A faint bulb dangles from the ceiling glowing across a widened cell. A topless figure has Meg pinned beneath his weight on a wooden bed, his hand covering her mouth. I lunge forward on instinct, ripping him off and throwing him at the wall as adrenaline floods my system. Lifting him by the throat, I punch his face over and over until my own knuckles split on impact, his cheekbone now matching his shattered nose. He doesn’t fight back or resist, hanging limping while I sate my anger on his face. I only stop when his face is covered in his own blood and Meg’s screams finally penetrate the rage that had consumed me.
Rushing over to her, I notice my t-shirt is hanging open across her chest and I step back to attack him again until Meg’s hand snakes around my arm. Her fingers are trembling against my skin and not from the bitter cold surrounding us. Shedding my hoodie, I ease her into it and scan her body for any physical injuries, relieved to find I must have got here just in time. Kneeling and taking her face in my bloodied hands, I stare deeply into her glazed eyes.
“It-it’s him. F-f-Fredrick Walters,” tears spill over as she points over to the man now slumped on the floor. Shock slackens my jaw and momentarily freezes me in place, a war of emotions I can’t handle all at once bursting to life within me. Regardless of how I feel about Avery, I would protect her from the piece of scum that stole her childhood any day of the week. Pulling Meg to her feet, I turn to keep her hidden behind my back and link my fingers into hers. To comfort her and to steady myself, the urge to rip his head from his shoulders overwhelming. But first I need to understand what’s going on. Having been recently released from prison and hiding in a forgotten crevice of Ray’s house can’t be a coincidence.
“Why are you here?” I manage to say evenly, despite my hands tightening around Meg’s.
“She looks just like her…” his British accent trails off instead of answering me, his eyes fixed on Meg peering around me as he licks his lips suggestively. “Avery was always my favourite. She was different, special….” Unable to listen to him any longer, I step forward and kick my foot directly below the vertical scar lining his chest that Avery gave him all those years ago, making him cough and wheeze. Crouching down, I drag him up by the pathetic bit of hair he has left and growl into his face.
“How are you in Chicago?” I grit through my teeth. His different coloured eyes land on me as if he hadn’t realized I was here, too wrapped up in his sick fantasies no doubt.
“I spent six years in a cell like this one,” he looks around fondly as I claw at every inch of patience I can muster, “thinking of her. Needing her. But when I came to visit, I saw her in the car with that woman. The one that stole her from me, and I had to free her. But it didn’t work. Until Ray found me, he’s promised me I can have her one last time before she is…” A tear slips from his brown eye, mixing with the blood coating his skin as his words untangle in my mind.
“You were the drunk driver that killed Cathy Hughes, aren’t you?” I whisper in a deadly tone. A fucking smirk pulls at his lips and I snap. Yanking back on his hair, I throw every modicum of rage, grief, anguish, and heartache into my punch to his throat. He splays across the floor, writhing around holding his throat as he gasps for the breath, I’ve made sure he won’t be able to take. Stepping back, I pull Meg into my side and she hugs my waist tightly, burying her face into my shoulder. I stroke her hair gently, my eyes glued on the paedophile before me who is rapidly turning blue, his movements becoming sluggish and involuntary.
Once his body has stilled and the life has drained from his wide eyes, I edge Meg from the chamber without a trace of regret. We slowly walk back through the maze of corridors in silence, her arms locked around my waist the whole way. Her curves feel so right against me, but I must remind myself I’m merely the only person here. If it weren’t for her bad luck at finding a way out, she’d be long gone and never think of me again. We return to the lit area by the stairs and I feel like I should say something, but she immediately walks out of the comfort of my body and into her cell without a word.
Pulling the door closed between us, she shifts around inside, and I stand awkwardly, not knowing whether I should stay or leave. Remembering Ray will expect her to be chained inside, even though she would probably stay inside by choice now, I move forward to wind the chain back into position and fix the padlock in place, pocketing the key. Not having a reason to stay, I begin to walk away when her voice finds me.
“Do you see now, the type of people you are affiliated with?” She is slumped down behind the door so I can’t see her, although I can hear the sobs she’s desperately trying to conceal. My chest aches and I feel the strange need to help, but it’s no use. She’s mostly likely hiding away from me as much as anyone else in the mansion.
“I didn’t want to do any of this,” I confess on a sigh, running a hand over my face, “I just wanted a family. I didn’t have a choice.” Her face appears through the steel bars, her wet eyes blazing with fury.
“Oh, you had a choice alright, and you
