I lick my lips. “If you’re trying to play the moral card here, Leo, it’s not going to work. I might not know details, but I can imagine all the shit you’ve done on Guido’s orders.”
Leo’s quiet for a long while, and then he sighs. “I’m just trying to tell you that I know how you feel, and I can help you. I have a plan, and I can get you out of there, but it’s going to take time.”
I laugh. “You want to play the hero?”
“I want to protect you,” he snaps. “I’ve always wanted to protect you. You’re…” He’s silent a moment, and I brace myself for what I know is coming. “You’re my sister, and I’ll be able to offer you the freedom no one has.”
“In exchange for what?” I spit, though my head is spinning now. God, how long has he known? Kane believes my father didn’t find out until I was older, but Leo has been going out of his way to soften Guido’s blows against me since I can remember. “My silence?”
“I’m not going to ask you for your soul like they will. And I’m not going to try and sell you. I’m just asking for time, Alice. Because I’ve had enough. A lot of us have had enough.”
I open my mouth, though I’m not sure what I’m going to say. It’s all so fucking much, and it was a lot easier to deal with this when I could think of things in terms of black and white. But that was just fantasy. My world has always been varying shades of grey.
Before I can say a word, my bedroom door opens, and Phoenix leans against it. He doesn’t move, doesn’t say a word. He’s waiting to see what I plan to do.
“He’s there, isn’t he? The blind—”
“Do not,” I warn him again. I might not know who to trust, but these men mean something to me, and I can’t just erase that because of Leo’s promises.
He goes quiet. “Be patient, Alice. This will all be over soon.”
Then the line goes dead. I let the phone fall to my side, and I make no move to stop Phoenix when he crosses the room, finds it where it’s sitting against my thigh, and smashes it against the wall. It breaks into several pieces, and while I jump at the sound, I don’t try to stop him.
“You knew it was him when he called, didn’t you?”
Phoenix scoffs. “Every line in this house is tapped. Ricci created a distraction by having someone try to hack into our mainframe so he could make the call and go unnoticed. And because he’s a pathetic little amateur who has no idea what I’m capable of,” Phoenix adds as he sits, “he didn’t think that I’m capable of multitasking. Or basic call tapping.”
“Are you angry?”
He seems to give the question some actual thought, and then he sighs and reaches for me. The absolute and total comfort his hands bring me is almost terrifying because I’m starting to realize I’m getting dependent on them all. “Not at you.”
My shoulders sag, and I swallow thickly. “I didn’t tell him anything.”
“I know, princess. I heard. And I know why you talked to him. You forget I know exactly how it feels like to be trapped.” He tugs me into his lap like he needs me in his arms, and I sink against his chest as he arranges himself in the window seat so his back is pressed to the wall. My gaze settles on the courtyard as the curtain falls around Phoenix and boxes us in against the glass. “Kane built this place for me as a palace and a prison.”
I nod against his chest, and his hand moves to my hair, pulling the tie from my braid and carding his fingers through my wavy locks.
“I don’t know who shot me. I was distracted when it happened. I heard the pop first and felt pressure in my head, and my vision went really bright—like a flash grenade had just gone off. That’s the first time I hit the ground. For months afterward, I could see these bright white flashes of light. I’d wake up sometimes and for a second think that I was getting my vision back before I remembered that it was just the last bit of dying nerves I had left in my skull.” He pauses and shrugs. “Kane was the one to make the call when the doctors told him that keeping my eyes would just put me at risk for infection.”
“Do you hate him for that?”
Phoenix sighs. “I’ve hated him for a lot of things over the years. It was just added to the list. What I love him for outweighs it, but I didn’t think I could survive like this. I felt helpless, and it was humiliating.”
He shudders at the memory, clinging to me so tight I almost lose my breath before he remembers and eases his grip.
“If James had tried to jailbreak me a few years later than he did, Kane might have let him get away with it, but when he first whispered the idea in my head, I immediately started making plans.”
I squeeze my eyes shut because I don’t want to know, but I need to. “What plans?”
“For him to take me to a cliff. I figured I’d knock him down and jump off. By then, it was just an idea, but the fact that my mind still went there meant Kane was right. And James should have listened to Kane’s warning before he tried anything stupid.”
“What did Kane do to him?”
“He was locked in the basement and subjected to severe sensory deprivation. Bland, soft foods, no light, hardly any sound, tepid water, tepid baths. He whipped him sometimes—the only real sensation he was allowed to feel. Kane nearly drove him to the point of madness, and I think if he’d gone on any longer than he had, James would have left the room and ended it.”
I feel a sudden rush of fury at Kane, and Phoenix laughs when he feels me shaking.
“He knew what he was doing, princess. He knew where James’ breaking point was, and he stopped before he reached it. He nursed him back to health slowly, fed him bits of affection and attention until James stopped shaking at the slightest touch and started begging for it.”