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It matters that he let me go.
It matters that he chose to do the right thing.
Even though he was wrong for making me go through all that pain, he tried to make it right by giving me more than enough to live on and by making sure I’d be all right.
But is it enough to forgive him?
And does it even matter when I will never see him again?
Something about that thought makes my already small heart shrivel up into dust.
Suddenly, a hurried knock sounds on my door, and I almost jump up from the couch because of the scare. More knocking ensues, so I quickly make my way to the door.
When I open it, Mary almost bursts inside.
“Amelia, hey. It’s so nice to see you,” she says, clutching her fingers.
“Um … yeah.” It’s only been a few days. I thought she’d go back to the mansion to help Eli, as that’s where she works. Why would she be back here? “You wanna come in?”
“Of course. Thanks,” she says, sucking in a breath before stepping inside. “I’m sorry for bursting in like that.”
“It’s no problem,” I say, snorting. “I just hadn’t expected to see you again.”
She laughs. “No, me neither.”
I enter the kitchen and grab a cup. “Want some hot tea?”
“Uh, sure,” she mutters, so I pour her some.
She seems oddly confused, which is really unlike her, for as far as I know.
“So how are the other women?” I ask, trying to break the ice.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen them.”
I stop in my tracks and look at her. “What do you mean?”
She looks up at me with innocent eyes. “Well, Eli released them too.”
My heart almost stops beating right then and there.
“What about Anna?” I ask.
“She’s still there,” Mary responds, raising her brows. “Out of her own free will.”
“And the others?”
“Gone.”
I grab the kitchen counter for support. “Even … the men and the woman in the basement?”
Her nod makes my lungs suddenly stop taking in oxygen.
I have to physically lean over and force myself to breathe.
He let out all the sinners. He freed them all … even though they hadn’t atoned for their sins.
Did he do it … for me?
Because I asked him to?
“I was as surprised as you were when he asked me to,” she says.
“When?” I ask, my eyes boring into hers.
“Um … just before I took you away from there,” she answers, adding to my shock.
It takes a while to register.
Not only did he free them, he did it before he freed me. And I never even knew.
He didn’t tell me or come to show off to feel good about himself. He didn’t ask me if I was happy or if I would stay with him for giving me what I wanted.
He did none of that.
Because he knew it was too late.
Too late for forgiveness.
Too late for me to ever love him back, no matter the gestures of good faith.
And he did it all because of me.
When her eyes flash back and forth between me and the clock, I ask, “What’s wrong?”
“Well, the thing is … I didn’t see any other option,” she says, sitting down at my table but not quite relaxing. “I came here because of Eli.”
“What about him?” I pour the hot water in the cup.
Maybe the fact that I found out that he did something kind and good makes me want to hear this.
“Well, you know how he has these rules he has to follow, right? Did he tell you about them?”
“No, not much anyway … I guess the only part that I know was about me. About punishing the sinners,” I reply.
“Okay, I wasn’t going to tell you this myself, but I think you should know. Did he never tell you that the one who punishes is also a sinner?”
I pause and look up. “You mean like … a sinner?”
She nods. “That’s why the job is so hard. A sinner must be punished, so the punisher then also becomes the sinner, purely for hurting the sinner.”
“Oh …” I mutter, looking down at the swirling tea, wondering why she’s telling me all this.
“Anyway, all the men have these things they do to punish themselves for it,” she says. “But there is a specific rule that only applies to the one who governs the house. He or she must continue the bloodline.”
My hand instinctively reaches for my belly, and it already starts to ache. “He knows, doesn’t he?”
“Knows what?” She raises a brow.
So she doesn’t know?
I’m totally confused now.
Why would she come here if not to tell me he’s going to make me come back because he knows about the baby? She would say the words if that was true. So then why doesn’t she?
“You really don’t know, do you?” I say, snorting.
“No, what is it?”
I continue to rub my belly, and say, “He got me pregnant.”
