“As for the plane, we can fly by private jet.”
My disbelief turned into a scowl. “That’s not being resourceful with your money.”
“I’m going to fuck my fiancé all over the world. What better investment is there?”
This man was truly something else.
“Do you need a rundown of everything that’s happened so far? You were drugging me. I can’t remember half the things I did in that state or how much of what was done really happened or not. I’m not going to magically forgive you or get over it.”
He nodded, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “I didn’t say you should do any of that nor did I disregard your feelings.” He slowed and took the car around a tight curve. “I can be a terrible fucking person. That’s a matter of opinion. At the end of the day, I’m all you’ve got. I’m yours and you’re mine. We might as well make the best of life together.”
Holy hell. I knew he didn’t see anything wrong with how this relationship transpired or all the things that were unspoken between us.
It was a whole different matter to have that validated. There was no point in arguing with him over this. It wouldn’t get me anywhere.
“Where are we going?”
“To get you some closure.”
That was the last thing he said before he reached out and tapped on the car’s center screen to put on some music.
I stared out the window and watched the changing scenery.
He pulled into a lower parking deck and maneuvered his car into a spot that had been reserved just for him.
“Why did you bring me here?”
“Closure,” he repeated and got out.
I unclipped my seatbelt and did the same. There weren’t many cars parked here. All the ones I did were worth a pretty penny. Alaric waited for me to reach him and then took my hand.
“Wasn’t there something in your trunk?”
“…There was,” he answered slowly.
We walked to an elevator which he accessed with a special key card that had his Dream Garden logo imprinted. The lift took us down to a level four. Exiting the elevator, he firmed his grip on my hand and led me deeper into the building.
“This is where you work?”
“My pride and joy.”
“This is a clinic? It’s the size of a small hospital but doesn’t look like a hospital.”
“That’s what we were aiming for.” He glanced over at me and winked.
I looked all around in stupefied awe. My house wasn’t even this luxurious.
The floors were shiny and sleek. Beautiful dark photography decorated the walls. A melodic tune played from the loudspeakers overhead.
We reached a check-in area where an elderly woman with dyed hair had to grant us access to pass. She had a Root Beer in one hand and a copy of the Sheik’s kidnapped Bride cradled in her other. She noticed we were standing there and quickly lowered her book to buzz us through.
“Lisa, Catalina. Catalina, Lisa,” Alaric introduced off-handedly as we passed.
“Nice to meet you,” she called after me.
“Why’d you drag me away so quick?”
“Because that woman will talk to you for a good forty-five minutes about trivial bullshit and I’ve already been stuck with her twice today.”
“Oh.” I glanced back and took note of how reinforced the area was that we just came through. “Um, what is this place? I mean, the level we’re on specifically?”
“You’ll see in less than ten seconds.”
We kept going, breezing by door after door with square block windows. Something in a room on the left caught my eye but Alaric gave me no time to stop and look inside. He slowed two doors over from that one, at room numbered eight-zero-six.
“Look.” He let go of my hand and motioned for me to come forward.
“Am I allowed to just look in these rooms?”
“The owner of the clinic personally brought you here. What do you think?”
“I think of HIPPA.”
He ignored me and took hold of my shoulders to physically place me in front of the door.
I stared through the window not sure if what I was seeing was real. A noose hung from the ceiling just above a step stool. Rebecca was inside too, stripped naked and her hair a wild mess.
She was walking the room with her hands reaching out like a zombie. This was a stark contrast to the confident and proud woman I sat with at the dinner table.
“We can see her, but she can’t see us. The window was designed that way. For her, it's pitch black. The temperature will go from hot and freezing to mild. There’s music playing too, we just can’t hear it. Rooms soundproofed.”
“Are all these rooms like this?”
He laughed lightly. “Of course, not. Only this one. There are legitimate incurables here getting high-quality treatment. That’s why it’s designed so comfortably.”
Moving on from him calling these poor people incurables, Rebecca was not one of them. She wasn’t sick.