“I’ll come back for the car,” he said.
In a daze, he maneuvered me forward with a gentle arm until we were back on his estate, back on familiar property.
A place I considered home.
We walked past the maze and swapped a knowing smile with each other.
Ridley was heading our way to meet us and beside him, walked Archie. My brother took off in a run toward us, trying to get to me, opening his arms and slamming into my chest in the biggest hug he’d ever given me.
“What happened?” He crushed his face against me.
“It’s over.”
“Dad—Stephen, he was going to hurt you—”
I nodded. “Yes, he’s dead. We’re free.”
“We’re free? We can go out and things?”
“We can go out.”
Archie looked as dazed and confused as me. Lost. Like he had stumbled out of the maze behind us, disoriented from the hell he had escaped.
“Dad told me you were at a friend’s house,” I asked him.
“No, I overheard Dad arguing with Ridley about you—” He glanced Ridley’s way—“so I looked up his number and went to his office.”
“You ran away?” My voice was wistful, proud of his bravery.
“I came looking for you.” Archie fell into my arms again and hugged me like he’d never let go. “He told me Cassius was protecting you.”
“What do you need?” I asked him. “What can I get you?”
“Just seeing you’re safe is all I need.”
“You’re the best brother.”
Archie looked nervously toward the door.
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you want to clean up first?” asked Cassius.
“What?” And then I realized what he was insinuating and looked toward the house. “They’re in there?”
“Yes,” he replied warmly.
Cassius stepped toward Archie and placed a supportive hand on his shoulders. “You’ll always have a place with us.”
I watched Cassius as he kindly reassured my brother.
With us, he was telling him he could live with us—if he wanted.
I knew Cassius loved me, but still, I wasn’t sure what that meant. I had hoped, but as my heart thumped rapidly in my chest, I was scared of what he really meant.
He turned and pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head. “I’ll fight for the rest of my life to make you happy, Anya.”
Tears welled in my eyes, and I bit back a sob.
“Thank you,” I mouthed, the words lodged in my throat.
“Ready?” He gestured toward the house.
Taking a deep, cleansing breath, I walked that way with him and drew on Cassius’s strength as he led me inside the house. We made our way toward where Glassman’s children were waiting.
Grief stuck in my throat for what we’d have to tell them.
Turning the corner, we entered the room.
The hairs on my nape prickled.
She looked like me. We could be sisters with a similar height and similar features. The only difference was in her eyes. Not the color. No, that was the same. But it was also what reflected in her gaze. She looked jaded, like me. Seemingly hurt by life.
The same pain shimmered in her brother’s eyes. As I watched them studying us studying them, I suspected they were thinking the same. That our lives were interwoven in all its complex and dangerous beauty.
The Glassmans had sheltered them, too. The children were also victims of them, even after living in all that luxury. But they’d been tortured in their own way.
The fallout of those years had yet to unravel.
None of us would ever be the same.
I would tell them my story. They would tell me theirs. And afterward, we would make our own way in the world. Because that was what we’d always craved, the freedom to make our own choices.
Knowing Archie was safe meant breathing without fear was possible again.
I had survived. Fallen in love.
Found myself.
Found him.
And that was all that mattered.
6 years later . . .
Cassius
Bright rays of sunlight beamed in through the center of the maze. This secret space in the middle held sacred memories. No one knew how to get in here. No one other than Anya and myself. It had become our secluded sanctuary.
Life had settled tremendously since I was a teenager and hid here with my sister. This space had once haunted my dreams—now, all that had softened, and I saw it differently. A place that had sheltered me when I needed it.
The place Anya and I had made love for the first time—all that affection pushed out the ghosts of my past.
I’d never thought this possible before her, but now, there was one more person who was learning the path in here.
It might take her years to figure the maze out, but for now, my daughter wobbled around it with the same awe Anya had once had when she’d entered here.
That moment of me letting the bird go free all those years ago would represent so much to us. The memories meant so much. I’d wanted to come in here to replay it, somehow send a message back to the man who’d once stood here, me, and reassure him all would be well.