Chapter Twenty-five #2
The way they built this house… Funeral home?
Whatever you want to call it is crazy. The house has hidden doors that lead to different areas.
Exiting a door, I’m now in the foyer of the funeral home.
Closing it behind me; it now looks like a part of the dark mahogany wall to anyone else.
The grand staircase is the main focal point.
The distinct smell of lilies hit my nostrils, but I can never recognize the other smell that’s always mixed with it.
They’re both unsettling, just like inside Niko’s car.
I plant myself on the bottom staircase so that I get a good view of the Hall of Remembrance, where the garden is present outside its windows. Thank God the room is empty, but I find it unnerving to wonder how many bodies people have viewed within those walls.
The quietness of the house is loud. Like when you’re in a pitch-dark room and it feels like you can hear the darkness. This is how quietness feels to me. Overbearing, making my skin crawl, but I force myself to sit and listen to the silence.
Once my mug is empty, I make my way back to the kitchen, having trouble finding the right spot to touch to open the hidden door, but soon, I find it and am welcomed by the long corridor on the other side.
My body is buzzing when I enter back into the kitchen, snatching my phone and not giving myself a moment to think about what I’m fixing to do. This goes against everything in me.
The sun is high as I make my way behind the funeral home. I see the worn path I’m hoping leads me to the groundskeeper’s house. My stomach slowly falls inch by inch with every step I take. My chest hurts. I need answers because all Niko has done has made me more confused.
My thumb absentmindedly rubs my index finger, feeling the torn skin that is now sensitive, but I keep rubbing it as I keep taking steps, leading me closer to Catherine.
A break in the trees opens onto a cleared area, where a small home sits.
It’s plain and simple, nothing grand. It’s more of a shack the closer I get to it.
Licking my lips, tasting coffee, I open the small gate that surrounds the house; it greets me with a loud creek, entering closer to someone I never thought I’d willingly be close to again.
My face contorts when I take in the beautiful garden that resides in front of the house. My eyes panning in on the garden gloves haphazardly tossed next to it with sheers, forgotten about.
With a glance at the door, I take the few steps to the right, bending down, pocketing the sheers in the back of my waistband.
“We got this,” I mutter to myself lifting my fist to knock, but the door swings open before I can make contact. Standing with a shit-eating smile is Niko.
“I knew you’d come,” reaches my ears as he opens the door wider, stepping to the side, giving me room to enter.
Looking behind me at where I came, I swallow before taking a step inside. Every scenario runs through my mind as I reach back and feel the shear’s handle, giving me some comfort.
Entering, I’m taken aback by how different the inside looks compared to the outside.
My eyes scan the living room, which, along with the kitchen and dining room, is all in one.
“Are you going to move so I can shut the door?” I look at Niko and step forward. It’s bright and airy, with simple touches of feminine and vintage. I spot a vase of flowers on the coffee table, which is adorned with lit candles.
Breathing in the scent immediately transports me to Catherine’s room, a decision I instantly regret, making me wish I could cease breathing at this moment.
Spinning on my feet, I take a step but stop.
“Rowan,” comes from behind me, and fear courses through my body, but also anger. I’m not too sure which one overrides the other. My heart stops but immediately speeds up; it also does not know what to do.
My eyes pan to Niko, opening my mouth to tell him to move out of the way, but he is staring ahead, not looking at me.
Head tilting, I’m so confused by the transformation on his face.
The one who greeted me was broody and indifferent, but the one I’m looking at now has shifted.
His eyes are sparkling, his mouth turned up, and proudness covers his face.
I’m looking at a man who doesn’t represent the Niko I’ve been told about or the Niko I know of.
This is a man who’s in love. My eyes widen at the way his face morphed.
Swallowing, I tentatively turn around, eyes on the floor. Look up, Rowan. She has no power over you. I tell myself. My eyes instantly look up, meeting her gaze. On its own, my body straightens, needing to get taller, showing her, we’re not scared.
Catherine stands there looking at me, not at Niko. My skin crawls.
Her once long blonde hair is now a bob. Her body filled out. I scan her up and down, stopping when I get to her nails, no longer the pink she sported, but now black. Knowing she’s the one that painted Niko’s. Our eyes lock on one another as we just stand there, not moving.
