My heart smashed against my chest painfully. I didn’t want to give up hope, but this girl had been here for three years.
I gulped and asked the question I was most afraid of. “What does he want from us?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but I think he wants a family. The perfect family. He chooses girls that he thinks are perfect, like flowers.” I blinked, reeling from her latest bomb. Flowers? Was that the reason he renamed everyone after flowers? My mouth hung open. This guy was bloody insane.
She went on, “He likes things that are pure, and he can’t stand mess or germs.” That’s why he was so disgusted when my head was bleeding and why all I could smell down here was the strong, almost eye-watering scent of lemon.
“We have to make sure the house is clean and tidy at all times, and we have to shower twice a day. He comes down to have breakfast with us at eight o’clock sharp, and we need to be showered and have our hair and makeup done, ready for him.”
I laughed an entirely humorless laugh, convinced that someone was messing with me. I had to be on a TV reality show or something. “What the fuck is wrong with him?” I shouted, jumping up off the sofa. My legs felt like jelly and Rose easily pulled me back down.
“Don’t ever swear in front of him, Lily. Please listen to what I’m telling you,” she said. “He brings us fresh flowers when the old ones die…” She stopped, trailing off, and flinched at something—a bad memory? Staring me in the eye, she took a deep breath. “When he falls in love with you, he will want to make love to you.”
My heart stopped. I shook my head fiercely as my eyes started stinging. I jumped up again; this time I found the strength from somewhere to rip myself from her quick, tight grip. There was no way he was coming anywhere near me. I would rather die. “No! Oh God, I have to get out of here.” I turned and sprinted back up the stairs.
“Lily, Lily. Shh, stop it,” Rose said frantically and grabbed my arm. She must have been right behind me. “You need to calm down. We don’t think he can hear, but we’re not positive, so you have to stop.”
I heaved and slumped to the floor, sobbing. Rose was half holding me so I didn’t hit hard, not that I cared anyway. “I need…I need to go home,” I muttered. My body shook with fear. I didn’t want him anywhere near me. I had only ever been with Lewis and I wanted to keep it that way. The thought of anyone else touching me made my skin crawl—especially him touching me.
“I promise you will be okay, but you need to do what we tell you. We’re trying to help you, Lily,” Rose said. It took me a few minutes, but I managed to calm myself down a little. Rose was right; I did need to do what she said, just until I could figure out how to get out of here. I had to be calm and think straight, form a plan. There must be a way out. Nothing was impossible. I had to play along until I thought of something—it was survival.
I pushed myself up and let her guide me back to the sofa. Rose wiped the tears from my face with a tissue. My eyes fluttered open when she was done, and I saw they were all staring at me, wondering if I was going to freak out again or behave, like them.
“Are you okay, Lily?” the other girl, Violet, asked. It was the first time she had spoken to me, and it was the dumbest question ever. I shook my head. I was definitely not okay. “I’m sorry.” She squeezed my hand.
The cellar door swung open, making me jump. My heart rate spiked and my body trembled. He very slowly walked down the stairs, like he was dragging it out for dramatic effect, and stepped under the light. I was able to see him properly for the first time. I gulped as my heart raced a million miles an hour. He had very short brown hair that was immaculately styled; not one single strand of hair was out of place. I was surprised at his strength because although he was tall, he didn’t look that muscular. He wore nice jeans and a knitted navy sweater over a white shirt—too preppy and normal for what he was doing to us.
Rose took hold of my other hand and squeezed it. “Hello, Flowers. How is Lily settling in?” he asked, smiling at me warmly, as if he hadn’t just kidnapped me. What the heck is wrong with him? How could he just pretend like that?
Violet stood up and walked toward him. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “This is wrong, Clover, and you know it. You’ve gone too far this time. She’s so young. You need to let her go,” she said. Her voice was firm, but her trembling hands gave her away. With everything Rose had told me, I was positive they were terrified of him. I respected her so much for speaking up; the other two clearly weren’t going to.
The carefree smile dropped from his face, and I stilled. My pulse quickened. His face, now hard and tense, made him look like a completely different person. He looked murderously angry. Reaching out so quickly I almost didn’t see it, he grabbed her arm roughly.
Violet winced, her eyes tensed in pain as she looked down at the arm he had in a death grip. “Clover, please don’t,” she whispered. I didn’t want to look at what he was doing or what he was going to do, but my eyes were glued to them, heart pounding, fingertips tingling.
“You selfish bastard,” he growled and slapped her across the cheek. Bastard? He said the word, but it was so weird coming out of his mouth; it was as if it was someone else’s words. It didn’t fit. The slap echoed through the room and Violet hissed through her teeth, gripping the side of her face. But she didn’t make a sound. “How dare you speak to me like that after everything I’ve done for you? We are a family. You need to remember that.”
My blood ran cold. He wanted me to be a part of his family. He was going to keep me here. I already had a family—parents I’d skipped out on before saying good-bye properly, a brother I’d argued with before leaving.
Violet stood straight and something inside her changed. Her eyes darkened, her nose turned up, and she spat straight into his face. “We’re not a family, you psycho,” she shouted, wrenching her arm from his grip.
The noise that broke through his clenched teeth was animalistic and throaty; no part of it sounded human. I should have ran but fear kept me planted to the floor. Violet fell down, crying in pain from one hard shove. “Get it off me,” he bellowed and flailed his arms around frantically. My eyes widened in horror. It’s just a bad, bad dream that you need to wake up from right now, I told myself. But I didn’t wake up.
Poppy jumped up, grabbing the tissues and a bottle of sanitizer from the table beside me. I’d noticed a few other bottles around too—on the bookshelf, kitchen counter, and TV stand. She wiped his face and handed him the sanitizer, and he squirted it on his trembling hand and then rubbed it on his face. Rose and Poppy exchanged a look. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew whatever it was, I wouldn’t like it.
He turned to face Violet, and she slowly backed up until she was pressed up against the wall again. I gulped. What now? Rose and Poppy moved to either side of me in a protective manner. Oh God. I gulped and clenched my trembling hands. This isn’t real.
Cocking his head to the side, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. I froze. No! He was going to kill her. He was going to stab her right in front of us. Why weren’t they doing anything? No one was doing anything. Was this what that look was about? Did they know this was going to happen?