by Stella Hart
“All six down. I’ll start on the right side of the house now.”
Ten minutes later, both right-side house guards were slumped by the terrace doors, stone-cold dead. Alex stayed close to the wall and crept around to the front.
“Careful,” I said, staring at the screens with an agonized look. “These front guys look way more alert than the parking lot ones.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”
He was right. He took out every front guard without any of them picking up a thing until it was too late for them. Then he repeated the same on the left side of the mansion.
“Just the back four to go now,” he said. “It’ll be easy from here. You head out, okay? Find the kitchen. You might be able to talk that cocktail maid into helping us. We need whoever and whatever we can get for this next bit.”
I exhaled loudly. “Yeah. I’ll try.”
This phase of the plan was the most precarious yet; the one that mostly involved using our instincts and ‘winging it’. It couldn’t be planned properly until we knew exactly what we were dealing with, which meant we could only come up with it after we—or at least one of us—got inside the mansion. Even then, it would be up in the air and prone to change at any moment.
I watched Alex on the screen for a few more seconds, and then I turned my attention to the inside patrol guard. He was on the second floor now, presumably checking to make sure the kids were still in their rooms.
I slipped out of the security room, shutting the door behind me with a soft click. Then I headed back down the hall in the opposite direction. From the CCTV footage, I knew that the kitchen was on the other side of the ground floor.
“Hey! Wait!”
I froze at the sound. It was the asshole patrol guard’s voice, somewhere behind me. Trying my best not to quake with fear, I turned around. He was striding toward me, his face like thunder. He must’ve just come down the stairs and seen me heading down the hall.
“What’s happening?” Alex asked, his voice edged with concern. “Do I need to come in?”
I ducked my head slightly and covered my mouth with my hand as I pretended to scratch my head. “I don’t know,” I murmured. “It might be nothing.”
The guard finally reached me, his dark eyes narrowed. “I know exactly what you’ve been up to, you stupid little bitch,” he snarled.
This didn’t seem like ‘nothing’. That black stone of fear was suddenly back, dropping through me again. “Sorry?” I squeaked, feigning confusion.
“All you little sluts think I was born yesterday, don’t you? You said you were going back to the kitchen earlier, but I just saw you heading this way, obviously from the library. You think it’s okay to let everyone else work while you slack off?”
I couldn’t exactly lie and say I’d already been to the kitchen. All he had to do was turn my pockets out and find the basil still in there to know that wasn’t true. It was better that I simply accept the blame and try to move past it.
“I… I’m sorry. I thought I could have a little break. I’ve been making canapés all day, and I was starting to get tired,” I said.
He slapped me across the face, hard, sending me reeling. “You take breaks when you’re given permission.”
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry,” I said, touching my cool fingertips to my smarting cheek. For a second I was terrified the impact of his hand had sent my earpiece flying out, but with a cursory scan of the floor around me, I realized it was still intact.
“I’ll take you to the fucking kitchen myself so I know you’re there,” he said, roughly grabbing my arm. “And William will be hearing about this attitude later, believe me. I remember you now, Jessica.”
Well, at least he’d fallen for my act.
“I’m gonna have a lot of fun killing this bastard,” Alex murmured softly in my ear as the guard dragged me down the hall, to the opposite end of the ground floor. I couldn’t reply, but I let myself smile for just a second.
On our way down the hall, I turned my head to the left, and my heart nearly stopped as I realized where we were. A smaller hall ran perpendicular to this one, and if we veered left and took about fifty steps, we’d be right outside the huge carved wooden doors from my dreams and early memories.
Until now, it hadn’t properly registered with me that I was really, truly here in that same place. But at the sight of that hallway, it finally struck me, and thick déjà vu overwhelmed all my senses. The Circle were all so close, right through those very doors, and I could practically hear their chatter and smell that same cigar smoke from fifteen years ago.
I knew I should still be scared, white-knuckle petrified, but I wasn’t anymore. Adrenaline was bursting through me like wildfire, and I’d never been less afraid in my life.
I sneaked a glance at the guard’s watch as he shoved me through the wide kitchen doors a moment later. It was a quarter past eight.
I smiled again.
One more hour, and the Circle would finally be closed.
14
Celeste
The guard pushed me inside the kitchen, gave me a scathing look, and stalked away.
I stepped over to the maid down at the end of an enormous marble island countertop. I needed to explain what was going on and try to enlist her help. Like Alex said to me earlier, we needed all we could get. Even with the vast majority of the guards dead, we had to get all the maids and kids out of the house before we dealt with the Circle members, and that wasn’t going to be easy to pull off without them noticing.
The maid was still preparing cocktails, but she glanced up when she heard me come in.
I realized, with a pang like an electric shock, that I knew her face. She was the girl in one of the videos Alex had stolen from a previous victim of his… the young girl my father tortured and raped for fun. Over fifteen years had passed since that video was filmed, but she was still here, trapped in amber, working for the Circle. She looked to be in her mid to late twenties by now.
Her tired eyes narrowed, and her brows furrowed. “Who are you?” she asked. “Are you new?”
