Ashes Page 24

  I guess the answer was me.

  Ruby reached out and squeezed my hand. “Dinner? Dining room?”

  “Has Patrick ever used the dining room before?”

  Ruby laughed. “I doubt it. So let’s start.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Give me a few minutes to get ready, and I’ll come out.”

  “Good.” She stood to leave.

  “Just the three of us?” I asked.

  “For dinner, yeah, just us.”

  As Ruby stepped from the bedroom, I marveled at the use of the word us. Strangely, for her entire life it has been us, meaning me and her. If we were to dine with Andros, it was, is Andros going to eat with us?

  My head shook at the realization that such a simple word could continue to fuel my growing bud of hope.

  Lifting the blankets, I reminded myself I’d already showered.

  In the bathroom, I applied a layer of lotion and some light cosmetics—just enough to not look like I’d spent three days in a fog—and then I dressed in slacks and a blouse. When I made it to the end of the hallway, I stilled. Standing near the dining room table were my husband and daughter, discussing silverware placement.

  It was a mundane conversation and at the same time, exactly what I needed. The two of them weren’t talking about me or my meltdown or worries about the future. They were chatting like a father and daughter might.

  “The fork goes on the left,” I said.

  Two nearly identical sets of blue eyes came my way.

  “It’s not the fork,” Ruby said. “It’s the glass. Tell him it is over the knife and spoon.”

  When my gaze met Patrick’s, he winked.

  My head shook as a real grin grew. “I think he knows that, sweetie. I think Patrick is teasing you.”

  She opened her mouth with a gasp. “Seriously?”

  “Trying not to miss out,” he said with a grin.

  After we were done dining, I offered to clean up the table.

  “The dishes are from here. The baking dishes go back upstairs,” Patrick said.

  As I started water in the sink and opened the dishwasher, I nodded. “Okay, we can take them up in the morning at breakfast.”

  Patrick reached for my hip and turned me away from the sink and toward him. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, Ruby is right. I need to start living.”

  His blue eyes closed as he pulled me closer, lowering his chin to the top of my head. “Maddie, you’re the strongest person I know.”

  I wrapped my arms around his waist, my forehead against the buttons of his shirt. His suit coat was gone and his sleeves were rolled. The beat of his heart filled my hearing as his chest moved steadily with each breath. When I looked up, he was looking down. “I’m stronger with you.” I turned to Ruby, now sitting on the sofa with something on the television. “You were always with me, in her.”

  Patrick nodded. “And now I’m here too.”

  “And tomorrow I’ll make it upstairs because you’re with me.”

  Patrick

  Climbing into bed, I met Madeline’s gaze. “I never told you where I went this morning.”

  “Patrick, you have work to do. I understand that.”

  “This was work, but it was also personal.”

  Wearing a soft cotton nightgown, much like the one she’d worn in the hotel room what seemed like a lifetime ago, Madeline sat against the headboard and pulled the blankets to her lap. “Okay, tell me.”

  I let out a long breath. “I don’t know what I should tell you and what I shouldn’t.”

  “I’ve just unleashed a lifetime of shameful secrets, and you’re still here. Do you think I’ll run from the man who loves me and our daughter and who I love and trust because of something you did?”

  Sitting next to her against the headboard, I reached for her hand. I ran my fingers over hers. “This isn’t what I did, but I just had a thought.”

  Madeline’s green eyes shone. “Really? The—I don’t know—four to six times in the last few days weren’t enough?”

  Leaning nearer, I kissed her cheek. “It’s never enough. I wasn’t thinking about that. I was thinking that you’re my wife.”

  “I am.”

  “I’m your husband.”

  “It usually works that way.”

  “We need rings.”

  Madeline’s breath caught. “We don’t. The rings don’t make it more real.”

  “The rings tell the world that you’re taken and so am I. I want the world to know that.”

  When she turned my way, her eyes glistened. “And you’ll wear one too?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  She looked down at her hand. “The only ring ever offered me was that monstrosity from Marion.”

