Page 84 of Escaping Wonderland

Alice drew in a deep breath as the car pulled around the circular driveway. Shadow squeezed her hand, and she looked up at him. He wore a soft, reassuring smile, the sort of smile that saidI’m here, don’t worry. She was grateful for that smile, was grateful for him. Nothing about the last six weeks had been easy—well, up until about two weeks ago, anyway, when they’d started making love again—but his presence had made it all bearable. Even though he was struggling, too, he’d made every effort to support her. That meant the world to her.

The driver brought the car to a stop. “Here we are, miss.”

“Thank you,” Alice said.

Shadow opened the door, slipped out, and turned to offer her his hand. She took a moment to admire him; he was dressed in a dark, tailored suit that enhanced the elegance of his long limbs. Though they’d had it designed with modern sensibilities, she and Shadow had been in agreement when it came to adding a few old-fashioned touches—particularly in his long overcoat and its collar. His silk vest was a deep maroon, offering just enough color to offset the black fabric dominating the rest of the outfit.

Alice placed her hand in his and stepped out of the vehicle. He closed the door behind her. The driver walked around tothe trunk and removed their bags, which Shadow accepted—one in each hand. His health and physique had made immense improvement, especially during the last couple weeks.

He’d said it was because of their lovemaking. Though Alice remained skeptical of that, she couldn’t deny the results.

“Anything else I can do for you, Miss Claybourne?” the driver asked.

“No, we’ll be fine. Thank you,” Alice replied with a smile.

He nodded and returned to the driver’s seat. Once Alice and Shadow were a few steps away from the vehicle, the driver departed.

Alice turned her attention to the building in front of them—the only home she’d known for her entire life. Coming home wasn’t the final step in their current journey, but it felt like a milestone on the path, albeit a bittersweet one.

They’d spent the last month and a half dealing with Shadow’s frequent medical and psychiatric appointments, cooperating with the police investigations into the asylum and Tabitha and Jonathon, and sorting through the legal process of solidifying Alice’s claim on her inheritance and ensuring that everything her father left her was rightfully recognized as hers.

And she couldn’t forget the media. She’d managed to shield Shadow from the constant stream of reporters that had hounded them over the last six weeks, and had only given a few public statements herself, but it had proven an unexpectedly stressful aspect of this whole situation.

The public knew all about Director Victor Koenig and the Liddell Psychiatric Hospital now. Chief Farland had kept the information quiet for as long as he’d been able, but it was impossible to keep the secret for long. The tablet Shadow had taken from Koenig had provided droves of evidence to prove the abuse and neglect on display in the asylum, and several of thestaff members had been charged with a plethora of crimes as a result—including Doctor Miranda Kade.

She and several of the other staff members were even facing murder charges. The sudden appearance of true death in Wonderland—which had apparently caused feedback in the physical bodies of victims so strong it had induced cardiac arrest—had been the result of a deliberate programming change made under Koenig’s orders. As if that wasn’t enough, the director’s tablet had also revealed the reason for that programming change.

The facility had been operating at near-maximum capacity, which meant it was unable to bring in new patients regularly. Koenig had seen that as a problem, considering each new patient brought along a hefty governmental subsidy. He’d decided to clear some room to simultaneously make way for new patients and indulge his sadistic urges.

The Intergalactic Union had taken control of the facility and was currently in the process of carefully reviewing both the methods used there—the simulation—and the cases of each and every patient. There were rumors that Alice hadn’t been the only person committed there under false pretenses, and she wouldn’t have been surprised if those rumors eventually proved true. She just hoped that Jor’calla was the last patient at Liddell Psychiatric Hospital who’d suffered unduly.

Tabitha and Jonathon were facing charges of their own. As though the conversations between Tabitha and Koenig found on the tablet weren’t evidence enough, Jonathon had confessed to everything when the police arrested him, corroborating the evidence on the tablet and providing new details in the process.

Daniel Claybourne had left ninety-five percent of his wealth to Alice in his will, with the rest split between Tabitha and Jonathon. Alice had spent her rare moments alone wondering what her father’s motivations had been in drafting that will; hadhe known, deep in his heart, the kind of person Tabitha was? Had he suspected something? Or, perhaps, had it been some way for him to assuage potential guilt he’d carried for so often being absent to deal with business matters?

She wished she could’ve had just a few more seconds with him. Just long enough to say she loved him, that she didn’t blame him for working. That she understood how hard things had been for him after what her mother had done.

Whatever his reasons, she knew he never would’ve imagined the hatred and contempt with which Tabitha had reacted to his will.

Intergalactic Union law gave precedence to the will of the deceased over the default inheritance laws save in particular circumstances—such as when the benefactor of said will was proven to be mentally incompetent or unstable. Hence Tabitha’s contacts with Victor.

Alice still felt the hurt of their betrayal when she stopped to think about it. But she was far more than hurt; she wasangry. Tabitha had been in Alice’s life for seventeen years, since Alice was eight years old. Even though Alice had never really liked the woman, had never fully trusted Tabitha’s intentions with her father, she never would’ve guessed Tabitha was capable of anything like this. Capable of having Alice falsely committed to an asylum where she was meant to die alone, silenced, and forgotten.

But Tabitha and Jonathon would face justice. They would pay for what they’d done. And Alice had more important things to turn her attention toward—more important people.

She glanced at Shadow, offering him another smile, as they walked toward the front entrance.

This was the place she’d been brought to after she was born. The place where she’d played with her toys, where she’d had piano lessons, the place where her father had bandaged herscraped knees and read her bedtime stories. This place, until recently, had contained almost all her happy memories.

But it was also the place where her mother, screaming and swearing, had abandoned Alice and left her father. It was the place where her father had passed away a few months ago. And this was the place where her stepmother and stepbrother had conspired against her, had plotted to have her imprisoned and murdered.

She opened the front door, and Shadow followed her into the foyer. She stopped in the center of the space and, as she stared up at the double staircase leading to the second floor, knew what she’d suspected during the drive over.

This wasn’t home anymore. Even if her memories of this place balanced out between the positive and the negative, without her father around, it meantnothingto her. She could bring her dad with her wherever she went—he’d always be in her heart, in her memory, and that wasgood. She didn’t want the bad that went along with this house anymore.

“Home sweet home,” Alice said quietly. She twisted to look at Shadow, who stood just behind her. “What do you think?”

He frowned, and a small crease formed between his brows. “Seems a bit…much, doesn’t it?”

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