Chapter 3 #2
“I think you’re all liars, Silas. And you’re right, it did take me a long time to see it, but I know now. In fact, I’m very clear now. Where are my clothes? I want my clothes.”
“You’ll get your clothes when you’re being reasonable. And you’re going to need your strength if you want to get out of here, so first things first. Drink this.”
“Or what? You’ll make me?”
He shrugs a shoulder, holding the mug out to me.
After a moment, he raises his eyebrows for my response and I have a feeling he would do just what he’s implying.
My stomach growls at the scent of hot broth wafting from the mug.
He’s right. I do need my strength if I want to get out of here and away from him.
Away from all of them. So, I take the mug and sip it.
It’s good, the heat of it making me realize how cold I feel inside.
Silas pulls over a chair and sits down, watching me as I sip the broth slowly.
I look at the fire rather than at him. He doesn’t speak, neither of us do, and I remember growing up how he’d keep his head down and do his work.
Strong and silent type, Dad would say. I always got the impression that Dad felt some sort of bond with Silas even when Silas wasn’t very nice to him.
Once I’m finished, I set the mug down, feeling a little better.
“Whatever they told you, it’s a lie,” he says.
“They didn’t have to tell me anything. They showed me. They showed me the security footage of you leaving my house half an hour before the fire destroyed it.” Tears leak from my eyes. The house is gone. Does Dad even know?
“I didn’t set that fire. Period. The end.”
“I saw you. I watched you walk away.”
“Did you watch me strike a fucking match?” he asks, his tone sharp and cutting.
As soon as he realizes it, he gets up and walks away, pushing a hand through his hair and muttering a curse under his breath.
When he turns back to me, his expression is guarded.
“You saw what Sly and Ethan wanted you to see. There’s more footage you weren’t privy to. ”
“Oh? Do you have that, then? Maybe you can show me. Clear your name.”
“Are you and I seriously having this fucking conversation? You know me, O. You fucking know me.”
“I thought I did.”
He keeps his mouth shut, a tick in his tight jaw.
I look at his crooked nose, the scar on his temple.
He’s lucky he didn’t lose an eye, Sly had said.
Sly had beaten him after Silas had broken the door to Ethan’s room and hauled him off me.
He was always rescuing me, always turning up right when I needed him.
I shake my head and look away. That was in the past. That was a different Silas. I can’t let myself be fooled by this new, shitty version. The real version.
“What happened after? What did they do to you?” he asks, voice tight, not angry.
“They…” I feel my throat close up, ashamed somehow at having been beaten, weak for being their victim. When I look at Silas again, his hands are fists, as if he knows exactly the thoughts going around in my head. “I have a grandfather. And an uncle.”
He nods once.
“My father lied to me about those things.” I wipe tears from my eyes. “Actually, it seems all the men in my life only ever lie to me.”
“I don’t. I won’t. Ever.”
“Yeah well, here’s the thing. I don’t believe you.” I look out the window, see the densely falling snow. Am I trapped here?
“And your father may have good reason—”
“Why do you defend him? What do you know about him to defend him?”
“I know he loves you.”
“He kidnapped my mother.”
“You know one version of the story. A version the Foxes want you to know. That’s all.”
“Why do you care anyway?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“I don’t need you to rescue me anymore, Silas.”
“I will always rescue you, Ophelia.”
Those words make me stop, make me want to believe, but I can’t. I have to guard what is left of my heart.
“Did Ethan tell you why he was in such a hurry to marry you? Why he didn’t want a prenup?”
“It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It does because I don’t think they’re just going to let you go. Let you walk away. This isn’t over, Ophelia. Not by a long shot.”
“I have a headache.”
“Carlisle-Bent, if he’s truly your grandfather, well, let’s just say the fortune he’d leave you is substantial. And considering he’s an old, sick man, I gather that will be sooner rather than later.”
Money. It always comes down to money. What did Ethan say in the car? Something about it being time he got what he was due.