  “Andros?” I asked, hating that I’d mentioned his name.

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “He gave me jewelry, all kinds. Never a ring. I never asked why, but I was relieved. I didn’t want to wear his ring.”

  “Good,” I said, lifting her hand and kissing her fourth finger. “Monstrosity. Yes, I saw it at the jewelry store. Tell me what kind you want.”

  “Whatever you want to give me.”

  “Now you have me thinking.”

  Our fingers intertwined as Madeline spoke, “There have been so many thoughts and memories over the last few days.” She looked up. “I’ve been trying to imagine where we’d be if I hadn’t been taken.”

  “I’d do anything to have saved you from your experiences, but for me, I’m not unhappy where I am and now with you also here, it’s perfect.”

  “What were you going to tell me?”

  I let out another breath. “Reid found Kristine and Pastor Roberto.”

  My eyes widened. “Is that where you went? What happened?”

  I laid my head back again. “They weren’t expecting our visit.”

  “Our?”

  “Mason went with me.”

  “Oh.”

  I scoffed. “Oh, don’t oh Mason. He has some unique experience that up until today, I’d yet to see firsthand. Let’s just say he’s very persuasive and imaginative.”

  “I’m not sure I want to hear the details.”

  “I’ll spare you those. I want you to know they’re dead, both of them. I realize it won’t make you sleep better, but it will give you the reassurance that two other people from your past will never bother you. You see, that’s what they did: they blackmailed both others on the sales chain like the Millers and also victims.” The thought brought the small hairs on my arms and legs to life. When they found a victim who’d made it to the other side, they blackmailed them, threatening to expose their past.

  “They won’t be found,” I said. “And with time will be officially classified as missing like you and so many others were by their doing. It’s appropriate to let them disappear. They don’t deserve a clean break.”

  “Why won’t their bodies be found?”

  “The means by which they died is classified. If their bodies would ever be discovered and the wrong people found out what agent was used, it could have repercussions. There aren’t many people who know that chemical agent exists.”

  “Could you or Mason be caught?”

  I shook my head. “No. The Ortizes lived near the Gulf of Mexico. Now they’re dead within its depths.”

  “Did you talk to them first?”

  I nodded, remembering the scene. With each Ortiz tied to a kitchen chair, Mason and I had their undivided attention. I let out a feigned laugh. “They didn’t remember me.”

  Maddie’s eyes grew. “How could they not remember? I thought of her…more times than I care to recall.”

  “Nope.” My head shook. “That simple fact alone made killing them easier. Once she realized the error of her lack of recollection, Kristine pretended she remembered. She had the facts and time of year wrong. You see, the two of them sold so many women and babies, they couldn’t separate one from the other.” I turned to my wife, lifting her hand again and peppering her
knuckles with kisses. “You were and are the most important person in my life, and to them you were another sale, another transaction.”

  “Another commodity,” she said, her tone dripping with sadness.

  I lifted Maddie’s chin, bringing her gaze to mine. “People like them are monsters in the true sense of the word. Yes, I killed them. I listened as they cried out, writhing in pain. I watched as their bodies began to fail them and the realization hit that they wouldn’t live to see another day. I listened as they begged for the antidote. I wanted to give it them just to watch it all again.”

  Her eyes fluttered shut before opening. “I think there’s something wrong with me. What you’re saying isn’t upsetting me. I feel almost vindicated.”

  “Good. You and others like you. And me and others like me. They sold you, and in doing so, changed the course of my life too. Each individual was a pebble tossed into a pond, and they didn’t give a shit where the waves landed.

  “Don’t you see, Maddie? I’m a monster in my own way, and I’m not apologizing for it. It’s all about power. The Ortizes used their power and lies to suck in young people as we’d been and gain their trust, only to turn around and sell them to other monsters, such as the Millers, who in turn sold them again. Some might see you and me as monsters for not feeling remorse in their deaths, but in reality, the world is full of monsters. To a mouse, a cat is a monster.”

