Chapter 22

TWENTY-TWO

I kept shriekinguntil my voice grew hoarse. I couldn't stop staring at her while tripping over my legs and stumbling into Conrad, who immediately slapped his clammy hand over my mouth to muffle my cries.

I started to bite at his palm, but that made him slap the other hand over my mouth, too.

"Listen to me, you have exactly five minutes before my mother or father checks the cameras, and when they see this shitshow, they will, without a doubt, put you in a cage and you'll be one of those girls. So, Demi, I'm begging you to stop. Stop screaming. Pull yourself together. Now!" he whispered loudly into my ear with his hot breath blowing against my skin.

"Now, are you going to calm down?"

"Mm-hmm…" I nodded aggressively.

"Okay." He released his hands from my mouth, and I looked at the woman in front of me. She was wearing a short white dress; her hair was shaved off, and light stubble was growing in patches. Her eyes were bloodshot and the bags deepened around her eyes.

"Hello," she mouthed with her cracked lips and bemused eyes. The curve of her lips tipped upward in a demented smile. She began tracing the glass around my face without letting her grin drop.

"Don't engage with her. She's getting moved soon." Conrad tugged me away and quickly shut the curtains.

"Why is she in there, Conrad?" My voice shook as I closed my eyes with my hand across my pounding heart as if I could steady it.

"She's in there by choice."

"If she has psychiatric issues, then why is she not seeing a psychiatrist? Why would she need your dad?"

"My dad is helping them, Demi. He's doing a free experimental study—it's actually FDA approved. He's saving the lives no one else could." Conrad tilted my head up, forcing me to open my eyes and look at him.

"Do you actually believe that?" I squinted at him as his fingers traced my jawline.

"Yes, I do."

"You're living in denial, because denial allows us to be blind to the truth we don't want to see since our minds don't think we're ready to handle them." I moved his hand off my face.

"You may be right, Demi, but denial also keeps me alive here, and it's in your best interest to submerge yourself in it, too. Please, Demi."

Forcing myself to nod in agreement, I walked to the cart and looked around the meticulously clean room. "I think I'm done here. What do I need to clean next?" I whimpered.

I could see Conrad release a breath of relief as he waved the small gold card across the glass door.

"Today was more of a trial day, and I think you deserve a short day, all things considering. Besides, Raina is here to see you. Apparently, she brought a bag of your belongings you left at her house and wanted to check on you. I didn't know she knew you."

"Do you know Raina well?" I was eager to see her. She'd help me; she'd figure out a way to get me out. I'd find a way to get her to see that this wasn't some sweet family who lived close by to her. This family was unhinged. I wasn't about to be a part of the next true crime podcast: ‘Brown, unidentifiable girl abducted by wealthy Caucasian family and sliced like deli meat.'

"Yeah. Kind of." Conrad shrugged, then glanced at my outfit. "I'm going to take you back to your room so you can change and then go see her."

"Okay." Pushing the cart through the narrow hallway, Conrad abruptly stopped in front of me.

"Let me." He grabbed the handle and began to push the cart for me.

Why did he have to be the son of psychopaths?

The halls all blended together, and if I didn't have Conrad to guide me, I would never have known which way I was going. This wasn't a house; this was a monstrous estate that was monochromatic and sterile. There was no end and no beginning. It was the perfect trap. And I was the perfect victim.

The temperature shifted as soon as we left the Ossis wing— warmer in the rest of the house and not biting cold like it was down there.

A shiver ran up my spine as we got to the hallway with what I knew was my bedroom.

Key word: was.

I never even slept in it. I blacked out on my first night here, and now the day was already winding down. "Just wave your card over the door, and it'll open. Sometimes your card won't work and you'll have to be collected. I'll wait for you out here." Conrad left the cart in the middle of the hallway and had one leg pressed against the wall, watching me as I tugged out the small gold card and waved it over the door.

As soon as it opened, I slid in and waited for it to automatically shut. Spinning it around the room, I felt sadness knowing I had assumed this was some ticket out of my own personal hell and series of bad luck. Instead, my life was spiraling downhill like an avalanche.

Opening the small closet, I found a few new outfits had been neatly hung. Two were identical to the dress I was already wearing, along with a white blouse and slacks.

"Wow, so much variety." I rolled my eyes and tugged out the slacks and blouse. Peeling off the sheath dress, I threw it on the bed and quickly dressed. Running into the bathroom, I pulled the itchy, tight bun out and let my wild curls hang over my shoulders.

I couldn't wait to get out of this place; I didn't even need to pack anything. The best thing about not having anything to my name was that I never got attached to any place. I never had a real home… I didn't even know what that felt like.

The greatest part of never having anything is never losing it, either.

As soon as I walked through the door, Conrad pushed off from the wall and let his eyes do a very obvious once over.

"I like your hair down." He gave me a lopsided grin, but I didn't laugh, I didn't smile. I was ready to get out of here. What I had seen in the past two days had my mind spinning. A girl in a ‘cage?' A murder I know without a doubt happened in the peony garden. And magically, no one was saying a thing about it. No one cared. This was their normal.

