Mr. Good Bad Guy

50 - Traitor!

I glanced over at Ezra, who was watching us intently. I couldn't tell if he was enjoying this or not. "I'm Irene," I said, my voice shaking. "We met not too long ago."

"I...I've never seen you before."

My heart sank. I didn't know what to say. What could I say? She didn't know who I was. Jovani didn't believe I'd been in the basement before. Ezra even made it sound like he'd never taken me down here before. I was unsure if Klara was the same way. If they were playing with me, I didn't like it. There was no way they all knew about my condition. I never even said a thing to Ezra.

"Klara..." I looked her in the eye. "Where's your hijab?"

And almost as if I'd hit rewind, then play, Klara's hands flew to her hair, clutching at the strands that had once been hidden beneath her hijab. "I...I'm fine without it. Ezra...took it away from me."

"He didn't offer to buy you another one?"

"Why would he? It's not like he cares about us."

I didn't know what to say. My heart ached for Klara and the others. I could see the despair in their eyes, the hopelessness that had settled in their souls. It was as if they were already dead, waiting for someone to put them out of their misery. So much different from the last time I'd been here. If I'd been here. I was beginning to think that I really was crazy and I'd imagined everything. But how had I when I remembered it all so vividly?

"Is Paris okay?" I asked Leia.

"What?" she said, confused. "How do you know about Paris?"

I smiled sadly. "The...news. Is she taking her vitamins?"

Leia's eyes narrowed. "I'm sure he cares more about a pregnant woman than religious beliefs. Who are you exactly?"

I swallowed hard, not sure how much more of this I could take. "I'm...I'm just someone who cares. Someone who wants to help."

Leia snorted as Emily Harkin joined her and Klara at the bars. "You can't help us. No one can," Emily said.

"Maybe not right now," I said, my voice cracking. "But I'm going to find a way. I promise."

Leia laughed, a bitter sound that echoed through the room. "You don't know anything about him, do you?"

I frowned. "About who?"

"Just go back to where he's holding you. You can't do anything for us. We're still alive, so we're fine. We don't need some vigilante fucking everything up for us." She stepped back. "I bet he isn't sleeping with you anymore. Maybe that's why you're wanting to get out."

What?

The shock on my face must have been apparent, because Leia smiled in satisfaction. "I knew it," she said. "You're just like all the rest of them. You don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm not..." I began, but she cut me off.

"Yeah, you are. You don't know enough. You don't know what he's capable of." She shook her head. "It's crazy how you want out, now that he doesn't want you anymore. Pretty soon, you'll be like us. But before you are...savor your last moments of freedom."

I felt like I'd been slapped. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but the words wouldn't come. My heart ached, my stomach churned. I couldn't believe what she was saying. Ezra grabbed me by the arm and dragged me away from the cell, back up the stairs and through the door we'd come in. He let go of me once we were back in the hallway, and I stumbled, my head spinning.

"Your life just became more pitiful. Maybe try forming a bond before you assume everyone in the world knows you," he spat, shoving me roughly back against the wall. "She's right, you know. You don't know anything about me. You don't know what I'm capable of."