I search the bottom of the drawer for more. When there’s nothing left, I even take out the drawer and shake it in a desperate attempt to find a hidden compartment.
Sweat drips down my forehead as I pry at the wood. I have to be quick because he could be back at any moment and I’d rather not be caught in the act. After a few shakes and careful peeling, some of the wood bends and breaks, and I hear a clicking sound.
With my heart beating in my throat, I tear away the bottom layer of the drawer and sift through the insides with a few fingers. I hook onto something and fish it out. Another key.
Frowning, I hold it up. It’s different from the one I got from Marcus. I wonder what it opens.
I frantically search around in his room for something to use the key on but don’t see anything. There’s no other keyhole in this room that I can put it in … and I realize there’s someplace I haven’t been before.
That one room we’re not allowed into.
I rush through the hallway when I notice the shower’s turned off. I only have a few more minutes before he comes out, so I gotta make it quick. As I stand in front of the door and put the key in the lock, praying this is it, I grab the handle and close my eyes.
Surprisingly, it clicks into place.
Sucking in a breath, I push open the door and walk inside.
Nothing but boxes are inside the room. Shoe boxes covered in dust, to be precise. No one’s been in here in a long time.
Confused, I pick one up and open it.
Inside are papers and photographs of a man I don’t know, but they’re all personal photos of his kids with him and his wife, doing everyday stuff like grilling on the barbecue, playing in the yard, and walking the dog. The papers all contain his info, his whereabouts, work, everything. Like a profiling of some sorts.
Why does he have these?
I open another box and find the exact same thing, only from another man and his family.
Some are about women; some are about elderly.
And then some focus only on the children.
I don’t understand … Why would anyone keep these private memorabilia from someone else? Unless …
I check out the papers again when I realize they aren’t profiles. They’re targets.
And then it hits me.
Marcus isn’t just any rich dude. He isn’t just coincidentally affiliated with these people who own us. He’s just like them.
A murderer.
They kill, they sell, they do anything to get their claws on some money.
Blood money.
And Marcus is one of them.
These papers prove it. Whether it was in the past or still going on, he’s killed. He told me so himself, but I didn’t think it went this far. These papers prove it. How many has he killed? And does he keep these papers and photos as trophies?
As I lower the paper with shaky hands, I notice a box lying underneath a small cabinet. I reach out underneath it and grab the one box that I feel like he tried to hide from view.
Slowly, I open it, too scared to find out what’s inside but too curious to stop. I even forget about the fact that Marcus could come into this room at any moment. The only thing that matters is what’s inside this box I hold in my hands.
But I am not prepared.
It’s pictures of the inside of a house. A man lying at the front door, shot. A woman, lying in the bedroom, completely drenched in blood. A little girl, crying her eyes out as she’s being taken away from her family.
Shuddering and with teary eyes, I pick up what lies on top.
A doll with a purple scarf and a pink dress.
Covered in red splatters.
My cracked lips tremble, my face turning into that of a monster. Thunder roars. I snap.
But right as I turn around, wanting to march outside and confront him, a silhouette appears in the doorway.
“Do you think I am a monster?”
“You …” I hiss.
“I don’t blame you if you do. I think the same thing whenever I open the door to this room and look inside the boxes. They remind me of what I’ve done.” With only a towel around his waist, he steps inside, his knuckles cracking. “All they do is whisper me the lies I’ve told.” A photograph cracks underneath his feet. “Scream at me for all the pain I’ve caused.” He picks up one of the photos and looks at it without flinching. “Beg me to end it all.”
“You did this …” I spit, turning around to show him the doll. “This is hers. This is Ava’s, isn’t it? Why do you have this?”
A hint of regret flashes in his eyes as he briefly averts them, but not even his guilt will be enough to quell the rage growing inside me. “TELL ME!”
He picks up another box, one I haven’t touched yet, and opens the lid, picking up a photo that he shows me.
“Recognize this?” he says.
My eyes widen at the sight of the little boy on the picture, carrying a bag filled with books as he makes his way to school. I don’t recognize the name under it … Maurice … but I recognize the face on the picture immediately.
The little boy is me.
25
Ava
The scream has me jumping out of bed.
I rush through the hallways toward the sound that came from one of the rooms.
It’s the room we’re not supposed to enter, and Marcus is hovering above Daniel, who’s sitting on the ground with a box in his hands.
Terror and fury rule his face as he reaches for his pocket and takes out Master Marcus’s gun.
Then he points it at him.
My eyes widen and I scream, “No!”
I try to step into the room, but Master Marcus turns around to face me and says, “Ava. Stop.”
“Don’t you fucking tell her what to do! You have no right. No fucking right!” Daniel yells, standing up to raise the gun to eye level.
“Stop,” I squeal at him. “Don’t shoot him!”
“You don’t know what he’s done,” Daniel says. “Look at the box, Ava. Look at it.”
My eyes instinctively draw down to the box he was holding, but what I see inside makes my heart tumble. I grab the nearest doorpost as the floor feels like it’s ripped away from under my feet.
