Robyn’s eyes lock onto mine like she’s bracing for impact as the words hang between us. I chew on my lip, taking in her appearance. I can’t believe I once questioned her loyalty. I can’t believe I was so blinded by rage that I even thought it possible she could have known. In a world full of darkness, she is my light. She didn’t choose this; she is not him. She is his victim just as much as I am.
“Do you know who Fisher is to me?” I ask and her eyes widen.
“Please don’t tell me he’s your dad too, because I have flirted with Felix and I have enough weird incest shit going on without that.”
Against my better judgement, I bark out a laugh and she chuckles. Smoothing her hair, now brittle and dull, I just shake my head.
“No, girl, you’re safe to date Felix when we get out of here, but just don’t fuck where I can hear you.” She gives me an odd look. I’m not sure if it’s the idea of sex or freedom, but I want to give her some sense of normality, some kind of hope. “We will get out of here, I promise you,” I say instead.
Robyn nods as I brace myself for my next words.
“Fisher… he’s the one who did that stuff to me when I was a child.”
Robyn gasps and sits up quickly, knocking the blanket off us. Her whole body trembles harder as a small hand covers her mouth. Tears fill her eyes as she stares at me.
I once believed we were soulmates, two people destined for one another, but as I look in her eyes now, all it does is hurt my already broken heart.
If we were destined for each other, does that mean I brought this suffering onto her too? I’m not meant to have nice things. I’m not meant to have love. If I could sacrifice ever knowing what life was like with a friend just to spare her pain, I would.
Friends are meant to share secrets, stories, parties… not trauma.
“No,” Robyn gasps.
“Yeah,” I whisper offering a small smile. “I found out he was related to you when we went looking for you. We haven’t stopped. I want you to know that Robyn. None of us have given up on you.”
Robyn’s eyes drift somewhere beyond me, unfocused and distant, like she’s watching memories replay against a wall only she can see. The silence that settles between us isn’t empty but heavy, thick with everything she’s just confessed, witheverything I now know and cannot unknow. It hangs in the air like dust caught in weak light, refusing to fall.
I force myself to look around properly, to anchor myself in something tangible instead of drowning in the weight of her pain. My gaze traces the concrete walls, the single flickering bulb, the thin mattress on the unforgiving floor.
A cold recognition creeps through me because I have stood in rooms like this before. I have walked through spaces that smelled of damp, neglect, and violence. I have found girls like Hazel curled in corners, trying to make themselves smaller. I know with a sickening certainty that this is one of the locations Jack warned us about. One of the shadows on the map we thought we were hunting down fast enough.
The cruelty of it lands slowly but decisively. On the same day I shattered things with Roman, on the same day I let anger and pride push him away, I finally found her. The symmetry feels almost deliberate, like the universe carving balance out of my chest with a blunt knife.
I exhale shakily and stretch my legs out in front of me, trying to ease the stiffness from my body and the ache in my skull. Before I can spiral any further into guilt or regret, I feel Robyn’s hand slip into mine, soft and trembling but real, grounding me in the present. I turn toward her fully, needing to see her face, needing to remind myself that she is here, alive, breathing beside me.
“He sits in the corner,” she whispers with a haunted look over her face. “Sometimes he doesn’t even speak. He just… watches to make sure they’re doing it properly. He coaches them if they aren’t hard enough, cheers when they make me bleed, he will spit at me or piss on me… I hate him Fae” she breaks out in a sob and I rush over to pull her into me.
That sick fuck.
“I’m sorry,” I breathe as my own tears spill freely. “I’m sorry, this is because of me. Because of my Father. Because of?—”
“No.” She grips my top fiercely. “This isn’t you. Don’t you dare carry this.”
But I do.
I carry all of it.
We jump apart as the door scrapes open. The sound slices through the room like a blade. Robyn turns towards it and then freezes as a small whimper escapes her. I’m on my feet before I realise I’ve moved, pushing her behind me instinctively.
My body shakes but I plant myself there anyway as I watch Dr. Fisher step inside. He looks composed. I don’t need to be near him to know how he probably reeks of onions and although he looks put together, I suspect sweat has formed under his armpits and behind his back. Another wave of nausea hits me and I try hard not to lose my balance. His eyes move over us slowly as a smile curls at his mouth.
“Well,” he says smoothly. “What a gift. My two favourite girls in one place.”
“You are a sick fuck Fisher,” I growl out with more steadiness than I feel and I watch as his eyes light up.
“You were always exceptional, Fae,” he murmurs and licks his lips.
His eyes roam over my body and my skin crawls. Others step in behind him, but I don’t focus on them. I can’t. My eyes stay locked on him as I watch with disgust. My hands tremble at my sides as I watch him begin to undo his belt. The soft slide of leather through metal makes my entire body go cold.
