Chapter 28
My eyes flutter open. I am lying on a bed in a sterile white room. There are no windows. I try to stand up, but my body doesn’t listen to the command. Grogginess traps me in an unyielding grip.
Panic hits me because all I can do is move my eyes. I should have fought, but the outcome would have been the same, and it would reveal my one strength to them. My gut told me I needed to play my cards right.
Desire to free myself blares through me, but not enough to make my body function.
The metallic door opens, and Caleb steps inside with Blake, who offers me a small nod. I am still trying to compartmentalize the betrayal and the fact that he’s my only ally here. Caleb looks at his son, pride etched on his face. How I’d love to wipe that smirk off of his face.
“Good work, son.”
I try to open my mouth and tell Caleb what I think of him, but I can’t.
“I was a bit too enthusiastic with the drug. It might take some time for your body to flush it out. I’ve perfected it with time,” the sociopath says.
Blake turns to him. “I’ve got this.”
“We’ll proceed when Felix arrives.”
When Caleb leaves, it’s just the two of us.
Blake moves toward my bed. He plucks a syringe from his coat and my eyes shoot to it.
“It will make the other one lose its effects sooner.”
He puts it against my neck. “I learned so many things here. No wonder I’m the best in biochem.”
Yes, but you’re dead inside.
As if he knows what I’m thinking, he says, “Beat them at their own game, Celine. You should understand this better than anyone.”
My fingers are the first to lose their numbness, then my mouth and lips, and I croak, “It’s getting better.”
“Good.”
I watch him. He appears so in control. No sign of emotion.
“Do you even have an alcohol problem?”
“I wish I did. I want you to hang in there. While they’re busy with you, I am going to get your mother out. I won’t be there for you.”
“Just save my mom.”
“Celine?”
“It’s worse if you prepare me. My mind will go haywire.”
“Okay. When Felix arrives, I’ll have to leave for a while.”
“To tell the group?”
He nods and starts to walk away.
“One day, when I’m not so hurt, I’ll forgive you, Blake.”
He looks at me over his shoulder. “I don’t think there’s a reason for forgiveness. I did what I thought would help us all in the end. But in our group, the results don’t excuse the means. We work through it, or not.”
“We’re family. We’ll get past this.”
“Never lose that optimism.”
I offer a dejected smile and move my feet. The relief is overwhelming. Only when we’re deprived of things do we actually understand how valuable they are.
We all should be more grateful for what we have.
The door opens again and Caleb and Felix strut inside.
“Little Celine. You surprised me, but like mother, like daughter, I guess.”
“Don’t you dare talk about my mother.”
“She has spunk. I say give me one day to change that,” Caleb says.
“You two are fucking monsters.”
And whatever happens, I know Grandmother will deal with them if we can’t. I feel the biggest grin arching the corners of my lips. You will lose everything tonight.
I stare at the man who is the father of my lover, partner, and soul mate. The resemblance is uncanny, but their values, their hearts couldn’t be more different.
“Look how confident she is. Hmm, you’re really not helping yourself right now,” Felix says with an evil gleam.
“You’ll never break me,” I vow.
He throws his head back and laughs. “I can’t wait for you to beg. It will be music to my ears. Who is helping you?”
“I work alone.”
He slaps me, sending my face sharply to the side. If I had any doubts, they dissolve when I catch Blake’s hands clenched into fists. He’s not a monster like the others. That knowledge will help me stay on top of my game.
Felix tsks. “Young people, they ignite the worst in you.”
He grabs my arm, digging his fingers into my skin, but I swallow down the hiss. He yanks me from the bed and I stumble, falling on my knees.
“Get up. I want to show you someone before we start,” Felix demands.
My legs feel like sticks that could break any moment. I force my body to fight against the drug. After a few attempts, I have better control of my body, and I follow him through long corridors that resemble a white maze.
I steal glances at my surroundings, trying to create a map in my head, but I know I would get lost if I tried to escape. It’s like an intricate labyrinth.
“There is no way out, Celine. Only if I allow it.”
We come face-to-face with a door that looks different from the others. This one is bright red. Felix uses the retinal and fingerprint scanners on the side of the door. A clinical, white room opens before us. It looks like a bedroom but minimally furnished. The wall of glass in the room showcases a small garden.
On the bed, I recognize my mother, her chest rising and falling, her body frail.
I rush to her, but Felix grips my elbow, staring me down.
“Do not wake her up.”
The possessiveness in his voice has me itching to pummel his face. Fuck him. I duck and he doesn’t catch me in time for me to drop to my knees next to her bed and hold her hand.
