“Yes,” I reply. “I didn’t know she was still alive, so when I found out, I had to see her.”
“And? Did you like what you see?” he asks, scratching his face. “Did you take a good look at the scars and the pain she suffered thanks to the fire?” He clutches the chair. “So that you could escape?”
My throat tightens as though he has his hands wrapped around my neck right this moment.
“I …” My eyes falter. I can’t look at him. Not when we both know I caused all of her pain.
“You know exactly what you did when you escaped. And for what reason, exactly?” he spits. “Did you hate it here that much?”
I don’t reply. I don’t know what to say without making him hate me even more.
“You’re my daughter. If you’d only told me …” His voice sounds as though he’s lamenting on our lost time together. “You’re both the same. You and your mother,” he growls, forming a fist with his hand. “If only I hadn’t picked that woman to be my wife.”
“I’m glad you did. She’s the best mother a girl could ever wish for,” I reply in a moment of courage.
“Hmm … you really think so?” he says, tilting his head.
This sounds like a test, like there is no right answer to any of this. “I wish I could’ve grown up with a mother like her. That I could’ve been there.”
He looks at me. The wait seems eternal, and sweat has started to drip down my back.
A smile appears. “I wished for the same thing.”
I smile back.
“But, unfortunately, that’s not how things went, and we can’t change the past.” He clears his throat. “However …”
The pause that follows makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“I’d like to know how you managed to escape at such a young age.” He leans forward in his throne-like chair. “Surely, you must’ve had help?”
I swallow hard. “I don’t remember. The details are hazy.”
It’s no lie. I didn’t remember, for the most part, though Noah brought back some of the memories that lingered in the back of my mind. But he doesn’t need to know that part.
“You sure you don’t remember anything?” he emphasizes.
“No,” I say. “Otherwise, I would’ve tried to find this Family a long time ago.”
Another wretched smile forms on his lips, which dissipates quickly. “Yet you escaped … twice.”
I suck on my bottom lip. “Because I needed to say goodbye to my former life one last time.”
Good one, Natalie.
“If you’d told me sooner you were my daughter, maybe I could’ve arranged such a thing without you going through all that hassle and putting a strain on our guards to go and find you. Hmm?” He leans back in his chair.
“I didn’t know I was your daughter until my mother told me on the day she set fire to the hut.”
His eyes twitch. “Interesting …” He licks his lips. “So you didn’t know you were born here?”
I shake my head.
“But your mother knew?”
I don’t want to throw her under the bus, but I guess it’s too late now.
“She only realized after I showed her the scarf,” I lie.
“What scarf?”
“The scarf she gave me before I … first escaped.”
“So you do remember something,” he says.
Shit. Shit, shit.
“No, no, I …” I mutter, feeling the heat rise under me. “I just had it on me as a child. I don’t remember anything else, just that I always had this scarf which carried the symbol of the Family.”
His eyes narrow. I wonder if he believes my story. I hope so.
“Let me see the scarf.”
“I don’t have it,” I reply. “It’s in the hut that I was made to leave after … marrying Noah.”
“I’ll have it fetched then,” he says, and he snaps his fingers.
Immediately, an elder comes forward from the shadows. I hadn’t even noticed him.
The president whispers into the man’s ear, who then immediately walks off.
Probably to pay a visit to Holly, April, and Emmy … if they’re even there. In fact, I’m starting to wonder if Emmy ever returned to this community. How do we know the helper Noah brought along didn’t just take her away so they could disappear? And if he did bring her back, where is she now? And is she unharmed?
“I’d like to know where my friend is,” I ask in a bold moment of courage.
“Oh … so you have wishes now,” he jests.
“I wouldn’t ask otherwise, but she was with me on the outside, and she was whisked away by one of the helpers, and I don’t know—”
He raises his hand. “I know. She’s been taken care of.”
Been taken care of?
A cold shiver runs up and down my spine.
“Is she … dead? Did that man kill her?” The question makes me want to vomit.
He frowns and cocks his head. “Oh, my sweet, sweet child … are you really that oblivious?” He’s mocking me. “I wouldn’t allow Noah off this property without someone to accompany him.”