27. Iris
Iris
S unlight blinds me when the trunk pops open a second time. I shield my eyes and when they adjust, Matteas is standing over me.
‘Get out,’ he barks at me.
I will my body to move but it’s been curled up in this position for too long now, I’m stiff and so, so tired. Groaning, I attempt to lift my head and prop myself up on an elbow, but it gives way beneath me and my head slams back down sending a fresh wave of pain through me.
‘I said, get out!’
‘I-I-I can’t,’ I say in barely a whisper.
Matteas clenches his jaw and a vein at his temple pulsates.
He grabs me by the arm in a grip tight enough to make me cry out and I know I’ll be left with a bruise.
‘Shut up,’ he says, as he drags me out of the trunk and drops me to the gravel driveway below.
He bends down next to me, and I flinch as he reaches for my hands. Then he drags me back up to standing. ‘Now walk.’
Thankfully, my legs don’t betray me, and with tiny steps, I walk alongside Matteas as he holds a gun to my back, and Gregor follows behind.
‘Where are we going?’ I ask.
Paddocks of grass surround me. There’s a small farmhouse, a dam and what must have been a stable once, but it’s falling down now.
The two men either don’t hear me or they choose to ignore me.
Matteas leads me up the front steps of the farmhouse. It’s old and run-down, nothing like the mansion he lives in at Cobal Gully. The porch groans under our weight and I’m worried a strong gust of wind could knock the whole place over.
Matteas pushes the front door open and walks me through to the back of the house. Inside, it’s dusty and dark with barely any furniture. I’d guess no one has stayed here in a long time.
We come to a bedroom and he shoves me inside.
There’s an old stained mattress on the floor and nothing else.
It’s similar to the conditions in the warehouse, a place where those children were held for so long.
A shudder runs through me at the thought others could have been kept here once upon a time too.
He pushes me down to the mattress and I land awkwardly. Matteas closes the door and I hear the unmistakable sound of a lock being turned.
I glance around at the empty room. There has to be something here to help me.
Using the wall to keep me steady, I stand.
Then summoning all the strength I can, I lift the mattress and lean it against the wall, but there’s nothing of use underneath it.
I check the wardrobe, it’s completely bare.
There’s a small window that looks out at paddocks as far as the eye can see, but it’s locked in place with metal bars behind the glass.
I place the mattress back down and slump onto it. I feel hopeless and so terrified. I’ve got no idea what they’re going to do with me now.
Hours pass, and the dusk sky hangs heavy, with purples, deep blue and the last streaks of orange sinking fast. I haven’t heard anything since Matteas left earlier, not even a muffled conversation through the walls between Gregor and Matteas.
But I do, eventually, hear the sound of wheels crunching on the gravel outside and the front door slamming shut.
I move closer to my door to hear better. The door may be locked, but it is paper thin.
‘Daddyyyyyy,’ a familiar voice squeals.
What the hell is Archie doing here?
The truth dawns on me a moment before I hear her voice.
‘What have you done?’ she yells. She sounds nothing like the meek Eva who spoke to me about her controlling, abusive husband. ‘How stupid are you to have lost all the assets even after I tipped you idiots off?’
I rub at my chest, trying to ease what feels like my heart trying to beat out of my body.
I use the other hand to grip the wall and steady myself.
She’s in on it. That bitch played me and she’s in on it!
I’m thankful there’s nothing in my stomach because I want to vomit knowing I’d taken my own son into their home.
Into the home of two child trafficking criminals.
And Archie, oh my God, Archie. Where does he fit in with all this?
‘We didn’t have enough time,’ Matteas responds. ‘Your friend and the cop made things difficult.’
Eva huffs a laugh. ‘That friend of mine is the reason we worked out Eddie was undercover so don’t start with me, Matteas. You messed up. Leaving evidence around our house was careless.’
‘You shouldn’t have had people in our house,’ he snaps back. ‘Then it wouldn’t have been a problem.’
I drop to the floor, absolutely frozen with shock. My gut had told me things were not as they seemed. The alarm bells were ringing. But I had it wrong.
Eva is a criminal mastermind.