Page 63 of Kept

“No.” Maverick’s voice is lower now, softer. “He comes back.”

He presses something, and the film jumps to Ethan in the apartment again. He’s throwing something in his hands, tipping it everywhere. Frowning, I lean closer as if I can get a better look. “Is that water?”

Maverick’s hand pauses. “No.”

A gasp slips out as he throws the liquid over Maria. “I don’t understand.”

He’s always been so set on preserving the statues, on taking care of them, making sure they had noimperfections. Why would he risk ruining them?

My anxiety ratchets up as he moves between each of my favorite statues. Psyche and Cupid are next, Ethan’s movements jerking as he throws more of whatever liquid in his hands on to them. My hands start to shake as he moves over to Dante. Awareness is starting to trickle through in crawling fingers up my spine, the knowledge that something terrible is going to happen.

“Stop it,” I whisper, staring at the screen. “Ethan.”

But he can’t hear me. My nails dig into my knees as I watch him carefully cover Dante in the liquid. He moves on to the wider apartment, creating a trail back to the elevator and stopping a few feet before it.

He gets into the elevator, and I hold my breath.

But just before the doors close, he tosses something out. And a small flicker appears on the floor, following the line he drew in a trail of color I’ve never seen before inside that space.

Orange. Yellow. Red. Flickering flames appear, climbing into a fiery monster that devours.

My face crumples as it reaches Psyche and Cupid first, swarming over them, burying them in fire before it moves on to Maria. The first sob falls out, my arms reaching around me to hug myself as it spreads over her, until her tall frame is engulfed.

“Zella.” Maverick is murmuring, but I can’t hear him over the sound of my own sobbing. I frantically scrub the blurriness from my eyes, watching as the fire moves closer to Dante. It takes over the apartment, spreading to my nook, my chair, my furniture.

Everything I had is burning.

“Dante!” I’m sobbing now, watching as his handsome face, the one I spoke to every morning, talked to when I was lonely, the one silent friend I had my entire life is hidden under licks of flame.

I watch as it takes everything, creeping closer to the screen until it eventually turns black.

“Zella,” Maverick turns me to face him, his hand cupping my cheek. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t know it would upset you this much.”

“That was my home,” I choke. “My home, Maverick. They were my… my friends.”

Maverick doesn’t point out the absurdity in my words. Instead, he pulls me close, murmuring soothing words in my ear that I barely hear as I bury my face into his chest and let the tears free. My whole body shakes in his embrace, his shirt growing damp beneath me as I grieve for them.

All my life, I asked for color. And Ethan gave it to me, in brutal vibrancy.

“Why did he do that?” I croak. “Why did he destroy them?”

“I suspect he thought people might come looking,” Maverick murmurs. “Everything in that apartment is evidence, Zella. Evidence that he was keeping you there. I think it’s safe to say that what he told you probably wasn’t the real story.”

I can’t stop crying.

Everything I ever had just went up in smoke.

And now I’m truly alone. There’s no going back.

And as much as I didn’t want to, there’s a ball of grief in my chest, cutting off my air.

It feels like the final nail in the coffin. I’m not sure what I’m grieving for – the loss of my home, my friends, my family.

Maverick sits quietly, his arms tight around me. But even this isn’t final. Ryder pretty much confirmed it.

Finally, I pull myself together, pulling back. Maverick’s arms loosen gradually, until I’m able to scramble up and onto my feet. I can’t look at him.

“I’m sorry,” I force out, staring at the floor. If I look at him, I might lean on him again, and I can’t do that.

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