I lean forward and wrap my arms around her waist, holding her tight in a hug. She returns my embrace, her cheek on top of my head. “But you were in the living room that night Phoenix and I came home. You even asked to go out with us.”
She shrugs. “I have good days and I have bad days. That was a good day. And as soon as I said that, I regretted it,” she admits.
I lean back and sigh. “I hate the people that did this to you. I’m going to find them and kill them.”
She sniffs. “Can I help you?”
I chuckle. “Definitely. We’ll kill them, then have a party.” A tear slips out of her eye and I wipe it away with my thumb. “Do you remember who took you?” I ask her.
She leans back, her hands clutch at the arms of the chair. I stand and sit in the other chair, giving her space. “I’m pretty sure Regina had something to do with it.”
I try to think if she’s ever mentioned Regina before, but can’t think of anyone. “Who’s that?”
“She was the wife of Steve, the man who bought me. But I’m not entirely sure.” She takes a deep breath and brings her thumb up to her mouth, biting on the nail. She leans forward. “I think Dr. Chamberland was there,” she whispers. Adrenaline floods my nerves so fast my hands and fingers tingle. “The dean fromBrighton was there and some woman with eyes that remind me of Phoenix.”
My ears ring as I think back to what Phoenix told me about the dean wanting to buy me and how he had bought other girls.Did he want to buy Anna too, but lost her as well?And Dr. Chamberland. I didn’t tell Phoenix about that memory that had returned.
“Did…” I trail off as I try to shuffle through the rapid thoughts going through my mind. “Did they hurt you?”
Anna pulls her legs up into the chair and wraps her arms around them. “The dean… he did things to me.” Anna’s fingers turn white because of how hard she’s clutching her legs. “I always felt uneasy around him at Brighton.” Her voice catches and she closes her eyes for a few moments. A tightness forms in my chest. I bring my hand up to rub at it, hoping it will go away, but it only gets worse.
“Dr. Chamberland never touched me and he always had a mask on, so at first I didn’t recognize him when I got here. But one day he said something that reminded me of being in that container and I knew it was him. I told Rex I didn’t want to see him again.” She sucks in a breath.
I bring a hand up, covering my open mouth as she continues.
“The woman. She never hurt me, but she would sometimes watch while the dean did things to me. And she loved to taunt me and tell me how much she was going to sell me for. But she never did. She kept me in that container. They’d move me every few weeks to a different container like they were trying to cover their tracks, but I know other girls were put in containers and sent away on ships. I could hear them crying.”
A sob escapes Anna, and it’s taking all I have to keep it together. We sit quietly for several minutes. I don’t know what to say. My mind has gone completely blank. All I can think is how much I want to make these people suffer. I remembered Dr.Chamberland the other night. After they had hosed me off and chained me back to the bed, he was talking to Nix’s mom and told her he was going to adjust the dosage of whatever drug they were giving me.
Whatever it was would affect my memory and I wouldn’t remember any of what they did to me. He told her it was time to begin thinking about this because Phoenix was close to finding me. Dr. Chamberland is the reason I can’t remember. He’s probably also the security breach. Phoenix fired all his security guys, and it was Dr. Chamberland the whole time.
“One night,” Anna continues. “A man opened the container. I could tell he wasn’t expecting to see me. I don’t remember what he looked like. I don’t think I ever saw his face; it was so dark. He closed the door, but came back a little later with some food and water. The next day, Rex and Phoenix showed up and rescued me.”
I blink as I digest what Anna told me. “Why didn’t you ever tell Rex?”
She wipes at her face and I realize she’s wiping her tears away. “I wanted to. There were a few times I almost did, but I felt like he didn’t want to hear what happened to me. Since I’ve been back, the majority of conversations have been surface level. Anytime it would begin to get deeper, he runs off to do some kind of errand.” She shrugs and slowly drops her legs back to the floor. “I finally stopped trying.”
I lean forward in my chair and rest my hand on top of hers. “I’m so sorry.”
“You don’t have to say that. You’ve been through your own horrors.” She squeezes my hand and offers me a sad smile.
“I had some memories return a few days ago.” She tilts her head at me as she waits for me to continue. “The woman with the eyes that look like Phoenix.” I take a deep breath. “That’s Phoenix’s mother. And I remember Dr. Chamberland druggingme so I’d lose my memory.” Anna’s hands cover her mouth and her eyes flick over my shoulder.
“What the fuck?”
Chapter 15
Phoenix
Ipace back and forth in my office downtown. My phone rings, and McKenzie’s name pops up. I’m about to swipe to answer it, but my father walks in at that moment.
It’s strange that I look more like my mom than my dad, but the older I get, the more I see the resemblance to him. His hair is sandy brown, he has a mustache and beard, and he has green eyes. I have a similar build to him, but that’s about it.
He walks in like he has better things to do than be here, and it pisses me off. I have felt he’s been hiding something from me for years now and after what McKenzie told me, I’m wondering what it is.
“What’s so important, son?” He doesn’t sit, instead he stands by the door, hands in his pockets, like he’s already ready to leave. I gave Rex instructions to stand outside the door and not let him leave until I give the okay.
Standing in front of my desk I lean back against it, crossing my arms across my chest acting like I don’t have a care in the world when that is the furthest thing from the truth. “Where’s mom?” I ask.
