Page 40

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

It was another glass window, and behind the window were at least forty cots side-by-side. Each cot had a woman with a shaved head and bony face. But each one was also clearly pregnant.

The glass door slid open in front of me, and I stepped inside. One by one, their eyes began to open, and they all stared at me with piercing green eyes.

Tilting their heads, some smiled and some stared in awe. My chest was visibly rising and falling rapidly as the door slid shut behind me.

Licking my lips, I walked to the bed closest to me. I saw the chains wrapped around the woman’s wrists and ankles. A strong odor of feces and urine stung my nose.

She smiled at me peacefully before closing her eyes again.

Why would these wealthy couples want to take babies from women who were in these conditions? Why would they…

Covering my mouth and nose, I turned away and slid my badge to open the door. I couldn’t be here right now. I had to piece everything together and save at least one life tonight.

Looking over my shoulder, I ran straight into someone. “Oh!” I cried out and placed my hands between us.

“Conrad…” I could feel the blood in my body turn cold. Conrad Ivory, the son of Ian and Daphne Ivory. The man who raped me on our wedding night and wanted to continue the legacy. The man I thought I had killed. My first husband.

“Hello, my beautiful wife.” Conrad brushed his hands across my shoulders and then tilted my chin up.

I was frozen in fear, in shock, and paralyzed by the fact that this was it. I’d never escape from them.

“It’s funny that you were so foolish to think we’d give you poison pills. This was all such a wonderful test of loyalty, wasn’t it?” Conrad dug his nails into my wrists as I tried to move back, but my body wouldn’t let me.

“Conrad,” I breathed out. “I’m not your wife; I am Alister Ivory’s wife, and if you don’t release me right now, I’ll have you hung and bleeding out.” I forced myself to sound confident, though fear pounded through me.

He let out a dry laugh. “You stupid bitch, I don’t want you. You’ve been used by my entire family. At this point, you’re just the Ivory family whore. I married a caged girl, which was what I should have done all along. You probably have met her…Kandi? She’s quite the hair and makeup artist. We are just picking out a child since I had her uterus removed when she was acting hormonal and hysterical during her monthly bleeding.”

Kandi was married to Conrad? My heart sank as I looked around. No one could be trusted; everyone was a part of this sick and twisted family.

“We are leaving soon and didn’t want to wait for one of these hags to push out a baby, only to hear them crying and whining all day. I convinced Kandi we needed a trained child. I heard you chose some new inventory.” His sinister smile had the air in my lungs dissipating.

“I guess you needed the right Ivory husband to set you straight, and honestly, Uncle Alister is the most insane of us all.” He winked at me before abruptly wrapping his hands around my neck and speaking into my face, where splatters of saliva hit my cheeks.

“Conrad, I… You died in front of me…” I was in disbelief. They never died.

“How are you here?” I rasped as I stared at him with my eyes wide, scared to blink because then he’d disappear and I’d know I was unwell.

“You can’t kill an Ivory. But truly, you were the best fuck; I’ll miss you, Demilion.” Slamming his lips and tongue against mine, I gagged and tried to push him off with no luck. Releasing me, I began coughing and hunched over.

I had no words or thoughts left in me. Every bit of my life and story had felt like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.

“Bye, baby girl.” I watched him go in the other direction, which had to be where the kidnapped children were being kept.

“Conrad!” I called out.

He stopped and spun around curiously. “Yes, my beloved?” he mocked.

“The new inventory I selected isn’t there right now; they went to get their health screenings done. You’ll have to head to the medical wing.” Please, please let him believe me.

“Well, thank God. I hate going into that disgusting, smelly, whiny-filled space.” Conrad shrugged and purposely rammed into me before leaving.

Breathing out, I waited for him to leave before I scanned my badge over the next door.

“It’ll be okay, Demi. You’re going to try your best,” I whispered to myself, but once the doors opened, the malodorous odor slapped me as I stepped into an empty space. The door shut behind me, and then the lights went off before a second door opened.

I walked into the darkness and bumped into something cold. Whimpering and heavy breathing haunted me as I squinted and dropped to my knees. “Hello?” I questioned but couldn’t see. This had to be the dark therapy. But I thought Alister kept that specific therapy to the bottom levels?

Sticking my fingers through the cold steel bars, I whispered again, “Hello?”

A sharp sensation pierced through my fingers, causing me to cry out. With my other fingers I jammed at the small mouth that had latched on, biting me.

“I’m here to help,” I wailed as I clutched my hand to my chest.