I followed Conrad through the hallways and counted seconds until we reached the main room I had initially met Dr. and Mrs. Ivory in.

"Raina!" I breathed out as her presence immediately comforted me. She looked up at me over her teacup and smiled. My face sunk as soon as I saw a small bag next to her. She had brought my things.

"Demi! Wow, one day at the Ivory Estate and you look like a changed woman!" She jumped up and gripped my elbows, tugging me into her. I took a deep breath and realized her scent was so very familiar.

Peonies.

"Hey Rain," Conrad said behind us. I turned over my shoulder and looked at him. He acted like they barely knew one another, yet he had a nickname for her.

"Hey Con." She winked at him. Oh no, did they date? Raina was married with a toddler. She was older than both of us by a good amount of years.

"Demi, I used to babysit Conrad." She tapped me.

I don't know why I felt so much relief considering I would never see any of these people again within a few hours. "Oh, okay. So, I was wondering if I could have a word with you? Privately?" I shot Conrad another look.

His jaw clenched as Raina grabbed my hand and led me out through the front doors.

As soon as the sunlight hit my face and we walked down the concrete steps, I wanted to take off in a full sprint. But I had nothing. Literally nothing. They'd catch me within minutes and drag me back in, knowing I had seen too much.

"Raina, I don't want to work here. I think that they are doing something very dangerous and truthfully, very illegal. I was wondering if you could take me to your house so I could maybe apply to some other jobs. Don't worry, I'll find a spot to sleep tonight. I just need to get out of here."

"What? Demi, why? This is such an amazing opportunity! I've known the family for years. You're being irrational, sweetie." She let out a small laugh but grew closer to me and lowered her voice. "What kind of things do you think they are doing that's illegal and dangerous?"

"Raina, I saw this girl… this woman. She was in an all-white room, and she was clearly heavily medicated and… Raina, she was caged. I mean, they literally referred to her as a caged girl. And then, last night, this girl named Misha—who, apparently, was leaving the house for good—wanted to talk with me. But when I went to meet with her, her neck was sliced." I motioned to my own neck while stumbling through my words as if I couldn't get them out fast enough.

Raina blinked repeatedly with her lips tightly pressed together.

"The entire house is all white, and you have to wear these padded shoes and all white outfits. Everyone has blonde hair and green eyes, except… Did you know Conrad has brown eyes but wears colored contacts?" I couldn't even believe the words that were leaving my mouth.

"Demi, Demi…" She brushed the hair from my face and looked at me with concern. "Sweetie, you need to take a few deep breaths and calm down. You know, I think that you have had a really rough life and, all of a sudden, you're in this massive estate with a prestigious family and your mind is starting to go into overdrive."

She didn't believe me. Of course, she didn't. I was the vagrant girl she found on the street in ripped clothes, smelling like a sewer. She probably assumed I was some disease-infested, drug addict stereotype.

"Raina, I'm not high. I'm not drunk. I'm not disturbed. This house…" I looked behind us at the sprawling estate with ivy running across the pristine white stucco. "This house has secrets. Deadly secrets. And I don't think that girl in the room is the only one being held against her will. I think there's more."

"Demi, you are probably exhausted from all this overstimulation. Dr. Ivory is the best orthopedic surgeon in the southeast, and Mrs. Ivory is a socialite and philanthropist. People like them do not do dangerous things, because they have everything to lose. If you leave this house, you'll be sleeping on a bench in the middle of Freedom Park, and winter will be here before you know it. Jax isn't going to let you stay with us because of Kai. At the end of the day, you're a stranger. I'm not trying to be malicious; I'm telling you the reality and magnitude of your decision."

Raina held my face between her palms and smiled. "How about this, I'll come by every so often and check on you? And you can come visit us whenever you want. We're only about a mile down the road."

Brushing my hair behind my ears, I thought about what she was saying. Homeless shelters were overflowing, and I didn't have close to enough money for another night in a motel—which would take me easily a month of swindling to get it. I couldn't use my legal name or social security to get a job even at McDonald's. I didn't have options, and if I left, I'd be killed or assaulted before my twentieth birthday.

Looking back at the house behind me, I nodded slowly. "What are they doing to that girl?" I whispered.

"Dr. Ivory helps women who have been otherwise dismissed by physicians."

"But he's not a psychiatrist… he's a bone doctor?" I questioned.

"Honey, doctors go through the same training in medical school and even part of residency. I'm a dermatologist, but I still remember and know enough to deliver a baby if I had to. The Ivory family is running a free experimental study to help reset individuals who probably would have been dead if they didn't get taken in.

"I promise, Demi, everything is legal. You just need to go inside, clean their house, do as they say, and enjoy a safe place to sleep, warm food to eat, and a roof over your head. Look, the pay is great. Save up for a year and then you can go get a place and a different job," she reasoned with me.

"A girl had her throat slit in the garden…"

"Demi, you probably hallucinated. You didn't sleep well; your brain is in overdrive. Going from life on the street to a mansion is a huge shock for your cognition." Turning me around, she gave me a soft shove. "Go back in. I'll check on you in a few days."

Was she right? Was my mind playing tricks on me?