“Sort of. I’m Celeste,” I said, stepping closer to her.
“I’m Emily,” she replied listlessly as she crushed some sugar cubes in a small bowl. “How did they get you here? You don’t look so young.”
I knew it wasn’t an insult. I was young by most people’s definition, but in terms of new Circle kidnapping victims, I was practically ancient.
“I’m John Riley’s daughter,” I said softly.
She obviously recognized the name, even after all these years, because her face blanched and she jerked away from me, sending the little sugar bowl flying off the counter and onto the floor. Grains of sugar scattered everywhere, mixing with the broken black shards of the ceramic bowl.
“Get away from me,” she whispered, hands trembling as I knelt down to help her. I realized why she was so terrified—she thought I was here to torment her. She thought I was truly my father’s daughter.
“No, please, I’m here to help,” I whispered back. “I know what my father did to you. I want to get you and the others out of here.”
Her eyes widened for a split second as she stared deeply into my own, ostensibly assessing whether or not I was trustworthy. Then she spoke up again, loudly. “No, I told you, it’s in the third drawer over there, not the fourth.”
I was confused, but then I realized she was talking loudly for someone else’s benefit. The patrol guard must’ve heard the bowl smash and returned to see what was going on.
I stood up straight and headed to a set of wide drawers, using my peripheral vision to check out the doorway. I was right; the guard had returned, and he was glaring at the two of us suspiciously.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you, I got you that basil you wanted for the garnishes,” I said breezily as I rifled through the third drawer. I grabbed a strainer, figuring it looked like it might come in handy for cocktails and therefore wouldn’t arouse suspicion that I was getting it out.
Emily was sweeping up the sugar and broken remains of the bowl now. “Well, it’s a bit late now. The food’s already gone out,” she said.
The guard seemed satisfied with our exchange, and he left the kitchen again a moment later.
I headed back over to Emily and started helping her with the drinks. She’d finished one tray and was loading the glasses up on top of a silver service cart. She refused to meet my eyes, and I could tell she didn’t entirely trust me or my motivations.
Yet.
“Emily, please listen to me,” I began in a low voice. “I really need your help. I need to get all the kids and maids out of the house as soon as possible, and I don’t think I can do it without someone like you. Someone they know.”
Alex had keys for the upper floor rooms (courtesy of Blaine) but he couldn’t realistically go and let the kids out by himself. They were most likely distrustful or plain terrified of any new men, even those who said they were going to help, so we had to get someone they trusted to convince them to leave their rooms.
I couldn’t do it either. Aside from the fact the kids didn’t know me, I had to stay down here and try to get the maids out, because I was far more capable of fitting in (on the surface, in case Circle members spotted me) than Alex.
Emily was silent for a long moment. Then she looked up at me and sighed, her hollow eyes seemingly staring into my soul. Something painful flicked across her expression, and she lowered her gaze again. “I’m not as stupid as I look,” she mumbled.
I frowned. “What? I don’t understand.”
“This is a game. I know it.”
“It’s not.”
She threw her hands up, her head shaking slowly with disdain. “Do you know how many times they’ve played this one with us? Sometimes it’s the guards, sometimes it’s the Circle members. They tell us they’ll help us escape. Really, they just want sex, or to hurt us. It’s amusing for them to see us looking so hopeful, just so they can destroy us all over again when we find out it was all a sick joke.”
Of course they’d do something that cruel and twisted. I should’ve known.
“I understand. But I swear, they didn’t send me here as part of some game. I’m real, and I’m here to help.”
“How?” she asked, eyes flashing with suspicion again.
“It’s not just me. I’m here with someone else, and he’s killed all the guards outside already. He’ll be inside any minute to help us. And I also knocked out the one in the security room who watches the cameras and checks your tracking collars. I swear, it’s true. You have a real shot at leaving this place now.”
“Who’s here with you?”
I didn’t answer her right away. “Did you know a girl here named Evangeline? Or Lina for short?” I asked.
She stared at me for a long time. Then she finally nodded, her eyes glazing with a faraway expression. “Yes. She was here a long time ago. About the same time as when they brought me here,” she murmured. “She didn’t stay in line, so they….”
“They took her away. I know,” I said softly. “I’m here with her brother. He’s been targeting the Circle for years and killing them one by one. Now I’m helping him. We want to finish the whole lot of them tonight.”
Her brows shot up. “You mean… the Heartbreaker?” she whispered, color returning to her cheeks.
I nodded. “Yes. He’s here. I swear.”
“I’ve heard of him. We aren’t allowed to watch or read the news, but I’ve heard them talking about him,” Emily said. “They’re scared of him.”
“Good. They should be.”
She opened her mouth to say something else, then clapped her hand over it for a second and focused her attention on the drinks again. She was prepping another tray. “No,” she finally said. “It’s just a game.”
“It’s not.”
“I gave up on getting out of here a long time ago,” she muttered in a dejected tone. “I just… I just can’t believe you.”
“Do you believe her now?”
We both whirled around to see Alex standing in the doorway. He wasn’t alone. He’d dragged the inside patrol guard in with him, and blood was pouring from what appeared to be a gaping wound in his abdomen, seeping over his hands as he tried to stem the flow. He had something stuffed in his mouth so he couldn’t call for help.