“Mommy, mommy!” A tearful plea shattered my heart.

“Please, Mommy.” I clenched my eyes shut, forcing myself to be brave. I couldn’t regress, but I also couldn’t help thinking how their cries matched my own and Layla’s. I could see my mother and father counting through the stack of bills after they handed us off.

Clutching my knees to my face, I began crying.

“Please, help us!” a little boy screamed.

It was the same voice. The little boy whose mother was intently searching for him and using her massive social media following to spread his face and videos.

“What is your name?” Multiple voices screamed different names, but I crawled toward his voice.

“Myles…” he sobbed.

I padded my hands across the bars. If I could save him, he’d tell his mother what happened. Then, she’d use her following, her presence in this day and age to shed light on Ivory Island. The other children had to be saved, too, but I couldn’t smuggle multiple kids out without notice. They may have been trafficked or sold here. I had to choose someone who had a family who wouldn’t let this go.

A thick padlock kept the crate closed. Patting my head, I tugged out the small bobby pin.

I used to pick locks back in India when we’d run away to find food. Shoving it in and missing because of the darkness had my palms sweaty.

“Shit,” I hissed as I dropped the pin. Running my moist hands through my hair, I began to panic until I felt one last pin.

Myles began screaming at the top of his lungs. “Myles, I need you to calm down.” I wasn’t a mother, so I didn’t realize telling a child to calm down meant they’d retaliate and do the opposite. His screams pierced my ears. I was sure this area was sound-proofed. “Myles, can you tell me your favorite movie?”

He sobbed, and chanted, “No.”

I jammed the pin into the lock and tried to finagle it. “Mine is Titanic. It’s about people on this big ship and a love story of sorts.” I was rambling, but by some miracle, it was working.

The lock clicked and opened.

I slowly opened the door, and Myles flung forward into me. “Mommy!”

“No, sweet boy, but I’ll get you to her. We must go, now.” I couldn’t see him but felt the stream of tears flooding his face.

“I need you to be calm, sweetie. I have to get you out.” Guilt ran through me as I shut the crate and put the lock back on as the cries of the others swirled around me. I couldn’t risk Conrad coming back or telling anyone he saw me here. Time was running out. I whispered my apologies to the children I’d have to leave behind for now.

I waved my badge, and we entered the first space before the door shut and the second opened. I flinched at the bright light and looked down at Myles, who was covering his eyes. He was wearing a small black gown and covered in dirt and feces. I couldn’t parade him out of here like this. I began hurriedly looking around and pushed through a door. It was a hospital room. Shutting the door behind us, I kneeled in front of Myles. “I’m going to clean you up, then drop you off to an airplane with a lady named Sage. She’s going to find your mommy. I promise.”

“I’m so hungry,” he cried.

“The plane will have so much food.” I stood and began looking through cabinets and drawers.

“Bone broth?” I looked at a small jar. “Here.” I handed it to him and, without a second thought, he drank it.

Filling the empty jar with water, I offered it as he excitedly took it and drank it all. I wet a napkin and began wiping his small body. I didn’t have time to coax him or make him feel comfortable; I had to get him out of here. I had to hope his mother would talk about this to the world.

“I need you to tell your mother everything, and tell her that Alister Ivory is running a resort called La Gabbia that has kids and women trapped.” I nodded as he stared at me, probably not even able to comprehend what I was saying.

I found a small white gown stacked underneath the sink and swapped his black one for it. He kept squinting at me. The children must have been put through dark therapy to become obedient for their new families. How sick could Alister be? He used a child’s natural fear of the dark to make them into the perfect addition to some wealthy couple.

“Myles, promise me you’ll tell your mother.” I placed my hands on his cheeks and whispered, “Can I give you a hug?” I fought back the tears in my eyes as he smiled.

“Yes.” Hugging him tightly, I had to put all my hope in a child. He would have to be the messenger.

“Let’s go.” I pulled the map of La Gabbia out and glanced at it. There were employee elevators toward the back that could take me all the way down to the gardens, and then to the golf carts.

I just had to hope no one would see us.

“I hope you rest in peace.” Myles looked up at me as I held his hand in mine, and we walked down the bright white hallway.

“What do you mean?” I asked, swiping my badge and getting into the elevator with him.

“I begged the others to let me out. They hurt us. But you…you must be an angel, and Mommy said angels are dead people. Are you a dead people?”

Nodding my head, I sighed as a tear rolled down my face. “Yes, Myles. I died a long time ago.”