Chapter 9 #2
That part of her life felt way too detached from who she was now to ever face again. Or at least to face for a long time yet.
This attachment couldn’t be healthy, though, even if it made her feel safe.
She hadn't known him for long enough to build a genuine connection, what she felt had to be based on some sort of hero worship.
Thunder had saved her, so it made sense that she would get attached, but she still knew it wasn't healthy.
Although she supposed nothing about what she’d been doing there was healthy.
Not speaking wasn't healthy, refusing to talk to her family wasn't healthy, and throwing herself into painting wasn't healthy. Well, maybe that was a form of therapy, but regardless, Maya knew she couldn’t go on like this forever.
Especially with her growing attachment to Thunder.
Either she had to make a more active decision to work on dealing with what had happened to her, or she had to accept that maybe there was an element of genuineness to her feelings for Thunder that had nothing to do with the fact that he saved her and was just because he seemed to be a genuinely good person.
Who would have thought she could ever consider someone inherently good again?
For years, she had been convinced there were no good people. That even the people she’d known as a teen, who she’d thought were normal people, must have really been hiding their evil side.
When her stomach grumbled, Maya smiled. She pushed away from the easel and stood, stretching her back as she did so.
It was so nice to be hungry and know that she could just go down to the kitchen and find something to eat.
There was no need to put up with the clawing ache of hunger because she couldn’t do anything about it.
Maybe she’d see if Thunder wanted to eat with her.
She wasn't sure where he was. He’d left kind of abruptly not that long ago, and she’d been too deep in the zone as she worked on her latest painting—a picture of the cliffs on the island where she’d tried to end her life—so she hadn't paid much attention to anything he’d said.
He probably wouldn't mind if she went looking for him, he had to be around somewhere.
Wandering down the corridors, once she reached the ground floor, Maya caught the sounds of voices and headed in that direction.
Not only did it feel good to be hungry and able to do something about it, but she was pretty sure she was just starting to put on a little bit of weight.
Maybe it was her imagination, but she was sure her face looked a little less bony, and her ribs were sticking out a little less.
“Maya can't know.”
The words made her freeze.
Her name.
They’d said her name.
That meant they knew who she was.
It wasn't like it was a secret or anything, she wasn't some criminal who needed to keep her identity from them, but it meant they’d gone behind her back to ID her.
Had they taken samples of her DNA while they had her drugged?
Used her fingerprints?
There was every chance that after she was taken, her parents had submitted samples to the cops to use in case her body was discovered.
She knew her family loved her and would have reported her missing, so she was sure she existed in several databases, although it had never done her any good, since she’d been found only by chance.
It probably wasn't a huge thing. In hindsight, Maya knew she should have assumed that they weren't just going to wait for her to give up her name, but it still felt like a major betrayal.
They had her name. What else did they know about her?
Did they know details of what had happened to her when she was abducted?
Did they know the names of the people who had bought her, then sold her on?
Had they already contacted her family? Were her family coming here, already on their way?
Panic drained the oxygen from the room, and her body began to tremble.
She wasn't ready to see her family.
Wasn't ready for anyone to have her name.
Her name belonged to her, and she hadn't given permission for it to be used, so when she heard Thunder say it again, another wave of betrayal washed over her.
“If Maya knows that we found out who she is, it might push her further away,” Thunder continued. “I'm starting to build trust with her, but it’s a slow process, and I don’t want anything to set it back.”
“Since we need to know if she knows anything about Dr. Gardner, we can't afford to let anything set it back,” Steel added, and it felt like she was doused in icy water.
They didn't take her there to be nice. They didn't care about helping her. They weren't even trying to keep her safe.
She was there for one reason and one reason only.
Because they wanted something from her.
That betrayal cut even deeper than knowing they’d gone behind her back to find out who she was. That she should have been expecting. Then again, maybe she should have been expecting this as well.
Of course, they were just using her. It was stupid to believe otherwise. Hadn't she already learned the lesson that there were no good people? Just minutes ago, upstairs in her new art studio, she’d been thinking about how wrong she was, that Thunder was a genuinely good person.
Stupid.
Maya knew better than to believe a person could do anything for unselfish purposes.
“We need to keep providing her with a safe place so she feels comfortable enough to start opening up,” Lion said.
The words made her hunch over, curl in on herself, the slight pains of hunger turning into an agony that came from knowing she was being used.
And so blatantly. The clothes, the food, and the bath products weren't gifts, they were bribes.
The art studio was an even bigger bribe, and now the thing she loved felt tainted and dirty.
Just like her.
Why would she think that the offers of friendship were genuine? Of course they weren't. And those soft touches and kisses she’d shared with Thunder now took on a completely different vibe.
Those weren't expressions of growing feelings, they were attempts to manipulate her body, lull her into a false sense of security.
And Maya now knew it was false. How could she have ever thought a man like Thunder would see anything of value in a filthy, ruined woman like her? It now seemed so obvious that they were all only being kind to her because they needed to know if she knew where Master had gone when he left his home.
Everything had been a lie. From the beginning, they’d been playing her. She wasn't safe there. Wasn't safe anywhere.
Once they got the information they wanted from her—and she wasn't even sure if she had anything of value to offer them—they would throw her away. Pass her back to her family and wash their hands of her.
No.
That wasn't going to happen. She didn't want to go back to her family, not right now, possibly never, and she sure as hell wasn't going to stay there, not now that she knew the truth about why she’d even been brought there in the first place.
Which only left her with one option.
Tonight, once everybody went to sleep, she was going to escape.
Relying on anybody other than herself had been a mistake, one she was going to rectify. She was going to take charge of her own life, and that started with getting away from everybody who sought only to use her for their own desires.