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A ring. With a deep red rock on it. I stilled, swallowing the bile that was burning my throat. Of course, I’d seen that ring before. It was the same ring on the necklace Alex never took off. The same one that was digging into my back right this second. The same family heirloom that every man in his family wore. I carefully looked at each man, and at least half of them were wearing the same ring.
The echoes of the chants abruptly stopped, and the room was silent. I was barely breathing, still trying to comprehend what had just happened. The person with Lacey’s hair nailed it to the wall while the others watched. Then they walked out of the room in a single file line. The door slammed shut, and the sound shocked me back into reality.
I needed to get out of Alex’s grasp. His touch made my skin suddenly feel dirty. He relented and removed his hand from my mouth first and then moved his arm from my body. Flinging myself out of the storage room, I ran to my sister. Lacey looked so peaceful. Her eyes were closed, and if not for the blood, it could have looked like she was sleeping. Her beautiful red hair was gone. All that was left was a couple of inches of jagged pieces. I took Lacey’s face in my hands and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
Gut wrenching sobs erupted from me with such force that it stole my breath. My sister, my best friend, was gone.
“Sage, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how hard this is.” Alex’s voice was so calm. Much too calm after what we had just witnessed. There wasn’t one note of alarm or fear in his voice.
He came up behind me to wrap his arms around me, but I ducked and slipped under them. Meeting his eyes, I attempted to keep the fear of him off my face.
The man I had trusted with my life. Who had been there for me over the years for anything I needed. I had planned to spend the rest of my life with him. He was the perfect person for me. Now, he was a monster.
The arms that I had found so much comfort in looked threatening now that they so easily held me captive. The last three years of my life were all a lie. But I couldn’t let him know that I knew. He wouldn’t let me out of this place alive with the secret I now carried.
“I can’t be touched right now. I know you want to help, but right now, you can’t. We should leave before they come back. We need to go to the police.” My voice caught as another sob ripped through me. I fought the instinctive urge to flee as fast as possible and forced myself to meet his gaze. I was sure there was still fear in my eyes, but he didn’t have to know it was fear of him. Alex stayed silent and seemed to study my face.
“I know you saw it.”
My heart stopped.
“Saw what? Saw my sister get murdered? Saw those crazy fucking people cut her hair and braid it? Of course, I saw it. We need to get the hell out of here now,” I tried to say without my voice cracking, as I ran a hand through my hair. I abruptly stopped when Alex’s gaze fell on my hand. It was my worst tell when I lied. And he knew it.
“It’s okay, Sage. I know you saw his ring.” He gently pulled the necklace out of his shirt and revealed the ruby-red heirloom. “I was hoping it didn’t have to happen this way. You never should have seen what happens here. This wasn’t the plan,” he said, more to himself than to me. He took a step toward me, and I darted around the table that Lacey was lying on. I backed up another step and hit the cold, rough cement wall.
“Alex, what are you saying? That this was going to happen anyway? How would they know we were going to stay here? This was a last-minute plan. And it wasn’t even your idea to stay here.” I was trying to buy time by saying anything as I scanned the room for an escape route.
He was with them. I couldn’t trust anything he said. Alex sighed and walked around the table until he was face to face with me. I silently calculated the odds of being able to slip past him, but my confidence shrank each time he took a step closer. There was no malice in his eyes. He was gazing at me the same way he had a thousand times before. With love and comfort. It made me want to slap him. How could he look at me like that after what had just happened?
Anger suddenly took over my grief-filled body. He’d known what was going to happen to Lacey. He was a part of it, and he stopped me from trying to save her. With a burst of pure adrenaline, I charged at Alex and ducked under his outstretched arm. His hand grazed my hip, but I twisted away and kept moving. Without looking back, I bolted straight for the door I had come in through.
I didn’t know how close behind me he was, but his footsteps seemed deafening. Turning to look wasn’t an option. I needed to look straight ahead. The dim room was hard enough to move through while walking, let alone sprinting.
I made it to the door, grabbed the iron handle, and pulled it open, only for it to be slammed shut. His arm was next to my head, keeping the door closed. He was so close that his chest brushed my back. He put his other arm up on the other side of me, pinning me against the door.
“You really shouldn’t have wasted your energy doing that. I grew up in this place. In this room. You thought you could really beat me to the door?” Alex asked while catching his breath. For the first time since he’d pulled me into the storage room, he wasn’t calm and collected.
“Whatever you’re going to do to me, just do it.” I continued facing the door because it was better than looking at him.
“Sage, I’m not going to do anything to you. I told you this wasn’t the plan. You shouldn’t have been here.”
“Wasn’t the plan? Tell me, Alex. What the hell was the plan? Did it originally involve murdering my sister?” My voice broke and my eyes welled with tears as the image of Lacey’s death jumped back into my mind. Alex was silent for a moment. His fingers closed around my arm, and I bristled, trying to dodge his grip. But it was too late.
“Don’t touch me,” I growled, attempting to break away from him. But he held on tightly to my arm to make sure I couldn’t run again. I cursed myself for never making time to go to the gym and for never taking a self-defense class. I was no match for him. He pulled on my arm until I turned and was facing him.
“Look at me, baby. I want to explain it to you. I’m not going to hurt you. That was never the plan. I love you.”
“Love me? You’re with the people who murdered my sister and you let it happen. I don’t even know who you really are. I don’t give a damn what the plan was. I just want you as far away from me as possible,” I screamed at him, still trying to wriggle out of his grasp.
“Let me explain. Give me a chance to help you understand what this place is. There’s a reason for all of this, and I need you to see that. Come on, I need to show you something. It’s on the wall over there.” He motioned with his free hand to a small bookshelf. I slowly turned my head and followed his gaze toward the wall.
