Chapter 39

Chapter Thirty-Nine

C hrissie relayed the story to the police officer who had been dispatched to Kiera’s flat, going back to the day Athena and Hari had returned to their cabin.

Lucian refused to let them in, berating them for their lack of trust, their lack of respect, their selfishness and their disregard for the group. He told them they could never come back.

“I could see them, looking tired and cold through the window, carrying bags of shopping. There was something else in their eyes too, though. It was like they knew something we didn’t, like something had happened. He turned them away. They tried to leave the food for us but he wouldn’t let them. We didn’t see them again. I don’t know what happened to them after that.”

“What happened to you after that?” asked PC Phillips, who had told Chrissie to call her Geri.

“He punished us for not stopping them from going. For three days we had no food and weren’t allowed out of the cabin at all. I was afraid. I thought he was going to kill us; he was so angry. It was then I started to notice that while we were all looking pale and thin, he looked healthy and still had a rounded tummy that peeped over his belt. I started to wonder whether he was telling us the truth. Then on the fourth day he set out a feast of all sorts of food and congratulated us for passing the test.”

It was at that point that Chrissie realised she needed to escape and never come back. The rollercoaster of fear and hope and disappointment and anxiety and relief was unsustainable.

“I started planning. He had been away before, and he’d do it again. I had to take my chances because I couldn’t keep living like this. Without Athena, I saw it for what it was.”

“And what was that?” asked Geri.

“A cult.”

It was the first time she’d used the word, and Kiera found herself breathing out a sigh of relief. For the first time, her ex-wife could see what had happened. Although she knew this was really just the beginning for Chrissie.

The conversation carried on for several hours before Geri drew things to a close and said she would be back in touch soon. “Can she stay here with you?” she asked, turning to Kiera. Kiera nodded. She didn’t really want Chrissie to stay with her, it was all too much, but she didn’t want to say that to the officer, and she really didn’t know where else Chrissie could go. She seemed to have cut ties with almost everyone else in her life. She wasn’t Kiera’s responsibility. She knew that rationally, but she didn’t feel she could send her away now, after everything that had happened.

“I’m so sorry,” said Chrissie after Geri had left.

“You’ve said that,” said Kiera wearily .

“No, I mean for all of it. I couldn’t see what was in front of me. I’d stopped seeing you. Lucian filled my brain with poison and before I knew what I was doing, I was with Athena, I was pushing you away, I was hurting you. I will regret that for as long as I live.”

It wasn’t that Kiera didn’t believe her, but she still wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it. Her brain was still thundering, but she could feel the defeat in Chrissie’s voice and felt an unexpected sympathy for her. This wasn’t a play. She moved over to sit beside Chrissie on the sofa and placed an arm around her shoulder. It was the first time she’d touched her ex-wife since they’d got back; the first time since they’d separated.

“Let me put it all right, if I can?” said Chrissie, her eyes pleading and looking into Kiera’s.

Kiera’s breath caught in her throat. Somewhere, deep down, she could see the Chrissie she used to know. The one she had married.