  “I’m one too,” she said.

  “How many women did Andros make you prepare?”

  Madeline looked down. “Twenty-seven.”

  “The pastor and Kristine weren’t able to give me a number. Pregnancies were their thing. That’s why they came after us. A young couple with no money doesn’t pay for birth control. They targeted us from the get-go so they could sell the mother and baby. Creating the mission was the perfect front to lure kids that no one else wanted. Who would miss them?”

  Maddie’s green gaze came to me. “You. You missed me.”

  “Every fucking day for seventeen years. In Mrs. Miller’s journals, we’ve learned about an attorney named William Adkins who specialized in private adoptions. You said Kristine was paid $500 for our unborn child. What we’re seeing is that Adkins was getting $20,000—$50,000 per baby. Someone was profiting in the middle. It appears as though the Ortizes sold to more buyers than Dr. Miller.”

  “Who did Dr. Miller sell me to?”

  I sat straighter. “McFadden was the top of that chain.”

  “Yeah, but the way Marion and Andros talked, McFadden tracked me down because I was the daughter of Allister Sparrow. If that’s the case, then yeah, the senator knew where to find me, but who was in charge of the cell house? Who took us there and kept us there? I would guess that few other pregnant girls left there showered and set for auction in a mansion across town.”

  My jaw clenched as I again sat back. My mind was swirling in a new direction. “I hate asking you to recall particulars. You told me about the auction and the room in McFadden’s home. The house with the cell, you said, was a normal-looking home from the outside.”

  Madeline nodded. “I wish I could remember more or even that I’d tried to look. The night they drove me to the auction, I wasn’t thinking straight. I remember being dazed by fresh air. It was warm. I’d lost track of time. When Kristine sold me, it was winter. I remember being told to behave or I’d be brought back.” She sucked in a deep breath. “Fucking pitiful, but that was my motivation to stand there—anything not to go back.”

  This woman before me was anything but pitiful. “Strong, Maddie. You were strong. Do you remember any names from the cell house?”

  Her head shook. “Not of the customers. They never told us. We were told to call them sir or daddy or some stupid demeaning shit like that.”

  My eyes closed and nostrils flared. “Fuck, Madeline.”

  Her hand reached for my arm, causing me to open my eyes. “It helps. Now that it’s out, it helps me to say more. I won’t, though, if it upsets you.”

  Her sincerity returned a grin to my lips. “My reactions are inconsequential. I’m here for you. I’ll listen every fucking day and night if it helps you. Honestly, I had somehow jumped that step in my mind. I had you going from Miller to McFadden.”

  “Maybe McFadden was in charge of the cell house, but he was never there. He came to Dr. Miller’s that first night and then he was in the mansion. The cell house was beneath him.”

  Another breath in and out. “You could be on to something. Now that you pointed it out, I have another person’s head to place at your feet.”

  “Miss Warner.”

  I tried to recall the particulars Madeline had shared during her purge. “She was the woman who ran the cell house?”

  “Yes, but I have no way of knowing if that’s her real name.”

  “If we find her, I will remove her from your worries.”

  “No,” Madeline said. “If you find her, I want to talk to her.”

  My hand went to her cheek, gently cupping her soft skin. “I’m warning you, it may be like the Ortizes. She may not remember you.”

  “I don’t care. It’s not about that. I don’t care if I’m special to Kristine or Miss Warner. I have something I want to find out.”

  “What do you want to know?” I asked.

  “I want to know why Miss Warner would do what she did,” Madeline replied. “I guess the question came to me after the first time Andros made me prepare those women. I wondered if Miss Warner performed her role as I had, without choice. Before that day, I’d never given her motivation a second thought. Just maybe she hated what she was doing as much as I did.”

  “Or the truth is simpler,” I proposed. “She was merely a cat with a basement full of mice.”

  “I’ll never know if I don’t ask.”

