I feel myself falling, collapsing in his arms as my heart stops. My heart belonged to Martin. He was my everything. If he’s gone, I don’t want to live. I want to be gone too.
My body decides for me as I faint, my eyes roll back in my head, and I’m gone.
6
Liesel
I snuck halfway downstairs during the middle of Phoenix’s story, but I heard enough for my heart to break. I heard enough to understand her pain. Enough that I can understand why she wants revenge, why the whole family does.
My father took the most important person from her.
He took the love of her life.
And the trauma of losing him caused her to lose the babies. She didn’t explicitly say she lost her babies, but I can feel it in her tears. She lost everything, and her brothers, loyal to her above everything, shared her pain.
They want to make me pay for what my father did to them. That’s why they took my kids, that’s why they want the treasure as payback for what was stolen from them all those years ago.
I can’t blame them for feeling this way. I’m sure I would react much the same if they had taken Langston or my kids from me.
When Phoenix finishes speaking, she collapses in Langston’s arms. Just like she did in the story—like the trauma of retelling her
experience brought her right back to those feelings.
I peer down to watch Langston hold a limp Phoenix in his arms. He hasn’t spoken since she started telling her story, so I have no idea what’s going on in his head. I’m also not sure if he knows I’m here or not. If he does, he hasn’t said anything.
I watch him hold her in his arms, waiting patiently for her to come to. He checks her pulse with his fingers, but I can see from here that she’s breathing. Then, he pulls a knife from his pocket and slices through the ropes binding her hands.
“I can’t kill her,” he says.
He knows I’m here.
“No, you can’t,” I agree.
“What are we going to do with her?”
“We are going to keep her here until we find Rose.”
“And then?”
I have no idea.
Phoenix stirs, her eyes opening in Langston’s arms. She takes her time sitting back up, but her eyes find mine. She’s wearing black like always. I realize it’s because she always in mourning. Every day she feels that loss because of my father.
As much as she hates my family and me, I don’t think she would inflict the same pain on me. I don’t think she’d hurt or kill any of my kids. She just wants me to suffer a small fraction of the pain she once felt.
That gives me hope that Rose is alive and untouched. It gives me hope that Maxwell and Corbin won’t hurt my children either. Corbin may be the oldest and in charge, but Phoenix is the one they follow. She’s the one who matters.
I walk down the rest of the stairs and over to where she is still in Langston’s arms.
“Where is Rose?” I ask gently.
“My family owns three clubs; each of them is hiding one of your kids. The only way to get in is to play a game. Win the game to get into X, and you’ll get Rose back. Pay with your sins and your treasure. Pay with everything you have.”
“And if we lose?”
“Then I keep her forever.”
7