I feel like my throat is closing on me, constricting, like I have a snake around my windpipe. I want to scratch it but force my hands to stay where they are. I don’t want to give her any enjoyment out of how uncomfortable my body and I are right now.
This was stupid. Why’d I have to come here? I scold myself. Flashbacks to the tomb flash through my mind at warp speed. Catherine and her words she spoke to me. The way she looked at me and stood there watching me be raped at the hands of the man she loved…both of them. Colt and her father.
My nostrils flare with the anger that’s trying to escape from inside my body. Wanting to burst out like a flame out of a dragon's mouth, catching her on fire and watching her body crumble into ash, all the while standing there looking at her like she looked at me the night my soul died.
I can feel my skin becoming hot, not too sure from what. Her stare, Nikos, anger, or all of the above.
“I’m glad you came,” comes out timidly, her eyes moving to Niko before she takes a step closer. And I take a step away, my hand going behind my back, needing to know I’m safe, once again.
I open my mouth but close it. You’re not that girl anymore, Rowan. I tell myself, needing the reassurance of who the hell I am, who they made me into.
“Sit on the couch.” My head jerks to look at Niko, his eyes still on Catherine before I roam back to look at her. Her smile is soft as she follows his instructions and walks to the couch.
My face screwed up, feet still planted to the floor. Watching her obey his instructions.
“Can I get you a drink, Ro?”
Facing Niko, “Don’t call me Ro. My name is Rowan.” I spit at him.
“Well, fuck. Sorry.” He holds up his hand in defense, his face showing he doesn’t really care what name I prefer.
Needing this to be done with, I walk around the couch, claiming the spot next to the fireplace. Not wanting to sit, and having the ability to run, I stand. Luca would fucking kill me if he knew I was here.
Catherine sits there before reaching for the vase, playing with the flowers that fill it.
“I grew these myself,” she whispers.
I widen my eyes, letting her know I really don’t care.
“To be able to nurture something from a tiny seed to this,” she says as she brings a flower from the vase, I give it more of my attention, seeing it’s a white Carnation.
Squinting my eyes at her, knowing she’s fixing to spew more shit that I don’t care about.
She brings it to her nose, smelling it. Before reaching it toward me.
“NO,” comes out more loudly than I expected.
She shrugs and places it back in as Niko comes around the couch, two beers and a water in hand.
He sits them on the table, sliding the beer toward me, giving Catherine the bottle before opening it for her.
I’m thirsty; seeing it made me realize how dry my mouth is. All I can taste is the coffee I had, which is now stained on my tongue.
Quickly, I jerk my eyes to the beer can, seeing it’s still sealed.
“It’s closed,” Niko tells me, seeing what I’m looking at.
Taking a step forward, I reach out and grab the can. The coldness cools my feverish hand.
Licking my lip, I don’t give myself a moment to think before I crack the tab, taking a huge gulp.
“Drink your water.” Niko pats Catherine's knee. And I watch in confusion as she does exactly what he says, not stopping until he pats her knee again. My eyebrows rise as I watch them.
Niko takes a few swigs of his own beer, his body getting more comfortable on the couch. “You can relax; you’re safe here.”
“I’m good,” I curtly tell him.
The room grows quiet.
“I’m sorry.” My head jerks at Catherine’s words.
“You’re sorry.” I laugh out. “You’re sorry for what, Catherine?” I want her to say it. To say it out loud.
Her blue eyes well up with tears, and I reward her with an evil smile that pulls at my lips, showing my teeth. I know it looks nothing like a smile… Good. She isn’t getting any fucking sympathy from me. I’m not the one.
She looks at Niko. And he whispers something to her that I can’t make out.
“I never wanted to do anything to hurt you. I didn’t want to,” she cries out, her words becoming choppy. And I hope she drowns on the tears rolling into her mouth.
I can’t look at her, so I look at my beer can. Looking at Catherine physically makes me sick. My body responds to her as it should. Danger is in the vicinity.
“They forced me. I’ve been forced since the moment I could walk.
Forced to give my body to anyone who wanted it.
Forced to do things I never thought I could do.
I was forced to watch women be hurt and killed in front of me.
Forced!” She moves up to the edge of the couch.
I can see under my eyelashes while still focused on the beer.
“It was all a lie. An act to put on. Brainwashed and used by everyone. Some nights I prayed they would kill me. But they’d take me right on the brink and bring me back. ”