  Madeline

  I looked up at Patrick as we walked to the elevators, knowing that I’d told my story to this loving, handsome tall man at my side and he hadn’t turned me away. As a matter of fact, he’d presented four sacrifices at my feet.

  I’d never wanted revenge, and yet when given it as a gift, I willingly accepted it. I’m not sure what that made me other than grateful to be back in his life.

  In the great wheel of trafficking and exploitation, I was but a small cog in their businesses. By avenging me, Patrick and his friends avenged others, people like Cindy and Jules as well as so many more. I didn’t care if those four people remembered me—to them I was just another of Miller’s girls. I cared that the man beside me remembered.

  We came to a stop at the elevators as I looked down at myself. I was wearing leggings and an oversized sweater. Upon my feet were soft ballet slippers and my hair was pulled back to a low ponytail.

  I took a deep breath. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this self-conscious.”

  Patrick’s brows knitted together. “Never?”

  My head shook, knowing he knew everything. “Yes, probably. It’s that I haven’t seen any of them since Laurel brought me dinner.”

  “And you can’t keep avoiding them if you want to live here.”

  The doors opened to the empty elevator.

  “Is that what you want?” I asked. “For me to stay?”

  Pulling my hand that he was holding, Patrick brought me close. “As I said before, more than I’ve wanted anything in my entire life.”

  “Then I’ll face them. What do they know? What have you told them?”

  “Nothing, Maddie. Ruby doesn’t know anything either. It’s not my story to tell. It’s yours, and you don’t have to tell it. I know these people well enough to know they won’t judge. Every person who lives here, minus Ruby, has their own skeletons.”

  The doors closed.

  “You had to tell them something. I was practically catatonic for three days.”

  “I told them you had a breakthrough, and I wouldn’t leave you alone with all your memories. Reid, Mason, and Sparrow know what you told them on the plane. They can put two and two together. As for the wome
n, I haven’t said and they haven’t asked.”

  I sucked in a deep breath as the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

  Stepping from the elevator onto the marble hallway, the sound of talking and laughter combined with marvelous scents. We made our way down the hallway, past the large staircase, and toward the kitchen.

  My head held high, I felt my muscles tighten with each step until the brightly lit large kitchen came into view. As if flipping a switch, the sound all stopped. I assumed the scents were still there, but if questioned, I couldn’t be sure. Seven sets of eyes turned our way.

  Seven.

  Ruby was the first to move as she hopped up from where she’d been sitting. “Mom and Patrick.”

  Murmurs of greeting came our way with questions about what we’d like to eat and drink.

  I barely heard any of it.

  There was one set of dark eyes that set my flesh ablaze. It wasn’t a sensual tension as when Patrick looked at me. No, this was prying and painful. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t

  “Madeline,” Mr. Sparrow finally said, standing from where he’d been seated at the table. “In my…could we…” He looked at his wife and back to me. “Could we speak privately for a moment?”

  “Sparrow,” Patrick said, again reaching for my hand.

  “Sure, Mr. Sparrow,” I said, doing my best to sound confident.

  I wasn’t, not at all, but in reality, I’d faced scarier invitations than one coming in front of my husband from one of his best friends.

  “Maddie, I’ll come with you,” Patrick offered.

  “Then it wouldn’t be private,” I said with a feigned grin. I looked to the rest of the room. “A cup of coffee with cream would be great when we return.”

  Mr. Sparrow had made his way to the archway where Patrick and I had just entered. He waited until I reached him and then without a word led me around the stairs and down a hallway. I thought for a moment we were getting on the elevator, but instead, he continued on, leading me to what appeared to be his home office.

  As with many of the rooms in the apartments and the penthouse, this room had floor-to-ceiling windows that filled one wall. Glass, chrome, and accent lighting accentuated the space, very unlike the monstrosity of a large wooden desk with intricate carvings that sat in front of a bookshelf. There was a second, more modern desk along another wall. Near the windows were two chairs and a table with a chessboard, ready for the next game. The paintings along the walls were by artists I recognized.