Page 13 of Caged Bird

“She’s clearly insane if she’s having babies with you.”

Eddie’s gaze burned mine. “You can ask her yourself when you drive me home.”

I shook my head, trying to force out the thoughts of the kid. Trying not to picture his face as mine.

Eddie shrugged. “Shame. Peach was so looking forward to seeing you again.”

My blood turned cold in an instant. I’d only ever heard my brother call one woman Peach, and that woman was long dead. Her body broken at the bottom of a staircase, the sweet light in her eyes extinguished by one shove from my brother.

Anger speared through my blood at the very thought of Fawn. “You’re a liar.”

Eddie lifted his hand to study his nails. “Maybe. But what if I’m not? What if she’s been with me all this time, little brother?The woman you’ve spent your whole life getting hard over. What if she’s been my peach all this time?”

“No.”

The sweet-as-sugar act dissolved. “Get your fucking keys, Zane. Time for you to meet the family.”

4

FAWN

It had been seven days since Otis had found a knife sharp enough to sever the rope from around my wrists. Seven days without Eddie’s taunts and demands. Without his fingers on my body, his touch unwanted.

Seven days of bliss in some ways but terror in others.

Otis smiled freely. He ran around the house like a regular five-year-old, playing games he made up in his mind and getting dirty in the yard without fear of reprimand from his father. Watching him warmed every part of my heart, and I prayed his father was dead in a morgue somewhere, never to return.

But at night, when I looked into the refrigerator, searching for something to make for dinner, the fear set in. A week without Eddie had meant no food, and we’d had little to begin with. Eddie had never kept much in the house, always making sure I knew exactly how reliant I was on him for everything.

This week had been a cruel reminder. I hadn’t eaten at all since the day before, sacrificing my own rations to make sure Otis had more. My stomach growled painfully, but no matter how many times I opened the cabinets, no extra food appeared.

I left Otis sipping a tasteless soup I’d made from frozen chicken bones and dragged my chains back to the living room. For the hundredth time, I tried to pry the harsh metal cuffs off my ankles, but Eddie had welded them on, and without the right tools or the key to remove them, I was fighting a battle I logically knew I couldn’t win.

I’d had no luck with the safe either. There would be a phone inside. Keys for Eddie’s car and my locks. Money. Guns. Everything I needed to escape was right there, inside of a steel box.

But no matter how many times I threw it against the floor, no matter how many knives and screwdrivers and hacksaws I tried to open it with, none of it made a dent. I’d tried every number combination I could think of, spending days trying different ones, until numbers swirled behind my eyes at night, along with an all-consuming agony that whispered I was never getting out. Never going to beat him.

Just like he’d promised, I was going to die here, chained up like a dog, and my son was going to die with me. Animals made noises outside at night, confirming Eddie’s warnings about sending Otis out there alone to try to find his way to help.

I had no idea where I was. For all I knew we were a hundred miles away from the nearest neighbor, and sending my child out there on his own was unthinkable.

I swallowed hard, silently berating myself for giving up. I didn’t get that luxury. I had a son to think about. Ophelia would have never given up. My older sister was as badass as they came, she and I as different as night and day.

I was glad she couldn’t see me now. She would have been so ashamed of what I’d let happen.

Eve too. The owner of the strip club I’d worked at before Eddie tracked me down had been the mother I’d always wanted, even though she was only about ten years older than me. She’dtaken me in when I was on the run from Eddie and distancing myself from my family, leaving my parents and siblings to try to make a life for myself.

For a tiny moment in time, I’d been happy. Dancing at the club at night to make my money. Studying during the day. Being accepted into the family I’d made for myself and planning a life where I was happy and free.

I should have known my past would catch up with me eventually. If only it had been my family who had found me first.

But instead, it had been my ex. A man I’d once been in love with, back when I was a stupid teenager just wanting the attention of any man who’d give it to me.

Be careful what you wish for.

I’d gotten mine.

I had all of Eddie’s attention. Every miserable second of it.

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