He’s locked the door.
I’m locked in here, and I can’t stand it. I can’t stand knowing that I could be trying to do something, yet I’m just here.
I’m the answer to this mess, yet I’ve been locked in here for the last couple of hours watching day turn to night. Not doing anything, just sitting on the bed watching and waiting.
Blaming myself as usual.
It’s all my fault again.
The events of the past were things I blamed myself for, and they weren’t exactly a direct result of me. They were all occurrences that happened indirectly. This is different.
This is completely direct.
Ilya wants me. He wants me dead, and he’s taken Timothy to force us into making that happen.
Do I trust him? Never. Do I believe he’ll just hand over the baby in exchange for me? No.
But I think anything is worth a try. Timothy is just a baby.
Tears roll down my cheeks as I think of how terrified the poor baby must be. I’ve come into this home and caused a complete upheaval. There was already loss in their lives, and I came along causing a stir.
The phone next to me on the nightstand starts ringing, startling me. It’s been silent in here with only the sounds of my cries within these walls.
The phone rings out and starts again.
I’m surprised no one answered it, given the situation.
It does the same thing, and I answer just so I don’t miss something that might be important.
“Hello,” I say, steadying my voice.
“Hello, my niece,” comes the voice that fills my nightmares.
I always hear the other men laughing and see their movements. Him, though, I hear his voice the same as I am now.
“Give the baby back, you bastard!” I cry.
“Shhh shhhhh. There, there, pet, I’m offering you the chance to do something with your worthless life. If you come to me now, you might be able to save this poor child.” He chuckles, and I can just imagine his wicked face. I saw enough of it yesterday. He looked older with his silver hair and more evil.
“How will I get to you?” I ask. I don’t bother to contemplate the fact that Vincent told me he’d find a way. He’s used to criminals, but he doesn’t know my uncle. He doesn’t know that this man is the essence of evil and won’t think twice about killing a child.
The sooner anyone can get Timothy back, the better.
“There’s a door through the closet just to your left,” he answers. A chill runs down my spine. Fuck… fucking hell, he can see inside the house. How? When would they have been able to put cameras in?
Maybe it’s not that though. Maybe they’re just using what’s already here. Shit. That means they can see and hear what everyone else is doing, what they’re planning.
“Juliette…” he seethes and says my real name. It’s the third time now that I’ve heard it in ten years. This time, though, doesn’t have that dreadful effect it had yesterday. I feel empowered and ready to face him. “I can see you. I can see your mind as you realize that I can see you. Don’t you fucking dare try anything, or that’s it. This is a chance I won’t offer again.”
“I’m listening,” I say. I school my face and push my shoulders back. He’s not going to faze me. I won’t allow him to. This man took so much away from me. I can’t allow him to add more guilt to my heart.
“There’s a door through the closet. It’s open. It leads to the safe room. Just before you get to the safe room is another door that leads out to the back of the house. Go there and head into the woods. We’ll be there waiting by the gates for you. Go through them. We’ve disabled the cameras there.”
Oh God… I can do this. I can.
“You will give the baby back when I get to you? I won’t go anywhere until you tell me you will. He has nothing to do with this.”
“I will give him back,” he says, and I pray. I pray that this one time he might have some heart, something human to keep his end of the deal.
That’s all I want. He can do whatever he wants with me after.
I was a ghost anyway.
I died a long time ago. I’ve been a ghost in a shell of a body I called Ava Knight.
“I’m on my way.”
***
As I walk through the woods, I keep thinking what will happen when Vincent discovers I left.
I keep wondering what he’ll think… how I knew about the entrance to the safe passage through his room.
I hope he’ll understand why I did it. I’m sure he’d do the same thing for Timothy if he could. Somehow, I think of his mother; Sorcha, and what she must have gone through when she died. I think she would like that I tried to get him back. Once again, it’s the only thing I can do.
I think it’s the only thing anyone can do.
I just wish it didn’t feel like I was spitting in the faces of all the people who’ve tried to help me prevent this very thing I’m walking to.
Death.
As I walk, my legs heavy, my heart heavier, I feel like such a disappointment to them all.
Dad, Maksim, Sasha… Vincent.
They all tried to save me. As I walk to what I know will result in my death, voices of the dead call to me to run away. Turn back and run away, they all say.
My heart drives me forward in hopes of saving a little boy.
I see the gate ahead, and as I approach, a bright light goes on. A car light.
I can see it now. It’s a black Sedan.
A shadowy figure moves against the dark. When I get closer, I see it’s Dmitri. Yuri is driving the car.
I unlock the gate and walk through, not bothering to acknowledge Dmitri. I no longer care for myself. Fear is so embedded in me that I just want this to be over quickly.
“I thought that was you, Juliette Lobonov,” the asshole says, but I still don’t look at him. I still ignore him.
He opens the door to the back of the car, and I slide in next to the devil, my uncle, who’s smiling at me.
“Very good, so glad to have your cooperation,” Ilya says. The asshole and animal he is reaches across and runs his hand over my thigh. “I think we’ll have more fun with you this time before we kill you.”
Bile rises in my throat, and my skin blazes with that heat and cold mixed together as he continues to touch me.
“I will kill you myself this time,” he adds.
“The baby. When will you call them to make the exchange?” That’s all I care about.
“Juliette, you never were that bright, were you?” He chuckles and gives me a wide, wicked grin that makes me glower at him.
“What do you mean? What are you going to do?” Even now, the voices of the dead scream to me.
“I’m going to do the thing you knew I was going to do, which is nothing.”
My breath hitches, and tears pour from my eyes. I ball my fists and punch him. I try to open the door, but Ilya is fast and strong. He grabs me and hits me with the back of his gun, making me see stars. I slump down against the door, holding my head and feeling the wetness of blood.
“Stupid bitch, that’s the last time you try something like that. I will give that baby back after I teach Vincent Giordano a lesson he’ll never forget because all three of you will be dead before the next moon rises.”
He hits me again, and I black out in an instant.