The doll I was given for Christmas lies right in front of me.
“What … What’s that doing here?” I mutter. Then I look up at Master Marcus, who’s torn between Daniel and me. “Why do you have that?”
“Ava …” He attempts to step toward me.
“Don’t you fucking move!” Daniel waves the gun at him, and Master Marcus immediately freezes. Then Daniel focuses his attention on me. “Don’t come close to him. He’s a liar. He’s not who you think he is.”
“Why? What’s happening? Tell me what’s going on,” I say, tears filling my eyes as I see my past in front of me. Pictures of people scatter across the floor, boxes filled with their info, and mine lies between like a trophy among many.
“Daniel,” Master Marcus says as Daniel slides over to my side. “Don’t. You don’t want this.”
“Yes, I do. You never put my interests first, nor hers. This was all about you, wasn’t it?” he yells, holding out the doll as proof. “You kept these as trophies?”
“It’s not what you think,” Master Marcus says.
“Please tell me it isn’t true,” I mutter, stepping closer.
“No! Don’t go to him. You can’t trust him, Ava. He’s been lying to you since you came here.”
No matter how much Daniel pleads with me to stay away, I want to touch him, so I grab his arm and squeeze, trying to hold onto something I believed was true. “You love me. You promised me you wouldn’t lie.”
But Master Marcus’s gaze isn’t sweet or loving. It’s stone-cold harsh … and empty.
When his voice breaks, so does my heart.
“I am the monster, Ava.”
My fingers tremble as they release his arm.
“It’s true.”
“No …” I shake my hea
d, stumbling backward.
“Yes. I am the one who took that doll from your house. I keep all the memories here, so they’ll remind me of the sins I’ve committed. But the worst sin of all was you.”
I want to plug my ears, but I know it will never erase the things I’ve heard in this room.
“It can’t be true … You took me in. You cared for me. You even took Daniel in. You treated us like we were … equals.”
“Because you are.” He looks at us both. “You are humans. You are people. You aren’t servants. Not anymore. And now, you know the truth.” He lowers his head and frowns. “I am the man who took you from your home.”
I swallow as the tears stream down my face.
This can’t be happening.
Crack.
This can’t be real.
Crack.
This is a nightmare.
Crack.
A nightmare come to life.
My heart is shattering with every passing second as the living embodiment of the horrific life I’ve endured is standing right in front of me.
Daniel grabs my arm as I struggle to stay put, my body swaying as I struggle to breathe.
“Do you see now why I told you not to love me? Do you understand why I could never fully accept you? Why I couldn’t allow you to see me for who I really am?” Master Marcus growls.
“You’re a monster …” Daniel hisses through gritted teeth.
“I don’t deny that. I don’t deny killing all those people.” He points at all the pictures. “Him. And her. And her. And this guy. All of them. I murdered them in cold blood.”
“Why?”
“Because I was told to do so,” he says, sighing. “Because I’m a product of a system that no one can escape. It was either this or die. Would you sacrifice yourself for the life of another?”
“I would never kill someone, even if it cost me my very life,” Daniel growls.
“And that’s where we differ,” Master Marcus says. “I am a killer, and I took the both of you away from your homes.”
“No … I don’t believe it,” I say. “Tell me that’s a lie.”
“I’ve told many lies—too many—and now, it’s time to stop. I didn’t expect this to end so soon … but I guess his love for you is too strong,” Master Marcus says as he looks at Daniel.
“Impossible. The man who took me was bald,” I mutter.
Master Marcus reaches for a drawer and Daniel’s gun follows his every movement as he takes out sunglasses, puts them on, and brings his hands to his head. But then something strange happens. He slides his hair back until it’s so smooth, I can barely recognize him as Master Marcus.
But I do recognize him as the man who took me from my home.
My pupils dilate, my lips part, but all that comes out is a scream.
“You’re the one who took me too …” Daniel growls.
I sink to the floor, whimpering, grasping my chest as the physical pain is too much.
The man I once loved.
The man who killed for me.
The man I thought I’d die for.
Is the same man who took everything from me.
My life.
My ruined, fucked-up life as a servant.
It’s all his doing.
“Yes. It was me. It was always me.”
“Why?” I sputter. It’s the only word I’m able to pronounce.
He looks down at me with tortured eyes. “Because I had no other choice.”
“Bullshit!” Daniel spits.
“If there is something truthful about my words, this is it.”
“I lied for you. I protected her. I loved her the way you couldn’t, but she needed you. How could you do this to her?”
“I can’t undo what I did,” Master Marcus says. “She was so broken when I finally bought her. I could only be her Master.”
“You are no Master,” I say. I don’t know what compels me to say this, but the only thing I feel right now is betrayal, and it stings too much to ignore.
“I tried to be whatever you needed, Ava. I tried to … but it was never enough.”
“Damn right, it wasn’t. I don’t care if you bought us or if we’re supposed to obey you. We’re not yours anymore.”
