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The silence in the house above us was too unnerving, the usual sounds of footsteps and doors slamming nowhere to be heard. Even Evie hadn't come down yet to feed us. Evie. If she hadn't snuck down here and given me those pills, I’m not sure I would've lasted through the night with the pain Wayne caused when he pulled four of my teeth out. Her defiant act showed more bravery than I thought she knew, because I didn’t think I would have lasted this long if I was in her position. I would have given up a long time ago.
But Evie was so strong.
She’d been through hell, yet she was still standing, and she still had room in her heart for me. Because, yeah—I heard what she almost said. I knew she still loved me, and I hoped she knew that I never stopped. Not for one fucking second did I ever stop loving her too. I loved the Evie I grew up with. The sweet girl who filled my stomach with butterflies. But I also loved the Evie that was right in front of me, the strong woman who’d been fighting this whole time.
She never once—
“He’s gonna kill me today.”
I blinked, barely hearing Christopher as I stared up at the staircase, watching the sliver of light at the bottom. “Don’t say that,” I responded immediately.
“He is,” he said quietly. I glanced at him and watched as a tear slipped down the side of his face. I shook my head, chains rattling with the movement.
“No, he’s not.” I said, firmer now.
Christopher let out a breath that almost sounded like a laugh, but there was nothing behind it.“I’ve been counting, Jackson. It's been three months since I was taken,” he muttered.
“Maybe you counted wrong,” I said, ignoring the way my heart was trying to leap out of my fucking chest. “Maybe you still have time.”
“She’s the only reason you’re still talking like that,” he said, trying to smile.
“Like what?”
“Like you think this ends with us walking out of here.”
“It does,” I said. Because there was no other option. No room for anything else. I wasn’t even going to entertain the idea that we could all die down here. I refused to let that happen. “We’re not staying here,” I said after a moment, more to myself than him. “I’m getting us out,” I added, jaw locking again, despite the way it still throbbed.
“I hope you’re right,” he said quietly, sniffling as he looked away.
Creeeeeak.
A small, broken whimper slipped out of Christopher as the door pulled open. Wayne filled the frame, broad and solid, swallowing the hallway light behind him like it didn’t belong anywhere near what was about to happen. My entire body went rigid as Evie followed closely behind with her head down, and that fucking chain around her ankle dragging behind her with every step.
Clink.
Clink.
Clink.
Christopher began to cry loudly, the chains binding his arms to the wall above him clanging against each other. “No! No, please!” he choked, thrashing against the restraints, metal slamming violently against brick. “Please don’t do this!” Wayne laughed while Evie followed him over to the desk in the corner, their movements fluid and familiar, like a dance they’d done thousands of times before.
“Get the wire ready,” he said as he pulled a drawer open. I watched as Evie went straight to the wooden container, rummaging through it with unsteady hands until she pulled out a coil of wire.
“Please! Please don’t do this!” Christopher’s voice cracked into something desperate, frantic.
“Save it,” Wayne muttered without sparing him a glance.
The scrape of the chair against the floor echoed as Evie dragged it over and stood on it, wrapping the wire around an exposed pipe before jumping down, dragging the chair alongside her, and wrapping it around another pipe. She repeated it two more times until three lines of wire stretched from one pipe to the other.
“I’ll do anything, I swear! Just don’t! Please don’t!” Christopher sobbed beside me, causing my own eyes to sting.
“You’re already doing exactly what I want,” Wayne said with a grin as he walked over and checked the strength of the wire before patting Evie on the arse afterward as she stood on the chair. “Thank you, darl,” he said, and my stomach clenched as he leaned forward and kissed her lips. While he walked back towards the desk, Evie wiped her mouth on the worn fabric of her dress on her shoulder and glanced up, her eyes glistening as she subtly shook her head, as if to tell me she didn't want it. But she didn't need to say anything—I already knew.
Evie then climbed down from the chair and stood with her hands clasped in front of her, like she was waiting for the next instructions as Wayne began sharpening a large butcher's knife on a whetstone.
Shhkkk.
Shhkkk.
