33. WYNTER

33

WYNTER

A foggy haze has settled over my mind, making it hard to think. This is a feeling I‘d hoped would never return.

There’s something on my head, it kinda feels like a pillowcase. It's keeping me mostly in the dark apart from the spots of white light that filter through the fabric. Am I outside?

My hands are tied behind my back but my legs are free and I manage to sit myself up on what feels like a bed.

Pieces of what happened slowly come back to me.

Daniella . She took me, but why?

I hear the tap of heels and then the screech of a metal gate. It turns my stomach over. I’d know that sound anywhere. It’s haunted my dreams for months.

“No,” I say quickly, shaking my head to try and get whatever this thing is off my head. “I can’t breathe. No!”

I can’t be here again.

“It’s alright, take some deep breaths,” Daniella says then suddenly the fabric is pulled away. I gasp for air as my eyes are assaulted by the harsh light of the basement. My head spins as I take it all in. It’s exactly the same. The bed I’m on is still in the cell. The rest of the place is completely bare.

“Drink this.” She holds a cup to my mouth and I knock it to the floor as I struggle away from her.

“I’m not drinking anything you give me. Why the hell am I here? Why…why are you doing this?”

She stands over me, scowling like I’m a naughty child. “I already told you to stay calm. You’ll hurt the baby if you get too stressed.”

Baby? Fuck. Now I remember.

“I know it’s not the nicest place to be in, but it’s only temporary. As soon as the doctor’s been to check on you then we can leave,” Daniella says way too calmly.

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

She starts pacing up and down. Her movements making me feel dizzy.

How are we even here? I thought the police had cordoned the house off.

“Tell me what’s going on. Were you working with Dmitri?”

Daniella scoffs out a laugh. “Tommaso should never have gotten in with him. That’s when it all went wrong. But he got greedy thinking he could have any girl he wanted.” She looks at me and sighs. “It did make my life easier not having to find the girls myself, but he and that damn security team got too rough with them. Went through them like candy, the greedy bastards. It wasn’t until you that he actually slowed down. I wasn't sure why he took such a liking to you, but I see it now. It was always meant to be you.”

My brain’s struggling to keep up with anything she’s saying. “You’re crazy.”

Her head snaps my way and she charges over, backhanding me. I fall to the side and she gasps in shock. “Oh god, I’m sorry. Are you okay?” She helps me sit up and presses the back of her hand to my forehead before touching my stomach. The motherly gestures make me feel sick.

“I should have kept a better eye on you. To be honest, I was jealous. You were all so young and fertile. Nothing like this withered old hag.” She gives me a weak smile as she brushes the hair from my face. “Once we have this baby then I can do everything right.”

“I’m not pregnant,” I tell her a gain. How many times do I need to say it for her to believe me?

“Don’t be silly. There’s no point denying it. All the signs are there. The orange juice at the fundraiser, the prenatal vitamins in your cabinet. Noah admitted it. That’s not something you joke about. A baby is a precious gift.” Her fingers start clawing into my stomach as she gets this far-off look. “Not everyone gets this special chance. You should be so grateful. I certainly am.”

Prenatals? I don’t have any… she can't mean my supplements? How could she know about them?

I look down at her hand on my stomach and see the bandage wrapping around it. “How did you get that?”

She shakes her head at me and stands up again. “You gave me quite the nasty cut. I was very disappointed in you that night. You were clearly high and you were drinking!” Her voice goes shrill. “You definitely shouldn’t be doing that in your condition. But it’s all fine now. I’m going to make sure you stay healthy and do everything this baby needs. I just need to get hold of Doctor Price.”

She heads back into the main area of the basement and tries to make a call.

“How did you even get in the house?” I ask. While she’s distracted I test out the binding around my wrist. It’s cutting in painfully, meaning it’s most likely a zip tie.

“Gregory had the code for the gate on his phone and I made a copy of the house key after swiping them both from his office. The old fool thanked me for finding them when I returned them. Why won’t he pick up?” Daniella groans and furiously taps at her phone screen. Luka did a good job of covering Edward’s death up if she doesn’t have a clue he’s missing.

“But why then? You could have come for me at any time.” Shifting back on the bed, I lift my knees up, and the frame creaks. She looks over at me, but doesn’t stop me from moving.

What are the chances she didn’t check my boots before bringing me here?

“I was happy to leave you with Noah until closer to your due date since I was keeping a close eye on you both anyway. Then I saw him speaking with Dmitri. I couldn’t have you being turned into a whore again and taking my baby with you.”

“You honestly believe that if I was actually pregnant it would be yours?” I blurt out and her face cracks, her left eye twitching.

“Not by blood. After the tenth failed girl it started to sink in that the problem wasn’t just me. You and Noah look so much like Tommaso and I did when we were your age. The child will easily pass as mine.”

