Uncovering You 9: Liberation (17 page)

“As the weeks passed though, slowly, the impact of it started to fade. With every day the immediacy of it started to become less and less. I thought about it less often.

“That is, until the day after my thirteenth birthday.

“We didn’t celebrate. Only my mother gave me anything. I don’t even remember what the gift was. But the following night, my father came home with Rose in tow. The look she gave me when she entered the house was something sinister.

“The truth of the matter is that she remembered the incident, too. That night, when I was falling asleep, I heard the lock on my bedroom door being picked. I’d long since learned to keep it locked to keep my brothers away—or at least to give me a warning before they came in to do something unpleasant.

“It was just a bedroom lock. You know. The sort that can be opened with a pin. I shot straight up, thinking it was Robert coming to give me an unwanted birthday surprise. When I saw the shape of a woman, with long, auburn hair, I froze.

“It was Rose. She snuck in and closed the door. Then, she came to me and sat on the bed. I just stared. I did not know why she was there or what she was doing. She and I never shared a word past ‘Hello’ .

“’I was told it was your birthday yesterday’, she said to me. ‘Congratulations. You’re thirteen now. Almost a grown man.’

“Something in her voice put me on edge. Something was implied in that word, ‘almost’.

“’I’m here,’ she smiled, ‘to help you become who you are meant to be.’ She reached under the covers and took hold of me. ‘
Little
Jeremy.’”

“Jeremy…” I say, disgusted. “That’s…horrible.”

He looks up at me. “Is it? Or was she right? Was it what I needed?”

“No,” I say. “You were a little boy. She molested you!”

“That was just the start,” he admits. “It happened that way, every night she was over, for years and years. She called it ‘our secret’. She threatened to tell Hugh all sorts of vile lies about me if I said a word.”

I can’t even imagine Rose…the same woman…as a child abuser.

Jesus! No wonder Jeremy is so fucked up.

And I’ve now committed to him for good.

“So now you know,” Jeremy says. “That is who she is. My father’s mistress. My personal initiator into the world of sex. She’s intelligent and sly and manipulative—but I’ve stripped her of all that. When I took over my father’s company, I bound her by a contract not unlike the one I gave you.

“I turned her into my housekeeper: a position she showed so much disdain for when she was by my father at the top. I trained her to forget everything she was in the past. I trained her to become fully reliant on me.

“So you see? My intentions with you had a precedent:
Rose
. That’s why I was so confident of what I could accomplish. I’d already done it once. And now? Now look who she is: The person who cleans my toilets and washes my floors.” Jeremy gives a curt laugh. “What a long, awful fall from grace it must have been.”

“But you gave her a beautiful house,” I say. “Surely her life hasn’t been that bad. I mean, it’s nothing like what she deserves…”

“Isn’t it?” Jeremy asks. “After I had my initial fun, I understood that it wasn’t all about revenge. She’s earned my loyalty over the years. I still exert ultimate power over her life. But it is not so bad. At least, it wasn’t until…”

He trails off.

“Until what, Jeremy?” I prompt.

“Until the reunion with my father Friday night. They haven’t seen each other for…oh, it must be nearly twenty years.”

An uncomfortable feeling crawls up the length of my spine. “Jeremy?” I ask cautiously. “What did you do?”

His eyes shine. “I achieved my final vindication,” he says. “I’ve gotten the ultimate revenge.”

Alarm rips through me. “Jeremy,” I say again. “Rose. Charles. Your father. Where are they?”

He smiles at me then. “I can’t take you there,” he tells me. “But I can show you. Would you like to see?”

Trepidation of the worst kind pulses through me. “Do I have a choice?” I whisper.

“Of course.” Stonehart smiles. “But I suggest you hold off on making one until you see what I have to show you.” He stands and extends one arm. “Come, Lilly.”

I eye him warily and stand up. The bright sun outside is mocking. Deceptive.

Jeremy leads me up the stairs to our bedroom. He walks into the surveillance closet and types in a key phrase.

“I thought only I had access to the surveillance system,” I say, feeling decidedly on edge at this point.

“You do,” Jeremy says over his shoulder. “But these computers are not just linked to the cameras in this house. There’s a network of them through my estates all over the world.” He smiles. “You didn’t think I’d
give
all that up, did you?”

“To be honest…” I start.

I never get to finish. The images on the screen turn my body to ice.

I see Charles. And Rose. And Hugh. They are all three in tiny, separate rooms. They are all three in stark white strait jackets.

All three wear black collars around their necks.

I recoil immediately. “You monster,” I breathe. “What have you done?”

“So far?” he asks. “Nothing. But next…?

He presses a button. Rose, Charles, and Hugh start convulsing. Writhing, horribly.

Jeremy Stonehart has turned the current on.

“No, no, stop!” I scream. “Jeremy, stop it! Don’t!”

He raises an eyebrow at me and calmly hits the button again. His prisoners go still. Charles sags. Hugh falls over. Rose vomits all over her front.

“How could you?” I gasp, horrified. “How could you do that? How can you show me this and expect me to stay with you?”

“I expect nothing,” he tells me. An evil glimmer shows in his eye. “Except for your unwavering loyalty. You know too much to be allowed to simply go.”

“You’re sick.” I feel nauseous. “You’ll never have that. Never!” I look at poor Charles. He’s completely innocent. He’d never hurt a fly!

“A shame,” he says. “You’re stuck with me, Lilly. And if those are your true feelings…?”

He sneers. “Well, you should have killed me when you had the chance.”

The End

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This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been use fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.

UNCOVERING YOU 9: Liberation

Copyright © 2015 Edwards Publishing, Ltd.

All rights reserved.

Edited by Gail Lennon.

Cover design by Scarlett Edwards.

Interior design by Scarlett Edwards.

Published by Edwards Publishing, Ltd.

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