I found myself creeping around the house.
Quietly taking the stairs down to the main floor, carefully treading the marble floor. I wanted to go unnoticed, not announce my approach.
I scanned the foyer. Maybe it was how big the house was, or maybe it was that no one was here, but it always felt empty.
There was something very creepy about this place. Almost like something sinister lurked around the corner. Secrets from what had made Cassius the man he was.
I couldn’t put my finger on why, but the foreboding lingered.
When my foot hit the final step landing me on the main floor, I looked around again to see if anyone was here.
Like always, the foyer was empty.
I went in search of something. Someone. But I knew in my heart I was searching for him. Because as much as I knew I shouldn’t speak with him, I couldn’t help it.
A moth to a flame.
The great hall was empty. Heading out, I stopped in my tracks. Halfway down the hallway, Cassius’s voice trailed from a room. His hushed tone proved he was talking low. Wanting to hear what he was saying but not wanting him to hear me, I removed my shoes and tiptoed toward the room the sound wafted out of.
Cassius wasn’t alone.
Another voice carried with his, proving another man was with him. Moving closer, until I was right outside the door, which stood ajar, I tried to listen to the voices echoing from within.
I remained perfectly still, ears straining to listen.
I heard my name.
My heart leaping like it might explode. I didn’t know why my body was having such a reaction; he was talking about me, and it threw me into a tailspin. Taking a deep inhale, forcing it in through my mouth, and willing the steadying breath to calm my body. Shaking, jaw tightening. Unsure of what I was so afraid of, but sensing it wasn’t good. Whatever it was, my very survival might even depend on it.
That familiar southern drawl that belonged to Ridley.
I held my breath, bracing to hear Cassius talk with his lawyer.
Ridley’s drawl was hushed. “Any contact with them?”
“You mean have they reached out?”
“Yes.”
“No, they’ve gone radio silent. And they know where she is now.”
“Well, that kind of fucks up your plan, right?” Ridley’s tone cut through the quiet. “I can’t believe her parents know she’s here. Have known this whole time and have done nothing to get her back.”
Unsteady, vision blurring as though trying to see through what they were saying, as though the words themselves formed images I couldn’t comprehend because they made no sense.
Mom and Dad knew I was here. They knew. All this time.
And they’d done nothing to get me out of here. They had no way of knowing that Cassius wasn’t torturing me. Or harming me in some way.
How can that be?
It was one thing not to come themselves but not to send help? It was impossible to comprehend. Impossible to believe.
“What do you think Glassman’s game plan is?” asked the slick lawyer, seemingly amused from that rumble of a laugh.
My body stiffened.
Cassius’s voice lowered. “If they haven’t come yet, I don’t think they will.”
“How does this affect things?”
“It doesn’t.”
I imagined Cassius shrugging after saying it—as though my life was being reduced to an annoyance to be dealt with.
I couldn’t hear anymore.
I needed to get away.
There was a plan in place, and as much as I wanted to know it, I couldn’t bring myself to stay here one more second. The voices in my head screamed to run. Run as fast as I could. But where? How could I find a place where I could be alone?
I ran toward the back door, needing air to breathe. On the way through the dining room, something caught my eye.
A bar.
Fully stocked.
Before I could think twice, my hand reached out and swept up a bottle of alcohol with a swanky-looking silver and white label. I didn’t even bother to check what I was taking. I ran, sprinting out of the house, desperate to suppress the truth—they’d abandoned me.
Warm musky air hit me as I tripped and righted myself. There was a dampness in the air that hung heavy with the threat of rain. I wondered how long until the storm came because that was what this felt like, an internal and external anguish swarming.
Running, I prayed for the sky to open and cleanse me. Cleanse these thoughts of rejection that plagued me. I’d always known my parents hadn’t cared, but now, now the proof struck with the purest agony, like a stake in my heart that was irreparable and permanent.
I knew where I was going before I took my first step.
Cassius might find me, but it didn’t matter. I’d given up caring. Given up the illusion of privacy.
Even as the hedges called to me, nature’s cocoon welcomed within its tall winding hallways of green.