“No one’s going to believe that someone your age can have a child.”

“They will!” She cries out, tears now in her eyes. “I’ve been nothing but patient for all these years, I deserve to be happy.”

Having already pushed my luck too much, I bite my tongue. She’s volatile and I don’t know what she’s capable of.

There’s no new pain in my back so I can only assume that the tracker is still there. All I need is to buy myself time.

Changing tactics I say, “Noah would believe me if I told him about this. About you and your baby. He can help us. You wouldn’t have to hide.”

Daniella looks at me with hope for a second, but it’s quickly crushed. “Men are all the same. They don’t really want to help us no matter how many times they say it. I was with Tommaso for almost fifty years. He stuck by me through every negative pregnancy test, each round of IVF, and all the expensive fertility treatments. We tried for years. It became too much to bear. I couldn’t handle all the false hope and seeing everyone around us moving on with their perfect families. We grew apart, and one day I found him with a whore in our bed. I should have divorced him then, but you know what I did?” Her pale eyes lock with mine and I see the true darkness inside her. “I watched as he finished inside her, then I dragged her down to the basement.”

I feel sick to my stomach hearing this. They were doing it for years. She’s just as bad as him and all the rest of the men.

Which means she deserves the same fate as them.

Shifting my legs to the side, I reach my bound arms around to my boot. I feel the end of the handle and slowly draw it out with my fingertips before grabbing it tightly and hiding it behind my back.

“Why did you keep doing it when none of them were getting pregnant? Why not just adopt?” If I keep her talking she’ll stay distracted enough for me to cut through the tie. It’s awkward from this angle and my hand throbs, but I manage to twist the blade upright and start to saw away at the plastic.

“I’m not a proper wife if I don’t give him a child. My barren womb may not have been able to fulfill his wishes, but I could still do everything in my power to find the perfect surrogate.”

I'm sure those are his words not hers. From the sound of it, Tommaso was probably emotionally abusing her for years.

She keeps on talking and I keep on cutting the zip tie. “Tommaso had a low sperm count. He wasn’t infertile like me. He wasn’t broken. He assured me there was still a chance that the child would be biologically his. It almost took once. One girl got pregnant, but those stupid men made her miscarry. After that, I tried to get them to keep away. But did they listen? No. Tommaso compromised with them, said they could use the girl’s mouths for pleasure and nothing else. After all, we couldn't have their seed where only Tommaso’s was supposed to be.”

They did more than that though.

“Why work with Dmitri in the first place? Why not keep picking women up like you were?”

“As long as Tommaso fed him information they were given to us for free. There were less risks for us working with Dmitri than getting caught by the police for picking up the wrong whore.”

“Information on what?”

She waves her hand at me as she keeps trying to call the doctor. Each failed attempt getting her more and more worked up as she paces. “City council business. That's why they had him run for mayor.”

“Why would Dmitri need that information, isn't he just a thug?” I ask as the zip tie finally gives. Pain throbs in my wrists and I have to bite my tongue to not make a sound.

“Dmitri was greedy. He wanted everything,” she snaps.

I'm tempted to charge at her with the dagger now, but my legs are too shaky to do anything yet. I need more time. “Is that why he had Tommaso killed?”

She stops and slowly turns to me. “That wasn't Dmitri. I made sure that Tommaso had deposited enough in the sperm bank and I made the decision to get rid of him. It wasn't a hard choice to make in the end. I'd still get my baby. You were actually supposed to die with him that night. But now I know it was always meant to be you.” She smiles at me like I’m the answer to all her prayers. “You surviving and this baby are a sign that it's finally my time to be a mother."

I want to scream at her how fucked up this is, but I choose my words carefully. "He's gone now, you don't have to keep doing this for him.”

Shaking her head at me like I’m a dumb child who doesn’t understand the grown-up talk, she sighs, “It’s still his legacy. That’s what he cared about the most. In the end, I get to have my baby and his name will live on.”

His name will never be heard again if I have anything to do with it. She tries to call the doctor once more and when it doesn’t go through she says, “We’ll have to go see Doctor Price ourselves. His house isn’t that far away. He’s always been discreet before I’m sure he’ll help now.”

No, I can't have her take me elsewhere. Staying here I have more of a chance of Noah finding me.

“Edward Price is gone. Dead. Just like everyone else who touched me. Noah saw to that. Which is why we should stay here. You’re right. Men do lie all the time. Noah’s been lying to me for months. I don’t think we can trust him, which is why we should hide out here until it’s safe to leave.”

I can’t tell what she’s thinking, whether she believes me or not. Afraid she’s about to call my bluff, I quickly ask, “Can I have that water now? I’m feeling lightheaded and the last thing I want is to pass out and hurt the baby.”

“Yes of course.” Her expression softens back into the motherly gaze she gave me earlier. “I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere.”

