Phoenix shook his head at the older man’s antics, but sat down to have breakfast with us. “Is it okay if we talk out here or do you want to go somewhere more private, like my office?”
“Out here is fine.”
“You met Patch yesterday. He’s a club member, but he is also a doctor. He’s going to stop by later today to collect specimens from us for a paternity test. That okay with you?” he asked, hopefully.
“That’s fine with me.” I don’t know why he thought it wouldn’t be. If he really was my father, I wanted to know.
“I think we should know for sure, but regardless of the outcome, I will do everything I can to help you get out of whatever situation you’re running from.”
My eyes shot to his, but I was at a loss for words. Several beats of uncomfortable silence passed by as I stared at him. “Really? Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me.”
By this point, we were both finished with our meals. “Why don’t we go into my office for the rest of our conversation?”
The man really didn’t like to waste time. As soon as I got myself seated in the same chair as yesterday, he asked, “Why do you need help getting away from the orphanage? You’re 18 years old now, you should be leaving there, whether you want to or not.”
I began to fidget in my chair and started rubbing my palms together in my lap. “Well, uh, I always thought things were strange at the orphanage, but I didn’t really know for sure because I didn’t have anything to compare it to. Anyway, we weren’t allowed to go anywhere other than school and very rarely we would get to go into town for shopping. It just felt like we were being kept away from the rest of the world and I didn’t know why. I still don’t know why. So, as the kids in the orphanage got older, we were assigned chores to be completed every day. Most of the time, my chores had something to do with cleaning one of the buildings on the property. A little over a year ago, I realized that I could hear conversations from other rooms in the building through the air vents, so I started listening. When I started hearing things that I didn’t understand, I started paying more attention to the things going on around me and listening more carefully to certain conversations. I’m not sure, but I don’t think the orphanage is really an orphanage and…” I paused and looked up at Phoenix. I wasn’t sure if I should tell him this or not.
He had been listening intently to everything I said and encouraged me to go on, “You can trust me. No matter what you tell me, I won’t make you go back there if you don’t want to.”
That was what I needed to hear. I exhaled in relief and continued, “Again, I’m not sure, but from what I overheard, I think they do something else out there besides dairy farming.”
Phoenix asked, “Like what?”
I cleared my throat, “I’m not sure what, but I think it is illegal and I think that the people who work there aren’t working there by choice.”
“You think they are being forced to work there?” he asked.
“Yes. I overheard them talking about how someone had been there for 10 years and would be there for 10 more to work off the debt they accrued,” I explained. I hoped I wasn’t making a big mistake by telling him all this information.
Phoenix had the strangest look on his face. I thought he was going to say something, but every time he opened his mouth, he just closed it again. Finally, he gently asked, “So, if it isn’t really an orphanage, why were you there?”
“I honestly don’t know,” I said dejectedly.
“Okay, can you tell me why you need help leaving?” he asked softly.
I tried desperately to keep the tears at bay, “I overheard Octavius talking to his men in one of their council meetings. He said that it wouldn’t be as profitable for me to work on the dairy farm once I turned 18, so he had ‘put the word out.’ Then, he said that I had been selected and would be picked up on my 18th birthday.” Phoenix sucked in a sharp breath. “I think, I think he was trying to sell me.” I managed to get that last part out before I burst into sobs.
Phoenix stood and rounded his desk. He knelt in front of me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Hey, hey, it’s going to be okay. I won’t let that happen to you.”
I continued to sob, “I’m really scared. I don’t want to be sold. I don’t even know what that means!”
Phoenix wrapped me in his big arms and rocked me back and forth while holding me tightly to his chest. “No one is selling you. You’re safe here. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
He held me until I calmed down. I don’t believe I had ever felt so safe and secure. I pulled back and wiped my face. “I’m so sorry. Contrary to what you’ve seen of me thus far, I don’t usually cry this much.”
“It’s okay. I can’t imagine the past few days have been easy for you. You’ve held yourself together better than most would have.” He walked back around to his desk and redirected the conversation, “I’m sure I’ll need to ask you more questions about all this, but for now, I just have two more questions. Where did you get all that cash and why were you so heavily armed?”
I smiled sheepishly at him, “I knew that I would need money to get away, but we were never allowed to have our own money, so I stole it.”
Phoenix blinked at me, “You stole over $100,000?”
I grinned, a little proud of myself, “Yes, but not all at once. I found the combinations to several of the safes when I was cleaning one of the offices. I took a little money from different safes over the course of several months and gave it to Reese to keep for me. No one ever noticed.”
Phoenix nodded, “And the guns?”
I shrugged, “All the kids at the orphanage were taught how to shoot at a young age. I’ve had a gun in the drawer beside my bed since I was 10 years old. There are guns and knives all over the place out there. They always stressed that it was important to know how to defend ‘our place’ if we ever needed to. We also spent a lot of time practicing hand-to-hand combat. Honestly, I thought all that was pretty cool so I didn’t question it.”
Phoenix rubbed his chin, “How many kids were there in the orphanage?”
