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“This is our home,” she argues, fear and worry, and so much fucking love for the man she thinks I’m going to hurt, spilling down her cheeks.
“No,” he shakes his head. “It’sneverbeen my home.”
“Seven,” she cries, her voice lost beneath a broken sob. “Stop this.Please.”
“He’s right.” I say heavily.
Seven turns back around to face me, his eyes narrowing. “What is this, some kind of test? Will we end up in the dungeons beaten to within an inch of our lives for not fulfilling whatever sick fucking game this is? Will you force me to rape the woman I love again to save us both from death?”
“No. I’m giving you both the opportunity to be free,” I say, pointing to the cheque. “Take it, leave here. No one will stop you. I give you my word.”
“What?” Three frowns, swiping at her tears. “I don’t understand.”
Seven stares at me in disbelief. “This isbullshit. A trick.”
“No. It isn’t, Jonathon,” I say, using his real name as I reach up and remove my mask, revealing my face to them both. Three sucks in a breath and looks away, but Seven holds eye contact. “Tonight will be the Menagerie’s last performance. I’ll be offering the rest of the Numbers the same opportunity as you both.”
Seven grits his jaw. “And yet you show us your face? Now we’ll never be able to leave, right?” he accuses.
“On the contrary. I just didn’t want my mask to break when you punched me.”
“What?” he snaps, his fingers flexing then curling into fists.
“It’s the least I deserve. If I didn’t have a woman I love waiting for me downstairs, I would let you beat the shit out of me and wouldn’t fight back.”
“You expect me to believe you’ve changed?”
“I don’t expect anything. Now do what you wanted to do that night and fucking hit me.”
And just like I knew he would, Jonathon loses it. He rushes for me, pulling back his fist and slamming it into my face. Knuckles meet bone and I feel the pain like a fucking sledgehammer to my head as I take the punch, stumbling back from the force. He doesn’t stop there, he grips my shirt, shoving me against the wall and punches me twice more. Cassidy rushes forward, her words lost beneath the sound of his anger as he roars in my face.
“You think that me breaking your face will be enough? That giving us our freedom will be enough when you had no fucking right to take it in the first place? That one million pounds will get anywhere close to repaying what you all fucking took from us?”
“No, I don’t, but it’s a start. I’msorry,” I say, swiping at my bloody lip, meaning it,feelingit.
“Fuck you!” he responds, letting me go with a shove, as Cassidy grabs his arm and forcefully pulls him away from me.
She pulls him around to face her, clutching his face. “That’s enough. It’s over,” she whispers, standing on her tiptoes and kissing him softly on his lips. “You can go home.”
He grasps her back. “Cassy, my home has always been wherever you are,” he replies before smashing his lips against hers and kissing her the way only a man hopelessly in love could.
Picking up my mask, I tie it back on, trying not to wince at the fresh cut in my eyebrow from his punches, then reach into my jacket pocket and pull out another envelope. Inside is a cheque made out to Jonathon Driscal for one million pounds, and just like that, Seven has been released from his chains, alongside Three.
“Goodbye, Cassidy, Jonathon,” I say, placing the envelope on the table and striding from the room, finally ready to face the music that’s been a long time coming.