Like I have anywhere to go, you psycho.

As soon as the basement door closes behind her I pull my arms to my front, rolling my wrists to get some life back in them.

Fuck, how did this all go so wrong? I lean my head back against the wall to gather myself for a moment.

After everything, I’m back here on the same old creaky frame and uncomfortably thin mattress. In the last memory I have of this room, I was being taken to have a baby and now I’m pretending I’m actually having one.

I refuse to die down here and this time I don’t need some dark knight to swoop in and save me. I can do this myself.

Using the bars for stability I pull myself up and head to the stairs. I’m still off balance from the sedative and I can’t risk being caught going up them so I wait at the bottom with my back pressed to the wall. It’s only a minute or so before Daniella comes back.

Her story is a tragic one. I'll give her that. But it doesn’t excuse anything she’s done. So many people are dead because of her.

I listen carefully to the sound of her heels clicking down the stairs. Every time one of the guards came down these steps I counted each heavy footfall.

Eight…nine…ten.

Nearly there. I place my hand over my mouth so she can’t hear my heavy breathing.

Eleven.

One more.

Twelve.

Pressing myself back as hard as I can to the wall I watch her pass me as she goes to the cell. It’s plainly obvious it’s empty, the lighting down here leaving little in the way of hiding spaces.

“Wynter?” she calls out and I rush up behind her, stabbing her in the back. Her shriek of pain bounces off the concrete walls.

I run upstairs and through the open door. There’s no time to decide which way to go so I take my chances with right. The house is a wreck. I have to manoeuvre around tipped over furniture and narrowly avoid skidding on loose documents that are left scattered all over the floors.

“Don’t run from me. I don’t want to have to hurt you!” Looking back over my shoulder I see Daniella struggling to catch up.

I make a sharp left into a room with large windows and go straight for them, intending to throw myself out. A gun goes off, making me drop to my knees and cover my head before I can reach them.

“I said stop!” Daniella pants and I hear her getting closer. I roll onto my ass and scramble backward. My dagger is held tight behind me. Its handle slick with sweat or maybe it’s blood.

“The baby. You don’t want to get the baby,” I quickly say.

“I’d never hurt my child. They’ll be fine as long as I make sure you don’t lose too much blood.” Her arm sways as she points the gun at my leg. A trail of blood drips down her other arm that’s hanging limp by her side.

“No, please! It’s too risky. You can hardly take me to the hospital. I’ll come with you. We can get in the car and leave.”

Daniella’s eyes dart back and forth across my face.

“I want to be able to trust you,” I tell her. “This baby needs someone good to care for them.”

"I am good!" she snarls. The gun still shaking in her grip. I need to get the aim off me.

“Will you help me up? I feel faint.”

That worried motherly look settles on her face again and she places the gun on a nearby table so she can help me up. Pretending that I can’t stand up straight without her, I lean into her shoulder.

“I’ve got you,” she says, soothingly stroking my back.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. You know better now.”

Looking at her up close she seems so frail. Years of abuse and neglect have worn her down.

“I’m sorry he made you feel you were less because you couldn’t have a child. I believe that if you wound up with anyone but him you might have had a chance at happiness. It’s all over now. You won’t hurt anyone else again, including yourself.”

She gasps as I push the dagger into her stomach. “No,” she chokes out. The blade sliding free as she pulls away.

“That is for every single woman you lured into this house and abused for your own gain. No one deserves to go through the torture you and Tommaso put us through. Death is a mercy for the sins you’ve committed.”

She stumbles back, clutching her stomach. Her legs hit the table and she leans on it for support. The gun is right there and she grabs it before I can react.

A nasty snarl of contempt twists her face as she points it straight at me. Then it morphs into anguish. Sadness. Grief. She drops the gun and sobs. “Please make sure that baby has the best life.”

Even this close to death she’s holding onto that hope. The good thing to do would be to let her go peacefully with that knowledge. But peace is the last thing she deserves.

“There’s no baby. There never was. You latched onto the idea of one. But this womb,” I clutch my stomach, “will never carry a child. I refuse to bring life into this broken world. That is my choice and it will never be taken away from me again. Whether or not I have a child doesn’t change my worth. I am more than what’s inside here. I’m sorry you never had anyone to tell you that until now.”

A howl of pain rips from her chest and she crumples to her knees.

Wiping my dagger off, I slide it back into my boot.

“There’s one thing I need to know before I leave you here to rot. What did you do with the bodies of all your other victims?”

She doubles over as another wave of pain hits her. “Not all of them died. Some we swapped for newer ones from Dmitri. The ones that didn’t survive he took care of them for us.”

“But Evie was found here.”

Daniella looks at me confused. She didn't even know her name.

“You buried her under the fucking rose bush!”