He spluttered and gurgled through the gag as Alex ripped a long, narrow knife out from his back. It had gone all the way through him. Then he crumpled to the floor, dark eyes wide with shock.
Emily’s face went white again. “Oh my god,” she said. “You… did… you’re the….”
She didn’t seem capable of coherent speech for a moment. I put my hand near her, hovering delicately over her shoulder. I wasn’t sure how she would react to being touched. “This is Evangeline’s brother,” I said gently. “His name is Alex. We really are here to help you.”
Emily took a deep breath and swallowed hard, trying to pull herself together. She’d been through a lot of shit in the decade and a half she’d been trapped here, so seeing a guard gutted in front of her wasn’t going to be the thing that broke her. At least I hoped it wouldn’t be.
With shaky steps, she headed toward the dead guard. Leaning down, she checked his pulse, as if she couldn’t quite believe he was really gone unless she confirmed it herself. Her trust in others had been eroded a long time ago, even toward those who claimed to be helping her, and I couldn’t fault her for that.
When she was sure Alex had really killed the guard, and it wasn’t part of some sick game to trick her into having hope, she stood up straight and kicked the corpse hard, right in the face. I knew he wouldn’t feel a thing, but it obviously still meant a lot to Emily to do something like that to one of the men who’d hurt her and kept her trapped here for so many years.
“How can I help?” she asked, finally looking back at me. Her eyes were still fearful, but there was a glimmer of determination in them now.
“We need you to tell the kids and other maids what’s going on. Tell them we’re trying to help, and that they have to get out of the house. We need everyone out as quick as possible.”
“Why can’t we just wait in our rooms until you’ve killed them all? It must be freezing outside,” she asked in a small, panicky voice.
Since she was twelve or thirteen, her entire world had existed within these walls. After so many years of that, the thought of finally going outside probably frightened her, even if it meant freedom from captivity.
“There’s fifty people in that ballroom, and only one feasible way to kill that many in an enclosed space,” Alex said. “Anything else is too risky. So you need to be outside when it happens.”
Comprehension dawned on Emily’s face. “Oh. I see.” She was silent for a moment, then shook her head. “No, it won’t work.”
“Why?”
“Without the outside guards around, we could probably get all the kids out without the Circle noticing, as long as we’re quiet and avoid the hallways near the ballroom. But the maids… that won’t be so easy.”
I was afraid she might say something like that.
The vague worry had been scratching at the back of my mind for a while now. What if one or more of the maids were like my old therapist, Angela Fitzgibbons, and actually sided with the Circle? They wouldn’t help us. In fact, they’d march right down to the ballroom and tell them all exactly what we were doing as soon as Emily informed them of our plan. Then we’d all be screwed.
I voiced this concern to Emily before she could say anything else. She shook her head emphatically. “No, it’s not like that. We all hate them. We hate being here. I remember Angela; she was still living here and going to college when I first arrived. She left soon after, and they seemed to actually let her go free, but it wasn’t real freedom. No way.” She pursed her lips and shook her head again. “She was a freak, you know. She really believed in them. The rest of us… we’d rather die than give in to them like that. And they knew that about us, so we were
never allowed to leave like her. The only way anyone else ever left here was….” She trailed off and made a slicing gesture across her throat.
A pang of nausea hit me. “What’s the issue with convincing everyone to get out, then?” I asked.
“Well, you want to get us all out without them noticing, but I don’t think that will be possible. The food already went out, so that’s okay, but there always needs to be at least one maid circulating around the ballroom with drinks when they have events like this. Usually two or three. So if there’s suddenly no maids to be seen, they’ll get suspicious and one of them will start looking around to see what’s happening. And it will take at least half an hour to sneak everyone outside without being loud. That’s long enough for them to notice something is up. So… at least one of the maids has to stay behind in the ballroom and not get rescued, or it won’t work.” She let out a long sigh.
“Oh.” I swept my hand over my outfit. “We already figured that might be the case. That’s one of the reasons I’m dressed like this. I’m their serving maid for tonight, while the rest of you get yourselves out. Alex can talk to me via this device in my ear, so I’ll know when to make a quiet exit.”
Alex looked at me proudly, and Emily’s eyes widened. “You’re just going to go in there by yourself? They’ll know you don’t belong, surely.”
“It’s a risk we have to take. Like you said, they’ll notice if there isn’t at least one maid going around the room offering drinks and so on. And I have a feeling they’re too caught up in their own issues to even notice that I’m not really one of the maids here.”
“William thinks the Heartbreaker is one of them,” Alex added by way of explanation. “That’s why he threw the party tonight and made them all attend. He’ll be too nervous to notice Celeste doesn’t belong—we hope—and the others will probably just think she’s a new girl here.”
Emily’s eyes widened, and she clasped my hands in hers. “If they catch you, and your plan goes wrong, they’ll….” Her breath seemed to catch in her throat for a second. “Why are you doing this? You don’t even know us, and you’re risking so much.”