She looks pale, but I can make out the woman I remember, with a few more lines and a frailer body.
Tears stream down my cheeks, turning to sobs.
“I’m so sorry, Mom.”
I thought my father was fantasizing. It was not until Blake told me she was alive that I had the proof I needed for hope to spark in my chest.
She stirs awake, and he reaches her in three determined strides. Her eyes widen. She blinks at me, tipping her head to the side.
“Felix, who is she?”
My mother doesn’t recognize me. “What did you do to her?” I yell at him, losing the battle with my emotions.
He presses a button while she eyes him.
“It’s okay, honey. She won’t disturb you any longer.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
When she squeezes my hand gently, I notice a pleading look flash in her eyes––she recognizes me.
“Yes, I don’t want her here. I just want you.”
I am losing my mind by the second.
She smiles at him, and I focus on every micro gesture. There is a small tic in her jaw, and her fingers curl lightly around the sheet.
“Of course, my dear.”
Two guards rush inside the room and I say, “Please, I’ll behave. Just a few more minutes.”
Felix might think he loves my mom, but it’s in his intense look that I see him wanting to test her. He really is a monster. That’s not love. Love is selfless, trusting, and enduring.
“Please, don’t leave me alone with her,” my mother pleads.
If not for this desire to spend a little more time with her after all these years, I would have told him to take me away of my own accord. But I don’t want to cause her more pain.
“I’ll be back shortly. Have to check if everything is ready for our guest here.” He looks at me with evil delight.
I know after visiting my mother, my personal hell will ensue, but it doesn’t matter. All that matters is knowing she’s alive and will be out of this place soon.
Felix closes the door behind him, and I cry while looking at her.
I follow her gaze and detect a camera in the corner. The green light switches off then back on, and she shoots out of bed, wrapping her thin arms around my body in a tight embrace. She hugs me so hard that we collapse on the floor. My heart constricts when she touches my face.
“We don’t have much time, Blake can only interfere with the camera feed for a few minutes.” She hugs me again, rocking us. “My baby girl. Look at you. All grown up.”
“Mom?” I croak, my brain not computing if she’s real or a figment of my imagination.
“Shh, it’s okay,” she says in a soft voice brimming with love.
“I thought I was going insane.”
She helps me up and we step outside. What I thought was a garden is an artificially created room to give you the impression you’re outside, surrounded by roses and greenery.
“I miss the sun the most. How is your father?”
“Searching for you.”
“I knew he’d find me.”
“I’m getting you out of here.”
“Let me look at you.”
She cups my face in her frail hands and relief flickers in her eyes. She presses me to her chest, enveloping me in her motherly embrace. Emotions choke me. It feels so good to be in her arms.
“My beautiful and brave girl.”
“I missed you so much.”
“Me too. You have no idea how much.”
A pause follows as we both look at the other.
“How’s Kaden?”
I feel heat fan across my cheeks.
“I knew you two would end up together. That’s why I wanted to send you back and not go with your father. We need to restore a new order.”
For one moment, can’t my parents focus on anything other than the Family’s legacy? A sigh parts my lips. It always comes back to that; nothing else matters.
“You can’t escape your legacy nor run from it. I was a coward then, but I swore to myself that I’d make things better when I escape.”
She senses my mood change, making me realize mothers are better at detecting those than fathers.
“But that can wait,” she adds.
“I thought you’d be drugged out of your mind or in a coma.”
“It took me years to change my strategy.” A shudder rocks her, and a tear falls down her cheek.
“Your father…”
“Shh, he will understand. You had to survive.”
Her eyes find the camera. She pulls me back into the room and hurries back to the bed.
“You’re my daughter. I want you to laugh in their stupid faces so they know nothing will break you like nothing broke me.”
It’s incredible how I thought I’d found a puppet but in reality a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“I can’t wait to talk. I need to learn all about you, Celine. The grown you. When we get out of here, we’re going on a vacation as a family,” she says, delight blossoming in her voice. “Promise me.”
It’s all so surreal. The door opens, and my mom looks at Felix with glassy doe-like eyes.
“Felix, take her away. She makes me uncomfortable.”
He smirks at her, his face transforming into a victorious one. I almost throw up in my mouth. He’s a sick bastard. I am sure it has been hell, but she survived. She’s my new role model. I will endure, like her, and spit in their faces. They won’t win.
She leans in to kiss him. Every fiber in my body coils up.
He looks at me with a cockiness that makes me murderous.
