Chapter 20
MADDISON
One of the worst parts about being locked up is the lost time. I’m not positive how many days have gone by since we were brought here, but my best guess would be about ten days; but I could be wrong.
Whatever the number of days it’s been, one thing is certain.
Finn and I are going a bit insane from being trapped.
To add to the insanity, every day is pretty much the same.
We’re served food through the compartment door, given clean clothes through it along with other necessities, and then we’re left alone to be watched by the cameras.
Finn and I have arrived at the conclusion that they’re waiting to see if I’m knocked up. While I desperately want my period to start, I’m scared shitless of what Mr. Averson will do if it does. My best guess is we’ll have to do a repeat of what happened on that bed ten days ago.
The other shitty part about this is that Finn and I have nothing to do to preoccupy ourselves while we wait other than attempt to form a plan to get out of here.
So far, all we have is Finn’s idea of climbing out the window, which he still tries to open every single morning.
This morning is no exception, and he’s currently lying on the floor after attempting to push the window open before finally losing it and bashing it with his fist. We learned then that the window isn’t made of normal glass and won’t break.
Finn also may have broken his finger just barely while trying to push the window open.
“Let me see it,” I say as I plop down on the floor beside him.
He’s cradling his hand against his chest, his blond hair a mess, his lips all pouty. “It’s fine.”
I shake my head. “I don’t think it is.”
He frowns at me. “Even if it’s broken, we can’t do anything about it.”
“We can go over to those cameras and demand for a doctor.” I reach for his hand again. “Your dad wouldn’t be that cruel not to let you see one.”
Finn snorts a dry laugh. “Come on, with everything that’s happened, I think you know he is.” His gaze collides with mine. “The only thing he cares about is getting the Everford heir.” His intense eyes bore into me in a way that makes my heart skip in my chest.
It’s been doing that frequently over the last handful of days, but I’m blaming it on boredom, not me developing feelings for Finn.
Yeah, that’s it. Maddy, your heart just wants to entertain itself.
It sounds kind of stupid when I think about it like that, but whatever.
Finn’s gaze grows more relentless as he lets me take his hand.
I gently hold it as I examine it over, noting that one of his fingers looks crooked. “I’m pretty sure your finger’s broken.”
“Cool.” He moves his hand back to his chest.
He’s being gloomy, and I don’t like it. He’s the ray of sunshine in this storm cloud that’s smothering us. But I’m not about to make him suck it up. He can have a moment to be depressed as long as he doesn’t allow the gloominess to drown him.
Pushing to my feet, I stomp over to the camera that’s on the bookshelf.
“I know you’re listening, so I know you saw what just happened.
If you care at all about your son, you need to let him see a doctor or else his finger will be jacked up forever and he’ll lose his chance at making the Royal City football team. ”
Finn had confessed to me one night that his endgame after graduating was to become the quarterback for the professional football team. He has a decent chance, too, but not if his finger is messed up.
“He won’t care about that, Maddy,” Finn mumbles grumpily. “He’s never given a shit about my dreams. In fact, he’ll probably be happy because his end goal is for me to take over his business while River runs the family name.”
I cock a brow while staring at the camera. “That may have been his old plan, but his new plan is for you and me to give him an heir to the world, and if he wants me to be as cooperative as possible, he needs to take care of you.” I’m speaking more to Mr. Averson than to Finn.
Finn senses this and remains quiet.
Frustration bursts through me when nothing happens, and I yank on the camera. But like with everything else in this room, it’s been firmly sealed to the bookshelf. So, I try to knock that down, grunting and pushing at it.
Finn sits up and watches me without uttering a word, even when I kick the hell out of the bottom row and cause books to scatter across the floor.
After a while, I run out of breath and sink onto the floor.
“Are you good now?” Finn asks, hugging his hand against his chest.
I roughly sweep my hair out of my face. “No. I want to burn this place down.”
“We’d burn with it,” he points out.
“So? Is being locked here forever any better?” I ask.
He doesn’t respond right away, and the silence is horrifying because it whispers truths we don’t want to admit aloud.
How much of this isolation can we take?
Before I can have a total meltdown, though, the compartment door clicks unlocked.