“Ethan never had any feelings for you, O.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I know that. No need to twist that knife,” I say, not sure why it still hurts to hear it. “He showed me his true feelings the night of the gala.”
“I’m going to kill him for what he did to you. I swear it.”
“Oh, please spare me. Do you remember what I told you when we were dancing?” His eyebrows furrow and I don’t think he does.
“I said I was finished with men with ulterior motives. That includes you. I just didn’t realize it at the time, but I do now.
I don’t need you, Silas and, more importantly, I don’t want you.
I just want to get out of here. So, thank you for managing to get me away from Ethan.
For that I am grateful. Now, I need to see my father and understand things, and I need to figure out what I’m doing next.
My house is gone. All my things inside those boxes, all the memories.
All the lies, I guess is more apt.” My voice trembles.
I push the blanket off once more, not wanting to cry in front of him. Wanting to get away. But Silas sets his hand on my thigh to stop me, and his touch does stop me, the heat of it, the burn. It’s like a brand searing my skin and like the masochist I must be, I want more.
“Sweetheart, if you think you can just walk away from the Foxes, you don’t know them very well.”
“I’m not your sweetheart.” I’m on the verge of tears I don't want to shed. “Let me go.” That last part comes out harried. I try to pry his hand away, but he tightens his hold on my thigh.
“I’m sorry, O, but I can’t let you go. It’s for your own good. You don’t know what these men are capable of. I do. And I think I can guess at what Ethan had planned for you.”
“And what is that exactly?” I snap.
“Your grandfather, if he is that, and I will be certain he is before I allow you anywhere near him or that uncle—”
“Before you allow me?”
“Gordon Carlisle-Bent is a very wealthy man,” he continues as if I haven’t spoken at all. “And, like I said, he’s also a very ill man.”
I hear him this time. “Ill how?”
“He’s dying. That’s why the Foxes are in a rush to get you and Ethan married. It’s probably why your father is in prison. It’s to keep him out of the way. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“It makes no sense,” I interrupt, but he ignores me.
“If Ethan had succeeded, once you and he were married, Sly would have miraculously located your grandfather who has supposedly been searching for you all your life. He’d reunite the two of you, and Carlisle-Bent would have his new heiress.
Once he’s gone, that money is yours. And once you’re gone, it’s Ethan’s. ”
This takes me a full minute. And when I get it, when I understand what he is suggesting, I laugh. I laugh an insane laugh.
“You’re saying Ethan’s plan was to marry me and murder me once I inherited this great fortune?”
The turquoise of Silas’s eyes hardens into shards of sea glass.
“Wait, you’re serious. You believe this?” I ask.
Nothing.
“You think Ethan is capable of murder?”
“I don’t, actually. I don’t think he has the stomach for it. But there’s another player. Chandler Carlisle-Bent. And his stomach may be a little stronger. I’m guessing he’s back for his share of the money.”
“Okay you’ve lost your mind now. That or hell, maybe you’re just projecting what you’d do on them now. Ethan may be capable of many things, but murder? What do you think? He’s hiring it out?”
“I know them, Ophelia. I know them better than you ever have.”
“Okay. You’ve lost your mind. I’m leaving now. Where are my clothes?”
“You will get clothes tomorrow. We will leave together then. If you’re being reasonable by then, that is.”
“No. We won’t leave together. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Then you’re not going anywhere at all,” he says, straightening to his full height.
When he does, I realize how alone I am, how powerless here in this cabin with this man who can easily keep me here even if I were to fight him with everything I have.
For whom it would take no effort at all to overpower me.
Lourdes is here, and her brother whom I haven’t seen, but I have a feeling their loyalties lie with Silas.
“I’m leaving,” I say, trying to sound determined.
“Tomorrow. With me,” he reiterates. “Because there’s only one way I can be sure they won’t be able to execute their plan.”
“And how is that?”
“You can’t marry Ethan Fox if you’re already married to me.”