Page 52 of Beneath the Flames
Marquis said nothing, and the room fell into a heavy and uncomfortable silence.
Her heart racing, Brie shared what had been weighing heavily on her heart since their last conversation. “I understand that you feel culpable for the immense suffering Holloway caused me, Mary, and the others…but you’re not.”
She glanced down at her hands, fidgeting nervously. “I’m not wise like you, Asher. However, I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, and…” She took a deep breath, worried about how he would respond to her next words. “…Asher, I think it’s foolish to blame yourself for being unable to discern Holloway’s nature when he purposely avoided you for that very reason.”
“Foolish?” he growled in irritation.
Bravely meeting the trainer’s gaze, she stated with conviction, “You are not omniscient. Only God is…so, it all comes down to a matter of ego.”
“Myego?” he snarled.
She nodded meekly.
Marquis narrowed his eyes. “You have no idea what I have done.”
With her heart almost beating out of her chest, she pleaded, “Tell me.”
He sat back in his chair, staring at her in silence.
“Please, Asher.”
Her quiet pleas seemed to move him, and he shared in a calm voice cut with an undercurrent of bitterness as he spoke, “Very well, Mrs. Davis. I have already told you that Holloway flinched when I saw him at the prison. My wrath was so palpable that it had the power to pierce the glass between us and burrow straight into his black heart.”
Marquis lowered his voice, “But what I didn’t tell you was that he confided something to me during that encounter that involved you.”
His tone led Brie to believe it was something unspeakably perverse. Although she was terrified, she asked in a fearful whisper, “What did he say?”
Marquis paused for several seconds before honoring her request. “Holloway told me that he wanted to send Sir Davis and me a message when he kidnapped you.” Brie could tell by the change in Marquis’s voice—the softness of it—that it pained him to say it out loud. “He left your collar on because he wanted us to find your body broken and unrecognizable except for the collar around your neck.”
Brie closed her eyes, whimpering in horror.
He added, “…to emphasize that we had been unable to protect you.”
Marquis’s voice suddenly rose in temper and volume. “It felt as if the wrath of God was speaking through me when I told that bastard there was no escape from what he had done.”
Snorting in gratification, he shared, “It was then thatI saw the fear of God in those soulless eyes of his.”
Brie silently cheered, experiencing a sense of justice knowing that the monster had been afraid before his death.
Marquis narrowed his eyes, confessing, “I was not satisfied by simply seeing his fear, however. When he claimed that God would forgive him despite the evil he’d done, I was determined to extinguish any hope he’d been clinging to. I told him that God forgives sinners, but there is no forgiveness for an unrepentant heart. That his pleas of mercy would never be heard. Before I left, I proclaimed that retribution was coming for him.”
Marquis looked at Brie, his eyes growing darker. “Do you want to know the last words I spoke to him?”
Swallowing hard, she nodded.
“There are far worse things than death…”
Goosebumps rose on Brie’s skin when she heard his final proclamation.
Marquis looked away. “Although they found no evidence I was involved, the authorities brought me in for questioning because Holloway was found dead within an hour after returning to his cell. But even knowing he’s dead, I still burn with unbearable rage.”
Brie reached out to touch his hand.
He instinctively pulled away, looking at her sadly.
“You could not know this, pearl, but I woke up this morning consumed by this rage that I cannot control. Knowing how dark and perverted my soul had become in the wake of what happened, I have separated myself from the Lord and those around me. But today, I was desperate to end the torment and cried out to God,commanding Him to strike me dead as proof of His existence.”
Marquis closed his eyes, his voice breaking when he told her, “Lightening failed to strike, but then you walked into the study uninvited and knelt at my feet. Instead of the condemnation I rightfully deserved, you showed me compassion.”