“Your wish is my command, my love. I’ll come back the second I am done with work.”
“Yes, hurry. I miss you terribly when you’re away.”
He shoves me toward the exit. I steal a glance over my shoulder when he lowers his face to me and says, “Cassandra doesn’t know who you are. She forgot everything. She’s mine. Just mine.”
“I actually feel sorry for you. You could only get her by playing with her mind and body.”
“Ah, a conscience. I knew you’d poison Kaden with that saccharine love. That is why you had to disappear. And you came back, but this time I won’t fail.”
“You’ll never win.”
“We’ll kill you and erase all traces of you as if you were a mere bug.”
“Bring it on.”
I spit in his face as we arrive at a set of double doors. They slide open to a room full of equipment. A woman and two men wearing white lab coats fuss around with the machines.
Felix pushes me toward a metallic chair. Caleb goes to the fridge and takes something out of it. Another syringe and a tremor shivers down my spine.
“Sit,” Felix says.
“But of course, Uncle.”
I plop down. Every time I make him react, it fills me with great joy.
“She is so undisciplined. But we’ll show her manners do count,” Caleb says.
Metallic bands wrap around my neck, wrists, and ankles. I want to shift, but squirming in the seat would give them satisfaction and I refuse to do that.
“We’ll play a little game,” Caleb says, rubbing his hands together.
“I love games.”
“This stupid girl. Increase the dosage.”
“Oh, Uncle Caleb. I didn’t know you were so easily offended.”
“Actually, increase the voltage as well.”
Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut.
The woman and Caleb put various dots on my body and head.
Ahead of me, a screen flashes to life.
“You’re about to go through the most horrific pains.”
“Is this my initiation?”
Felix bursts out into a malefic laughter. “Oh, no, that’s for testing loyalty. This is made especially for the ones who think they can outsmart us and rebel against the status quo.”
“Show me Kaden’s initiation.”
He tsks. “She still thinks she’s in command.”
One moment I am glaring at them, the next, an agonizing pain is traveling down my body. I bite down the scream. It’s as if my bones are breaking. Cold sweat bathes me.
“Quite fascinating the human brain. No, your bones are not broken, but you think they are,” Caleb says, sounding proud.
I breathe in and out, trying to stay anchored in reality. The pain is not real. I grit through my teeth, “You’ll never break me.”
He’s about to give the sign for another round when Felix says, “Let her see.”
The screen comes alive. Kaden is in a white room, bound to a gray hydraulic chair, his head wrapped in a metallic helmet. They show him a picture of me. You could see some areas light up in his brain––the love he has for me.
“Her or us, Kaden?”
“Father, she is family.”
“Her or us.”
They might not break me with physical pain, but this might do it.
“Celine.”
I saw his conviction as he said, “I’m stronger with her at my side.”
“She is your weakness. But we’ll cure you of that.”
The video continues. He screams in pain, panting heavily during the few minutes they pause their torture.
I thrash in my bindings, trying to break free to kill them for doing that to Kaden.
“We were just beginning, but he felt as if his body would be tortured to an extreme. On repeat.”
“Her or us?”
The video speeds up so I can watch him being tortured again and again–– three days of hell in just minutes.
Two nights later, Kaden said, “Us.” Not because he betrayed my love or because he had to endure atrocious physical pain, but for me.
When the mental torture ended, they started the physical attacks. They wanted him to associate pain with me, so he’d resent me.
Tears flow down my cheeks while a vicious rage ignites in me, and I let it consume me. Masked guards put him in a casket for hours, then repeatedly beat him with wooden bats before they waterboarded him––not inflicting permanent physical damage.
Cruel degenerate monsters. Through broken grunts, he took it all, but it was when his father made him see scenarios of me being raped, killed, and burned alive he finally denied me––because he would have endured all pain but not mine.
I thought it would be impossible to love him more, but I do.
The video ends with Felix saying, “I’m proud of you. Welcome to the Family.”
I shudder, thinking if Kaden ever held me and thought about these moments. I doubt you could forget three days full of torture in the name of love.
Gathering all my strength, and functioning on pure fury, I spit out. “You won’t break me.”
I smile in their stupid faces.
And the torture begins.
They simulate suffocating me, giving birth, cutting me open, beating me, and burning me. It’s astounding how the brain doesn’t dissociate between reality and fiction with the right impulses.
Teeth clattering, my body shivers and chills break out on my skin. There are moments when it’s too much, but I remind myself it’s not real.
I don’t scream.
I am stronger than this.
He had to be as well.