Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Vesper
“You hid her with the whores?” Cedar whisper-yelled as they approached the golden doors of the Downstairs. “She was a child!” Her voice was muffled behind the thick Ilusi veils they’d bought from a street vendor.
Cedar had managed to get them transport back in the trolley she’d taken to their meeting.
All in all, their trip back had been uneventful—no fighting, minimal sniping, a bit more of Cedar trying to explain her actions and garner trust. Bellamy didn’t even bring up Vesper’s deception.
She’d been oddly quiet, and Vesper hated that she couldn’t read her thoughts.
A storm was coming, she just didn’t know what form it would take.
“It was the safest place I could think of,” Vesper shrugged defensively. “Besides, she likes it here. She has friends. We all look out for her.”
“I am going to kill you if you’ve touched her.”
Vesper laughed, ripping the cheap, scratchy covering off as soon as Mazz closed and locked the doors behind them. They didn’t need to hide here. Business hours hadn’t started yet, and Mazz didn’t let anyone in without thoroughly vetting them first.
“She’s a kid, Cedar. I haven’t even thought about touching her. Thanks, Mazz,” Vesper smiled at Mazz, who gave Cedar and Bellamy a wary look.
“You better be right about this, V,” she muttered.
Then she walked away to leave them to it.
Bellamy snatched Vesper's hand, clinging to her in a protective hold that effectively warded off any of the girls who might’ve been thinking about approaching.
Not that there were many kicking around this early.
“Is that why you come down here so much?” Bellamy asked in a whisper, her voice full of hope.
“Yeah, I try to check on her every few days—make sure she’s okay, has what she needs, stuff like that,” Vesper replied somewhat dismissively as she led them through the twisted hallways.
The rooms where Cypress stayed were behind a bit of light illusion magic.
Mazz had engineered it to look like there was no hallway there, the red patterned wall just continued down.
But Vesper knew the hallway would appear if she just kept walking.
No one ever checked too closely, and the girls were good about keeping clients away from the area.
“So, the whores,” Bellamy started, again, sounding too hopeful. “That wasn’t real? It was just a cover?” Cedar tried to choke down her laugh while Vesper uncomfortably cleared her throat.
“Well… It started out that way,” she said awkwardly. Bellamy’s hand tightened in hers, nails digging painfully into Vesper’s palm until she yanked her hand away. “I won’t do it anymore,” Vesper murmured, rubbing her hand.
Vesper stopped them in front of a solid black door marked only by “003” beside it.
There were a total of six secret rooms in this hidden hallway—five bedrooms and one shared kitchen.
As far as Vesper knew, they functioned primarily as safe places for the girls to stay if anyone needed an emergency escape or just a room for the night.
Mazz had told her a while ago that this was one of her main points of pride for the Downstairs—the ability to provide safe and protected housing for any girls in trouble.
Vesper knew only a few of them lived there full time, one being Mazz.
The other was Cypress. Mazz warned her during their messaging while they were on the way, that Wisp might be moving in full time. So, that would be fun.
Vesper glanced at Cedar before taking a steadying breath and knocked on the door. Two succinct taps—how she always knocked. Shuffling around was followed by a muffled “Come in.” A body slammed into Vesper almost as soon as she’d gotten the door open.
“Vessie!” Cypress squealed, squeezing Vesper tight and knocking the breath out of her. “Mazz told me you had to leave. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
Vesper chuckled and wrapped her arms around Cypress, giving the top of her head a quick kiss. “You know I’d never leave you, kid. Besides, I’d hate to miss your birthday.”
“I’m not a kid!” Cypress complained, still latched onto Vesper. “I’m almost twenty-two. That’s barely younger than you.”
Vesper laughed and nudged her off. “Hey, I got you a present.”
Cypress looked up at her, not quite making eye contact.
She tugged the sleeves of her oversized flannel to cover her hands.
Her eyes held such unbridled excitement and adoration that Vesper only hoped this wasn’t a huge mistake.