“Good,” he says, nodding. “I had hoped it would come to this.”
“Are you insane?” Daniel shouts.
“No, I just knew this would happen. Someday. It’s what I hoped.”
“Don’t talk to me about hopes and dreams when you didn’t care about mine or hers. When you didn’t even care to tell her the truth. You don’t love her. You don’t even care about us.”
“I do,” he says, and with tears in his eyes, he gazes at me. “I loved you, Ava. With all my heart. It hurt so much to tell you not to love me, but I did it for you.”
“How can you stand there and say those things?” Daniel says.
“Because I’m a bastard. I know I’m selfish. Someone who doesn’t deserve to live. And I won’t ask you to forgive me.” He broadens his stance and opens his arms. “Shoot me.”
“What?” I scream. Daniel raises his arm. “No!”
I grab a hold of him, right when the gun goes off. Bullets ricochet off the wall, and I fight him for control. For the first time, I’m using the lessons Daniel taught me, but I’m using them against him, as I push him to the ground and take the gun from him.
“No! I have to kill him. We’ll never be free if I don’t,” Daniel shouts.
He grabs me and pins me to the floor, and I jab him in his chest to get him off me. We push and pull, desperately trying to take the gun from each other, fighting over life and death. But no matter how much I hate Marcus for doing this to us, I can’t let Daniel kill him.
“Don’t!” I yell. “You’ll never forgive yourself.”
“Yes, I will. He’s a bastard who deserves what’s coming to him.”
“No, it isn’t right,” I say, punching him so he’ll let go of me.
“Why are you defending him? He destroyed your life.”
“I don’t care. I can’t let you do this. It’ll ruin you.” I push myself off him and rip the gun from his hand.
“I don’t care!” He tries to topple me over, but I narrowly escape his grasp.
I turn to face Marcus. Right then, he’s suddenly in front of me and grabs my hand.
The gun is perched against his chest.
My finger is on the trigger.
He pulls.
Bang.
26
Ava
The silence that follows is overwhelming as Marcus stumbles backward.
Blood spills from his chest.
I gasp and cover my mouth with my hand, but it doesn’t stop the shriek from coming out.
“Now, neither of you will have to live with killing me.” He falls down onto the floor, blood seeping from his wound.
“No!” I rush toward him and throw the gun away, using the towel to try to stop the bleeding, but it won’t work. “Don’t die.”
“God, it hurts …” He groans.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t mean to shoot you …” I say.
“You didn’t shoot me. I did. I pulled the trigger. Don’t you ever feel guilty. It was my time.” With what little strength he has left, he grips my wrist tight and whispers, “I was going to die anyway. It’s better this way. At least, now I don’t have to shrivel up like a plant.”
My lip quivers as I stare at him when Daniel reemerges behind me.
“It’s true,” Daniel says. “He was going to die. Now or later, it doesn’t make a difference.”
“What?” I stammer. “How?”
“He asked me to lie for him, asked me not to tell you that he has a brain tumor, and it’s spreading fast.”
Words cannot describe the pain I feel.
It’s worse than all the lashes I’ve endured over these years.
Yet it finally makes sense now.
His headaches. The puking. The listlessness and his con
stant changing moods. All of it suddenly fits together in one, eerie puzzle.
Marcus coughs and leans into me as far as he can. “Run away with him, Ava.”
“What, why? No,” I say.
He drunkenly puts a finger on my lips, blood oozing out of him. “Shh … It’s okay. Just go.”
I shake my head. “I can’t. Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
He coughs again, blood spilling out of his mouth. “Because I didn’t want you to worry about me,” he says, cupping my face, caressing my cheek with a bloodied finger.
I lean into his hand, tears running down my cheeks, which he swipes away. “Daniel’s right. I was going to die anyway, whether it was here or not. It was only a matter of time. I’ve been sick for a long time.”
“But I barely even noticed …”
“I’m good at hiding things,” he says, smiling as if it’s funny.
“Why would you hide that from me? Were you afraid we’d use it against you? That we’d run if we knew? That we’d attack you?”
He cocks his head, sadness appearing in the depths of his eyes. “No, Ava … I didn’t want to tell you because I love you. Because I didn’t want you to know I had only a little time left to live.”
“No …” I shake my head. “How could you love me when you took me from my home?”
“I did many bad things in my life, Ava, all of which are unforgivable. But I tried. I tried so hard to atone for my sins. I regret all of it, except one thing …” He looks deeply into my eyes. “Rescuing both of you was the best and the only right thing I ever did.”
His hand drops and he heaves, blood pouring out.
“Ava …” Daniel places his hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t …” I say.
“Go with him, Ava,” Marcus says. “This is what you wanted. What I wanted for you too. What you deserve. Freedom.”
“You’re letting us … go?” My grip on the towel around his belly is fading.
“Yes,” he says. “Live your life, Ava. Live it to the fullest, see the world, enjoy everything you can for as long as it lasts.” He looks at Daniel for a second. “With him.”
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