Sweat coats her face as she scrunches her eyes up in pain. “There was too much blood. Dmitri refused to take her so I buried her here.”

Shaking my head in disgust, I walk away.

“Don’t leave me here, please,” she begs as she grabs my leg

Looking down at her I say, “You will die alone, Daniella. Think of every single girl you kept locked in the dark, terrified for their life. Think of Evie bleeding out with no one to hold her hand through the pain. You will die like they did. Cold and alone.”

Her fingers slip off the leather and she falls to her side. More sobs and pained cries tearing out of her.

I walk away, without an ounce of guilt in my bones.

As I step back out into the hall I look to my right where the basement door is still open. Just past it is the front door. I can’t help but laugh at how close my freedom was for all that time.

Daniella’s sobs come to an end and the house falls still. It doesn’t scare me anymore. It’s simply an empty shell harboring so many secrets and grief. It’s best being laid to rest.

I don’t leave through the front door. Instead, I search the house until I find what I’m looking for. In the kitchen, I gather up all of the bottles of alcohol that haven’t been smashed and find a pack of matches in a drawer.

Taking everything upstairs, I search for the main bedroom. There are bloodstains on the floor—most likely from Noah and Dean’s job here—that lead me to where I need to be. Even when I'm hating him Noah is still helping me. That's all he's wanted to do since he saved me.

I have very little memory of the bedroom, but it’s like my body knows this is the one. A chill creeps over my skin and I feel the heavy weight of the chain around my ankle. It’s gone now. Probably taken as evidence to be stored away and forgotten.

The bed is a mess, the sheets a crumpled pile on top of it. I uncap one of the bottles and pour it on top. Then I light a match and let the fabric catch. Within seconds it spreads onto the alcohol.

I watch the flames take shape with a numbness inside me. This should feel good, but it’s like something’s missing,

Back downstairs I pour alcohol onto Daniella’s body and drop a match. This time I don’t stay to watch.

My next stop is the basement. One final descent into hell.

Standing at the bottom of the steps I stare at the cell and wonder at what point Daniella decided to install it.

I go to the bed and do the same as upstairs. Lighting up the mattress. This one catches quicker and I step back to avoid getting burnt.

My body feels frozen as I stand in the middle of the room. The heat from the fire not touching me at all.

I’ve done what I wanted. Killed the person who made my life not worth living, but what do I do now? Can I really just go back home to Summer like nothing happened?

I hear a crash upstairs. Something on the upper floor breaking as the fire spreads.

“Wynter!”

My breath catches at the sound of the familiar voice. It can’t be him. It must be the smoke going to my head.

“Wynter?” the voice roars again and my cheeks get damp. Bringing my hand to my face I feel my tears.

“Noah?”

Slowly I make my ascent up the stairs, leaving the basement for the final time. A dark figure blocks the doorway.

Although the devil awaits me, this walk doesn’t feel like I’m marching to my death.

“Wynter?” his voice catches.

I cry harder and he grabs me, lifting me onto his body, my arms and legs wrapping around him. With my face buried deep into his neck, I breathe him in. That same spicy smell that stirred something inside me the very first time he carried me from this hell. These warm hands that wrapped tight around me, giving me everything I needed. Warmth, security, love .

“Noah,” I whimper.

His grip tightens on me and the next thing I know he’s slamming me into the wall. His firm body crushes me and it’s perfect. I lift my head and he kisses me before I can even get a look at his face. His cock hardens and my entire body burns for him. When he wraps a hand around my throat I can barely breathe, but I don’t fight him. Embracing his need for me, I reach up and drag my nails through his hair.

“You are never leaving me again. Even if I have to tie you to the bed. I will not lose you again.” His words are strained and tense. All I can manage is to nod in response.

We can fight about it later. He’s far from forgiven. None of what he’s done has been forgotten. But right now I need his presence. This is what I’ve been missing. Him.

Nothing felt right here without him. He’s a part of me now. A toxin that’s wound its way into my bloodstream and there’s no cure for it. But the constant exposure is what’s made me stronger, more resilient.

“We need to leave before the cops find us or we’re burnt alive. Not sure which will come first,” Noah says as there’s another crash upstairs. “What happened?”

“It was Daniella. She started it all and I finished it.”

Noah nods in understanding as he carries me outside.

“You can put me down now.”

“There’s not a chance in hell I’m ever letting go of you again.”

I stare at his face. Taking him in and trying to figure out what I’m feeling. I’m not scared of him. Far from it. I’m definitely still pissed, but there’s something more. Whatever’s been kindling between us is still there and it’s burning stronger than ever.

Although I’m far from being ready to forgive him, I’m also not ready to let him go. I let my head fall onto his shoulder as he once more carries me away from my prison. The difference is, this time I get a choice whether to go with him or not. And I’m choosing him.