If Cedar had been lying—which Vesper didn’t really think she was—she trusted Bellamy to take Cedar out before she could touch Cypress.
“Is it what I’ve been asking for?”
Vesper snorted. “Nice try. It’s better.” Hopefully. She stepped aside to reveal Cedar, waiting surprisingly patiently in the doorway. Her eyes shined with tears, and a tight smile spread across her face as she took in the sight of her now grown little sister.
Cypress, on the other hand, wore a much different expression.
Her thin lips turned down, and her brow was creased.
She glared at Cedar with such disdain that Vesper questioned if she should’ve brought Cedar at all.
This kid had spent so long wishing her sister would save her, only to be let down.
Vesper couldn’t imagine what she was feeling.
Maybe Vesper should have gone about this a different way…
“Cy,” Cedar whispered, arms outstretched.
Cypress took a step back, her hands balled into fists at her side. “Where were you?!” she shouted. “You left me! I was all alone, and you left me!”
Cedar’s arms dropped to her sides. “I’m sorry, Cy. I didn’t have a choice. I came back for you though. I’m here now.”
Vesper darted a glance at Bellamy, who was partially hidden in the hallway and shifting uncomfortably, eyeing Vesper. Bel’s eyes widened, and she tipped her head back to ask if they could leave. Vesper nodded, inching away from the sisters.
They’d stay right outside just in case, but she didn’t think Cedar would do anything to harm Cypress.
Cedar might actually be the one who needed protection.
Either way, Vesper would rather not be in the room for what looked like would be a screaming match.
She still wanted to at least give them the illusion of privacy.
She missed whatever Cedar said, but Cypress’s response made it perfectly clear that Vesper was going exactly nowhere as the kid snatched her arm in a death grip.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about me anymore!” Cypress yelled. “Vessie is going to take care of me like she has been since you abandoned me!” Cypress held tight when Vesper tried to pry her hand off. “Don’t leave me,” she whimpered, clinging harder.
Vesper looked back at Bellamy helplessly. Bel rolled her eyes and mouthed “Vessie” with an accusatory glare, then stalked out of view.
“I think you two should have some alone time… to talk,” Vesper suggested gently, trying again to pry herself away.
“You said you’d never leave me.”
Vesper sighed. “Of course I wouldn’t,” she murmured, avoiding Cedar’s glare. She focused instead on a few wild strands of Cypress’s short, black hair.
“Promise?” Cypress asked, shuffling closer and clinging to Vesper’s arm.
“Always.”
Cypress nestled in further. “Love you,” she whispered, and Vesper definitely heard Cedar groan then.
The kid had always been a bit emotional, and to be fair, Cypress had kind of thought Vesper had permanently left.
Mazz would have told her as much, so it made sense she’d be a bit more insecure now.
She’d probably been inconsolable that first day. Vesper felt horrible.
“Yeah, love you too,” she muttered back. Her gaze again darted to the hallway, but unsurprisingly, Bellamy hadn’t reappeared. She hoped Bel hadn’t heard that. No doubt she’d get in trouble for all this later. No need to add fuel to the fire.
Vesper resigned herself to being stuck in the middle of whatever was about to happen between the sisters.
She never could say no when the kid looked at her like that.
Especially not when she wore those oversized clothes that made her look so much younger than she was.
Like she really was just a kid still. It broke her fucking heart.
“How’d you find her?” Cypress asked Vesper, moving on now that she knew Vesper wasn’t leaving. The question clearly pissed Cedar off and put Vesper right where she didn’t want to be. In the middle.
“She found me,” Vesper said, looking at Cedar. Cedar cleared her throat and tried to take another step inside, but she stopped short when Cypress hugged Vesper tighter then took a half step behind her.
“After our parents, um…” Cedar hesitated, but Vesper nodded.
She’d already told Cypress what happened long ago.
