to talk to Dr Khan.
What if I eventually become like her? What if my trauma will take over my life like her trauma has taken over hers?
The door clicks open.
Both Aiden and I stand side by side as the newcomer steps into the basement. My hands ball into fists on either side of me.
Agnus.
Remaining at the door, he places both hands in his pockets.
He appears different now, more monstrous and vicious.
Agnus, Dad’s right hand man, Knox and Teal’s caretaker, our saviour, but he’s also a murderer.
That knowledge makes his features sharper, younger and harsher.
His light hair is styled back and his pale blue eyes appear serene. Confident. Just like when he ordered his men to burn down the mansion while Ma whimpered in it.
I start towards him, but Aiden wraps his hand around my arm protectively.
Agnus retrieves a cigarette from a pack, but he keeps it between his thumb and forefinger without lighting it.
That must be the source of cigarettes’ smell in the basement.
“How did you know we’d be here?” I ask.
“I get a direct notification when this door is opened.”
“Does Dad know about this?”
“He doesn’t need to.” Agnus pauses. “Yet.”
The thought that Dad trusts him burns at the back of my throat like acid.
“I assume you remember now,” Agnus continues. “I told Ethan you’d remember if you come down here, but he’s stubborn when it comes to emotions.”
“You killed my mother,” I breathe, my face going up in flames.
“Shut up, Elsa,” Aiden whispers harshly, but only I can hear him. “Don’t provoke him when we have no exit plan.”
He digs his fingers into my arm, keeping me in place. He’s watching our surroundings, probably searching for a way out.
“What will you do?” Agnus asks with that infuriating confidence. “Tell Ethan?”
I swallow my rage even though I want to poke his eyes out. It kills me that this man has been on Dad’s side after he erased Ma from the face of the earth.
However, Aiden is right. I have to be rational about this.
“What if I do tell Dad?” I ask slowly.
Agnus twirls the cigarette between his fingers. “You saw Abigail dead.”
“She wasn’t dead. She was whimpering and pleading for help.”
“And I helped her.”
“By burning her?”
“By offering her a way out, yes. Half her head was gone. She was going to die either way.” He watches the floor as if she was still lying there, moaning in pain. “Besides, Abigail has been the living dead since Eli’s drowning. I respect her choice of finally putting herself and everyone else out of their misery.”
“You don’t regret it, do you?”
“The only thing I regret is not forcing Ethan to send her to the psych ward sooner. A miscalculation on my part, unfortunately. If he did, neither Knox nor Teal nor Aiden would’ve been hurt. If he did, both of you wouldn’t have been shot and separated for ten years. So no, Elsa. I don’t regret purging Abigail from the life she didn’t want in the first place.”
He’s a psychopath, isn’t he?
If he’s so detached after killing someone, he must be some sort of a psycho.
However, as I hear his argument, I can finally see why he did it. I can finally see why Aiden thinks it was the right thing.
Ma wanted to kill me and Dad.
Ma stopped being my mother the moment Eli died. She drowned with him in that lake and since then, she tried everything to bring us all down to her hell.
The fact I wanted her to live isn’t only an insult to Dad and I, but it’s also an insult to the three children she traumatised; Knox, Teal, and Aiden.
It’s an insult to the promise I made to Aiden ten years ago.
I had hoped to have everything, but it was impossible.
One way or another, Ma would’ve ended our family just like her family ended.
“If you think you’re so righteous,” I ask Agnus. “Why didn’t you tell Dad about what you’d done?”
“Like you, he has irrational feelings towards Abigail. He would’ve wanted her to live even after she shot you both.” He pauses speaking, still twirling the cigarette. “I’ve been by Ethan’s side since we were ten years old. I know from experience that if he stops trusting someone, he’ll cut them completely out of his life. I can’t afford that.”
“What if I tell him?” I try to keep the challenge out of my voice.
“You won’t, Elsa. Ethan lost so much. First Eli then Abigail and then ten years of his life. He finally thinks he can start anew with you, Knox, and Teal. If you tell him unnecessary things, he’ll cut me from his life, but he won’t cope well with it. If you want to be the reason behind that, then by all means, go right ahead.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“I’m simply stating facts.”
I narrow my eyes. “Sounds like a threat to me.”
He sm
iles without humour. “Believe me, this isn’t how I issue threats. You’re lucky to be amongst the few people I’ll never threaten.”
We maintain a war of gazes for what seems like an hour. Agnus doesn’t flinch or even blink.
A stone. He’s a damn stone.
“He’s right.” Aiden faces me. “Steel Corporation remained standing because of Agnus. If he leaves, it’ll backfire on your father badly, especially with the competition between him and Jonathan.”
“You’re supposed to be on my side.” I glare at him.
“I am, sweetheart. That’s why I’m telling you to disregard your emotions and give free reign to your brain.” He strokes my cheek. “Deep down, you know this is the best thing to do.”
“I’ll give you time to think about it.” Agnus places the cigarette to his lips. “It won’t be long before Ethan finds out you’re missing. I disabled the ability to open the door from the inside. Stay here and process everything carefully, Elsa.”
The door clicks shut behind him.
Aiden runs to the entrance and up the stairs, but it’s too late. The metal door is already blinking red.
I stand by his side and press my finger on the screen. It continues blinking in red.
“Fuck,” Aiden curses.
“Did he just lock us in?” I murmur in astonishment.
“The phones are outside,” Aiden curses again.
“I can’t believe he did that. Dad will never forgive him.”
“He wants you to think carefully about what to say to your father.” Aiden glances at me. “He probably doesn’t want to hurt you. If you give him what he wants, he’ll let us out.”
“How? He locked us in.” I contain a frustrated yell.
The psycho.
I can’t believe I’ve never seen the signs before. I thought his quiet nature was because he preferred helping Dad from the background, and while he did, he also plotted chaos.
Even back then, Agnus didn’t seem sad about Uncle Reg’s death, his twin brother and only family.
He only cared about the fact that Uncle Reg betrayed Dad by siding up with Jonathan and helping Ma.
A scary thought whirls into my brain.
“What if he…” I gulp, the idea hitting me like a hurricane. “What if he hurts Dad?”