Mist clings to the air, coating the plant life with dew, while bright pops of color break up the never ending green.
It can only be described as a contained jungle, sans the wild animals. Though
I almost retract that statement when two little boys go zipping past me, laughing
wildly with huge turnips in their little fists. A woman chases after them, pleading
with them to stop running.
Zade grabs my hand and leads me to where two young women dig at the soil,
planting seeds.
“Katerina Sanchez,” Zade calls out quietly, and my heart stops when one
girl’s head turns to the side, a familiar face staring back at me, though feminine
and younger, and one eye is permanently closed.
“Oh my God,” I whisper, paralyzed as the girl’s brows knit, confused on who
we are.
“Yeah?” she says cautiously.
Zade grins. “My name is Zade. I haven’t gotten the chance to introduce
myself yet, but I—” He abruptly cuts off when the girl rips off her gloves and then proceeds to nearly tackle him into a hug. While surprised, he recovers quickly and wraps his long arms around her, gently patting her back.
“You’re the one responsible for getting me out,” she says into his chest, her
words muffled. “Thank you. So much.”
He chuckles. “I think you should be thanking the woman standing behind
you. She’s the one who told me to help you.”
Without hesitation, the girl turns to me and embraces me in a hug next, squeezing tighter than I expected. Try as I might to hold in the tears, I can’t.
They break loose, and a whimper escapes as I hold her tightly.
“Was it Rio?” she asks softly, her voice watery from her own tears.
“Yes,” I rasp. She pulls back enough to get a good look at my face, her dark
brown eye tracing over my features.
“How did you know him?”
I glance at Zade, but he doesn’t seem bothered by the conversation, even
though he wants to murder her brother.
“He—he was in the house I was in when I was kidnapped.” I clear my throat.
“He took care of me and helped me get out.”
Her lip trembles. “He’s not a very good person,” she says, and I’m so
surprised, I laugh. “But he’s not a good person because he’s such a great brother.
He’s sacrificed a lot for me.”
I nod, wiping my cheeks, although it’s useless when a few more tears slip free.
“I don’t think people are black and white, Katerina, but I do know that his love for you is.”
She smiles and nods, accepting that easily.
“They took my eye because he tried to escape from Francesca. I was ten years
old, our parents had just died the year before, and he was trapped with that evil
woman. He never forgave himself, and even though I haven’t seen him since, I
know he’s done everything that’s been asked of him so I wouldn’t get hurt.”
“And did you?” I ask. “Did you get hurt again?”
She shakes her head, but there’s a darkness swirling in her eyes. “Lillian wasn’t very nice, but she didn’t hurt me anymore.” Something tells me that even though she wasn’t hurt anymore, other girls were.
She was trapped in that house for at least five years—I can only imagine the
horrors she’s witnessed.
“Katerina, can I ask why they, uh, needed Rio so badly? Enough to use you as
collateral?”
It’s something I’ve been wondering since Rio told me about her. Why would
they go as far as holding his sister over his head just so that he would work for
them? They could find plenty of men willing to do their bidding, if offered the
right amount of money.
She swallows. “I think… I think he was Francesca’s… favorite.”
I frown, not really sure what she’s getting at. “Like favorite guard or—”
She shakes her head, her lips tightening. “I’ve heard Lillian say nasty things
about them. About how much Francesca likes the way Rio… tends to her.”
My mouth pops open, realization dawning.
“Oh.”
Then, my eyes widen, another realization hitting.
“Oh. ”
Francesca was fucking Rio. But I have a feeling it wasn’t mutual. She was raping him, regardless of his compliance, and it sounds like she was quite attached to him.
My eyes drift to Zade, his expression tight. An overwhelming sadness washes
through me, muddling my feelings toward Rio further. In a way, he became my
friend while I was trapped in that house. And for over two months, I was being
forced to do things against my will, never realizing Francesca was ordering him
to do the same.
There’s a part of me that still clings to that hate, but it’s weakening.
He kidnapped me. Ruthlessly fed me to the wolves and stood by while
faceless men repeatedly broke me. Yet, he picked up the pieces afterward.
Gathered them in his hands and carried them to my room, where he meticulously
placed them back together—as janky as it was.
I want to hate him. But I don't know that I do.
“Thank you for telling me that,” I say softly.
Her bottom lip trembles. “I know I lost an eye, but I think Rio has lost so much more than I have. I hope he’s okay, and safe, wherever he is.”
I blink back fresh tears and nod my head. “Me too.”
We let Katerina get back to her gardening after promising I’d visit again.
Sensing my inner turmoil, Zade keeps quiet as he leads me to another part of the
sanctuary. There are two girls tending to chicken pens, plucking the eggs from underneath them.
I gasp, coming to a halt when one of them turns, and I get a good look at her
features.
“Jillian,” I breathe. She turns at her name, and her eyes bug from her head.
“Oh my God,” she says, her accent deepening from shock. Then, she’s
hurriedly setting down the basket of eggs and rushing toward me.
We meet in the middle, our arms instantly wrapping around each other in a fierce hug.
Due to Francesca’s mind games, we could hardly stand to look at each other
when she and Gloria were sold. But all of that immediately bleeds away now that we’re free.
My vision blurs, and when we pull away, I can see tears swimming in her eyes, too.
“How are you?” I choke out, chuckling when her nose wrinkles.
“As good as I can be, which isn’t saying much,” she answers.
I nod, “Same. Kind of feels like a slow death.”