“Well, after that, I was allowed to come back. I tried to find you, Cy. Really, I promise. I have spent every second of my time for the last nine years looking for you. That’s how I found them. ”
Cedar and Vesper both looked for Bellamy in the doorway, but she still hadn’t come back. Vesper tried not to think about where she’d gone. Hopefully, she was just lingering and hadn’t gotten into trouble. No doubt there would be an angry whore storming in any second if Bel were elsewhere.
Cypress furrowed her brows, still looking at the floor. “Them?” Cypress asked. Bel had stayed hidden from view behind Cedar. Vesper realized she’d never actually told Cypress about Bellamy. She wasn’t quite sure why.
“Me and Bel.”
“Who is Bel?” Cypress asked with venom, spitting out the name like it was a dirty taste in her mouth.
“She killed our parents, Cy.”
Cypress sniffed. “Good.”
“Well,” Cedar continued hesitantly, as if she hadn’t expected Cypress to be glad their parents were dead.
Seriously, did Cedar not know what they’d put Cypress through?
The abuse? “Anyway. I found them and tried to—” Again she hesitated, looking at Vesper.
“—um, get information from V about the assignment. And, well I—”
“Wait,” Cypress interrupted, pulling away from Vesper and looking between the two of them.
“Why is she allowed to call you V? You told me only the whores…” Cypress trailed off, looking closely at Cedar, what she was wearing, her lips pursed in thought.
“Are you a whore? How come you’ve never come to see me?
They all visit me.” And then as if the implications finally caught up to her, she asked, “Are you two a couple?”
“No!” Vesper blurted out. She wasn’t going to break the poor kid’s heart.
Vesper wasn’t oblivious, though she acted it with Cypress.
She knew the kid had a crush on her. It was obvious, and the other girls teased her about it constantly.
She certainly wasn’t about to admit she’d been fucking her sister.
“I just needed information,” Cedar assured her, following Vesper’s lead, for once.
“I’m an herbalist for a different group—a competitor of V’s employers.
That’s how I knew she had something to do with you disappearing.
I just couldn’t find any files about what she’d done since she’s been lying to everyone.
My employers didn’t want me to make any questionable decisions while I tried to find out what she did with you. ”
Vesper snorted, as if questionable decisions weren’t all Cedar had made for the past week.
Cypress looked briefly up at Vesper. “She saved me.”
“Yeah, and she stashed you with the whores! Seriously, V. She was a fucking child! What is wrong with you?”
Vesper shrugged and repeated her earlier argument. “She’s been safe and well cared for. What more do you want? Come on, Cedar. Mazz would never let anything happen to her. I would never let anything happen to her.”
“This isn’t a life!” Cedar argued, waving a hand around the room. “She’s stuck in this room, how long were you going to force her to live like this?”
Vesper glanced around the small room. The dresser and table were littered with little trinkets Cypress had collected over the years.
There was art on the walls, books piled up in the corners.
It certainly didn’t look like a shitty place to be stuck in.
Cypress had all she needed. There was even a small, shared kitchen off the hallway.
She had all she needed, and if she ever wanted anything, Vesper or Mazz or one of the other girls made it happen. They all loved her. Sure, her only friends were Vesper and the whores, and she hadn’t had people her own age around until a year ago but, needs must and all that.
“Look,” Vesper sighed, “she gets free roam of the whole Downstairs when they’re closed. It’s not like she’s confined. I’m working on getting her out. I’ve been trying, at least, but your little stunts haven’t helped. Fucking up mine and Bel’s assignments made it a lot harder.”
“Oh, you are not blaming me for this!”
Vesper let out a sharp laugh. “But it is your fault. I was getting really close when Bel ruined our assignment because someone blackmailed her.”
“Bullshit,” Cedar hissed, her eyes narrowed. “How close? What did you find?”
“I’m not gonna tell you. I still don’t fucking trust you.”
“But you did find something?” Cypress tugged on Vesper’s shirt, interrupting the hostility. Her voice was thick, and she looked up at Vesper like she was about to give her the world.
Vesper sighed again, darting a quick glance at Cedar. Vesper had never been good at denying the kid what she wanted.
“Yeah, but you’re not gonna like it.”