Chapter 14

McKenize

Iwant to go after Phoenix, but I know the bomb I just dropped on him isn't something he was expecting. So, I'll give him space. For now. After sitting in the library for another thirty minutes, I decide to go take a shower. Maybe when I get out, he'll be ready to talk. I stop by the kitchen when I hear Phillip and Clara's voice. They both glance up, smiling at me.

"Miss Kenzie, how are you?" Phillip asks as he places a glass dish in the oven. It looks like some kind of casserole. I haven't baked anything since I've been back. Maybe after I take a shower, I'll make Phoenix some cookies.

"I'm okay. Have you seen Phoenix?" I ask. He and Clara share a look.

"We saw him briefly. He went outside for a little while, but he and Rex just left to go to his office in the city," Clara answers.

"Oh." My stomach drops. He didn't tell me. What does that mean? I pull my bottom lip between my teeth before forcing myself to shake it off. "Well, how are you two?" I ask them. I haven't talked to either of them much since I've been back. I've been so preoccupied with deciding on telling Phoenix or not I was stuck in my own world.

Clara walks over and offers me a smile. "We're doing fine."

Phillip turns and looks at me as he leans against the counter. "I sure miss you in the kitchen with me."

"I was just thinking that. Nix is having a bit of a bad day, so I thought after I take a shower I'd make some cookies." Clara and Phillip both nod in agreement. I wave at them and make my way up to our bedroom. I hope he makes it home in time for dinner.

I pull the last batch of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. I went a little crazy and made almost a hundred cookies. Maybe Phoenix can take me to Larry's house and I can drop some off for him, too. I clean up my mess as Phillip puts some homemade biscuits in the oven.

"Once these are done, dinner will be ready," Phillip says. Phoenix isn't home yet and I haven't heard from him all day. I tried to call him earlier, but it went straight to his voicemail.

What if he doesn't believe me? What if he doesn't come home? What if he tells me to go back to Larry's?

I swallow a few times until the lump finally goes away. I finish cleaning when the timer for the biscuits goes off. I want to cry, but I inhale deeply and force myself to stop thinking about it.

"I'll go get Anna," I murmur.

I glance down at myself. I'm wearing a long black maxi dress. I thought it looked good with my silver hair and red lips. I wanted to look nice for Phoenix. Knocking on Anna's door, I open it when she tells me to come in.

She looks up from the book she's been reading and smiles at me. "You look pretty," she says. I lift one side of my mouth, trying to smile. At least she noticed. I've noticed she rarely leaves her room and I don't like it. I did the same thing when I first got here, but after a while I couldn't stand it anymore.

But she doesn't seem to want to leave. It's not healthy. "Thank you." I gesture behind me. "Dinner is ready. It smells really good."

She closes her book and sets it on the table next to her chair. "Oh, I'll eat in here."

I interlace my fingers together in front of me as I study her. "No. You'll eat in the kitchen with me." I'm being firm, but I think she needs it. She needs help to get out of this bubble she's created for herself.

She blinks several times before leaning back in her chair. She runs her hand down the arm of the chair and glances outside. "Could we eat in the breakfast nook instead?" she asks.

I tilt my head at her, trying to hear what she's saying without saying it. "Why?"

She swallows and looks down at her lap. "The kitchen is so big," she whispers. I walk to her and kneel down in front of her, grasping her hands.

"Oh, Anna." I don't know what to say. "You don't like big spaces?" I ask.

She clings to my hands and squeezes her eyes shut. "There's all those windows, then the different hallways that lead to the kitchen, and the living room. There's so many spaces for someone to come in and me not see them." A blush creeps up her neck and she covers her face with her hands.

I lean forward and wrap my arms around her waist, holding her tight in a hug. She returns my embrace, her cheek on top of my head. "But you were in the living room that night Phoenix and I came home. You even asked to go out with us."

She shrugs. "I have good days and I have bad days. That was a good day. And as soon as I said that, I regretted it," she admits.

