After Maison Blanche

Chapter 5

Stefano had given up on stopping Marlena from seeing John. Every measure he had taken, she had somehow managed to get around. She'd even picked the lock on her door at one point, and he had no idea how she knew to do that. Stefano made sure she never went upstairs, because the last thing he needed was for Marlena to discover his other houseguest. She went between her room, and John.

Marlena's fixation on John drove Stefano mad, but he could let it go, since she seemed to be warming up to him. She played chess with him regularly, and although this slowed his progress with John significantly, it didn't stop it completely. Stefano was impressed that Marlena had retained her chess skills, especially since he'd had Rolf wipe her memory before she woke from her coma. There were things Marlena didn't need to remember from her time with him. She had stopped speaking to him with a voice laced in hatred. Stefano smiled from where he sat at his desk, watching her go into the dungeon. She could have her time with John, Stefano was playing the long game now, and he intended to win.

Marlena smiled to herself. She knew Stefano was watching her. He had cameras all over the house, and she had pinpointed the location of most of them, as she took her daily trek to see John. For the past week she had slowly opened up with Stefano, pretending to let her guard down, and Stefano, in all of his arrogance, fell for it. She held back cringes, when he touched her hand softly. She allowed him to kiss her cheek goodnight. Tonight, she planned to win this game she started. Stefano was ripe for seduction. She slid her hand into her pocket, and wrapped her fingers around the tranquilizers that Celeste had left for her the night before. One last visit to John.

John sat on the floor, propped against the wall. Stefano had just injected him with another dose of the drugs less than thirty minutes before. There were periods of time when Stefano left him alone. Time when his water and food were free of drugs, and he was left to sleep for hours at a time. John had asked Marlena about it, but she never gave him a clear answer. John knew she was doing something. She was making some type of deal with Stefano, so that John might have time to recuperate between sessions.

The door to his cell opened, and Marlena entered silently, coming to sit next to him on the floor. John's body rolled into her, his head resting on her chest, as he whispered, "Hey, Doc."

"Oh, John," she said softly, caressing his face. She felt so guilty over losing her last game of chess. She won occasionally, but not consistently. Marlena knew that as soon as the twelve hours were up, if she'd lost the last match, Stefano would inject John immediately, and begin another round of torture. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry..."

"Sorry?" he rasped. "Doc...no...are you okay, Doc?"

Marlena was anything, but okay. "Yeah," she whispered. "So far..."

His hand weakly grabbed her wrist, stopping her hand as it swept along his neck, "What's wrong?" He didn't have the energy to lift his head, or even open his eyes, but he could feel that something was off.

Marlena kissed his forehead, "Nothing is wrong." Everything was wrong. John was so weak. He was getting stronger, but minimally. Her wins at chess matches with Stefano were too inconsistent.

John's head lifted slightly, and his lips ended up resting on her neck, "You're lying. What's wrong? What's wrong?"

She swallowed thickly, but she wouldn't tell him. Stefano had been standing over her as she slept, and she'd awoken to him slowly trailing his fingers over the swell of her hips. She wouldn't add to what John was going through, by telling him that. "John, I'm fine," she said gently. "I wanted to spend time with you now, because—because I'm having dinner with Stefano later—"

John struggled to sit up, but his body wouldn't move, and he ended up resting more heavily on her, "No...Doc...please..."

"I'm going to get us out of here, John. I'm going to do it."