I jump to my feet to see what’s being slid through it, only to find that it didn’t open.
The actual door does, and in walks Mr. Averson.
He’s dressed in a grey suit and blue tie, as if he’s going to an important business meeting.
Behind him is an older woman with brown hair pulled into a bun, and she’s carrying a leather bag.
And just behind her is a tall, muscular man who’s a couple of years older than me.
He has eyes as golden as the sun, full lips, and short brown hair.
He has an intensity that flows off of him with so much thickness that most people probably get nervous around him.
Me? I’ve spent my entire life around dangerous people, so it barely puts a blip on my panic radar.
Also, and I have no clue why, but for some reason, he seems familiar.
But he impassively looks at me, so maybe the stir-craziness of being in this room is wearing on my psyche more than I thought.
Tension ripples off Finn's body in thick waves as he moves me behind him. “Why is Aiden here, Dad?” The way he says it makes me wonder who Aiden is because his presence is making Finn extremely uneasy.
“He’s making sure you two don’t try to escape.” Mr. Averson says, flashing us a grin as he steps further into the room.
Finn plunges into silence, leaving me to question just who the hell this Aiden guy is. Someone who clearly has Finn spooked.
“Now sit down and let Dr. Mapleton examine your hand,” Mr. Averson says to Finn. “And then she’s going to check on Maddison.”
My stomach winds into knots as I inch away from them. I wish the bathroom had a door so I could lock myself in there, but since it doesn’t, my only option for escaping is to take on this Aiden guy.
I measure him up as Finn takes a seat on the foot of the bed and Dr. Mapleton examines his hand.
Aiden notices me assessing him and shifts his weight, blocking the doorway even more.
He’s about the size of Finn, so overpowering him with my strength is definitely not an option.
What I need is a distraction, or does he have a weapon on him? I could try to steal it.
I subtly eye him over. The problem is, he’s studying me equally as meticulously.
“If you’re looking for a weapon on him, he doesn’t need one.” Mr. Averson interrupts my dissecting of his bodyguard. “Aiden is a bred killer. He’s part of my experimental program and the only one to actually pass it.”
“Bred killer?” I don’t mean to say the words.
Mr. Averson’s lips pull back into a sinister grin as he steps up beside me.
“If you take a child into captivity at a young enough age, you can pretty much program them to do whatever you want. We learned through Aiden that they have to be young enough not to be able to recall anything about their life before we take them, and we were able to program him to kill on my command without having any emotional reaction to the death.”
I want to throw up.
I want to bash my fist into Mr. Averson’s face.
I want to shout at Aiden that he doesn’t have to comply with this bullshit because I don’t believe they’ve managed to erase his emotional ability. He’s just detached himself from it, more than likely because of the dark stuff he’s seen and done.
I’ve been in that place before, where I’ve shut off my mind to cope with the awfulness of my surroundings. Sure, Aiden’s situation is way more extreme, but he has to hate Mr. Averson for doing this to him, right?
When Aiden simply stands there without reacting, I tear my gaze off him and glare at Mr. Averson. “He’s not a robot, you sick fuck. How could you do that to another human?”
Mr. Averson aims a bored look at me. “Maybe after you’ve been impregnated, we can work on emotionally deprogramming you. A little torture and I bet you break pretty quickly.”
I smile sweetly at him. “Good luck with that, dumbass. I’ve been dealing with sick sadists like you since I could walk.”
Mr. Averson rolls his eyes, but then his gaze lands on the book and map stacked on the dresser. “What do you think about your reading material?”
“Seems like it’s written by an insane person,” I reply boredly. “I’m not even sure why you gave us that stuff.”
“It’s important for you to understand who you are.” He rolls up the sleeves of his shirt. “I own you now, Maddison, and you are going to learn all about that stuff you deem insane, but it’s your family’s insanity.”
“Yeah, I’m not buying into that reason,” I tell him skeptically with my arms crossed.
“I have this feeling there’s some stuff in that book or on that map that you don’t understand, and you think I’m the key to figuring it out because I’m an Everford.
Not that I believe that. I think that’s just where your crazy mind is at. ”