I lean back and sigh. "I hate the people that did this to you. I'm going to find them and kill them."

She sniffs. "Can I help you?"

I chuckle. "Definitely. We'll kill them, then have a party." A tear slips out of her eye and I wipe it away with my thumb. "Do you remember who took you?" I ask her.

She leans back, her hands clutch at the arms of the chair. I stand and sit in the other chair, giving her space. "I'm pretty sure Regina had something to do with it."

I try to think if she's ever mentioned Regina before, but can't think of anyone. "Who's that?"

"She was the wife of Steve, the man who bought me. But I'm not entirely sure." She takes a deep breath and brings her thumb up to her mouth, biting on the nail. She leans forward. "I think Dr. Chamberland was there," she whispers. Adrenaline floods my nerves so fast my hands and fingers tingle. "The dean from Brighton was there and some woman with eyes that remind me of Phoenix."

My ears ring as I think back to what Phoenix told me about the dean wanting to buy me and how he had bought other girls. Did he want to buy Anna too, but lost her as well? And Dr. Chamberland. I didn't tell Phoenix about that memory that had returned.

"Did…" I trail off as I try to shuffle through the rapid thoughts going through my mind. "Did they hurt you?"

Anna pulls her legs up into the chair and wraps her arms around them. "The dean… he did things to me." Anna's fingers turn white because of how hard she's clutching her legs. "I always felt uneasy around him at Brighton." Her voice catches and she closes her eyes for a few moments. A tightness forms in my chest. I bring my hand up to rub at it, hoping it will go away, but it only gets worse.

"Dr. Chamberland never touched me and he always had a mask on, so at first I didn't recognize him when I got here. But one day he said something that reminded me of being in that container and I knew it was him. I told Rex I didn't want to see him again." She sucks in a breath.

I bring a hand up, covering my open mouth as she continues.

"The woman. She never hurt me, but she would sometimes watch while the dean did things to me. And she loved to taunt me and tell me how much she was going to sell me for. But she never did. She kept me in that container. They'd move me every few weeks to a different container like they were trying to cover their tracks, but I know other girls were put in containers and sent away on ships. I could hear them crying."

A sob escapes Anna, and it's taking all I have to keep it together. We sit quietly for several minutes. I don't know what to say. My mind has gone completely blank. All I can think is how much I want to make these people suffer. I remembered Dr. Chamberland the other night. After they had hosed me off and chained me back to the bed, he was talking to Nix's mom and told her he was going to adjust the dosage of whatever drug they were giving me.

Whatever it was would affect my memory and I wouldn't remember any of what they did to me. He told her it was time to begin thinking about this because Phoenix was close to finding me. Dr. Chamberland is the reason I can't remember. He's probably also the security breach. Phoenix fired all his security guys, and it was Dr. Chamberland the whole time.

"One night," Anna continues. "A man opened the container. I could tell he wasn't expecting to see me. I don't remember what he looked like. I don't think I ever saw his face; it was so dark. He closed the door, but came back a little later with some food and water. The next day, Rex and Phoenix showed up and rescued me."

I blink as I digest what Anna told me. "Why didn't you ever tell Rex?"

She wipes at her face and I realize she's wiping her tears away. "I wanted to. There were a few times I almost did, but I felt like he didn't want to hear what happened to me. Since I've been back, the majority of conversations have been surface level. Anytime it would begin to get deeper, he runs off to do some kind of errand." She shrugs and slowly drops her legs back to the floor. "I finally stopped trying."

I lean forward in my chair and rest my hand on top of hers. "I'm so sorry."

"You don't have to say that. You've been through your own horrors." She squeezes my hand and offers me a sad smile.

"I had some memories return a few days ago." She tilts her head at me as she waits for me to continue. "The woman with the eyes that look like Phoenix." I take a deep breath. "That's Phoenix's mother. And I remember Dr. Chamberland drugging me so I'd lose my memory." Anna's hands cover her mouth and her eyes flick over my shoulder.

"What the fuck?"