90 - maze

"Everybody said, "Follow your heart". I did, it got broken"

― Agatha Christie

. . .

I walked out of the room, determined to confront them. The least I deserved was an explanation.

But the mansion was empty, except Miss Summers aggressively making cookies.

She said that they were at the office. But her expression was too tight, words too simple. Lie.

I walked to the wine cellar but paused as I passed a metal door which, from what I knew, led down to the game room.

Maybe they had arcade games there. I loved arcade games.

Grabbing a bottle from the cellar, I pushed open the thick door and walked down.

"Miss Woods!"

A man approached, his expression giving nothing away. "You are not allowed to go down there."

I frowned. "Not allowed?" Creeds had never said that I wasn't allowed to go down there.

He gave me a curt nod. "Yes. Please step back and allow me to close it." "What's down there?"

"It's not for me to say." So it wasn't a game room.

I looked down at the darkness into which the staircase led. What was down there? Dead bodies? What else could I expect from them? Mafia bosses. I had been sharing a bed with three vicious men notorious for killing.

I heard a small meow and the guard and I turned as Hestia and Athena marched past us, diving down into the darkness of the basement. Without thinking, I ran down the stairs, followed by the guard who cursed repeatedly under his breath.

"Miss Woods!"

"Shut up, for god's sake!" Rude, rude words but after the day I had have, kindness was the last thing on my mind.

I was terrified of the dark but I wasn't leaving Atena and Hestia down there and I knew they'd never listen to the guard, they barely listened to me.

My bunny slippers hit the ground, my fingers reaching around to find a switch. I pressed it and one dirty yellow bulb illuminated the room.

The room smelled of blood. It reeked of it.

There was an empty chair in the middle, some cut ropes around it as if someone had been cut off of there. Hestia and Atena faced me, hissing.

No. Not at me.

I turned and watched as my father slashed the guard's neck, making him choke on his own blood as he fell on his knees, clutching his neck.

My knees went weak, I fell against the wall, eyes aide with horror.

My dad stepped forward. There was a slight limp. His arm was bleeding. His furious brown eyes were sadistic, filled with cold amusement.

"Olivia." He sounded nothing like my dad. It was as if the day he had shot Brian, he had shot himself, too. My father was dead. This...monster in front of me was not him. Not my gentle dad who only scolded me when I forgot to wash brushes after painting.

He stepped forward till he reached me. I tried to move away but he grabbed me easily. I heard thumping of people coming downstairs but in an instant, he grabbed me, and the knife was pressed to my neck with my back against his front.

Men filled the basement.

Hestia and Athena were still hissing and snarling, but thankfully they were not coming forward.

I whimpered as the blade kissed my neck, eyes filling with tears and my head with fear.

"Let go of her, Alarick," one guard said firmly. All of them had their guns pointed at us.

"I'll kill her," Alarick said, his voice lazy. "One step forward and I will stab her in the stomach. Second, in the heart, and third, right into one of her pretty eyes. All of them fatal."

The silence sounded in the basement. I could hear the thump of my heart in my ear, could feel the tears coming out of my eyes.

Alarick moved forward. Everyone made way for him. He climbed the staircase with me as his shield and before long, we were on the ground floor. He slammed the door shut and locked it.

"Dad." I gasped for breath.

"Don't worry, Princess," he muttered as he started walking to the south of the mansion. "I'll take care of you, okay? You just have to pay for what you did and then we can paint together for the rest of our lives."

I whimpered as the blade dug into my skin. He marched into the barren kitchen and then pushed open the door which led to the backyard, someplace I had not even correctly seen.

My eyes widened at the figure there. Maze.

How...

It wasn't Zavier's. But it appeared the same.

"Their father's maze," Alarick said. "He made them run here when they were young for training from what I know."

His maze was his very own childhood nightmare.

"You know how to cross this," he said in my ear as we walked closer. "I know you do. The front has too many guards. None of them will be able to find us in there and I have Russian soldiers on the other side, ready to kill." He chuckled. "Be a good daughter and not make this difficult, hm?"

He walked into the maze and instantly, intense darkness surrounded us. "Where...where does it open?"

"In the woods. There are none of your guards there because no one is ever able to come out from the other side. Your Creeds are cocky assholes, aren't they?"

The last time I was in the maze, Zavier was with me. He was there to keep me safe. I knew I was safe as long as I was with him. With them.

But they weren't here to keep me safe.

And I was in the arms of the man who had a knife pressed to my neck, and I knew he was crazy enough to kill me. I knew it when people lied. And he wasn't lying about killing me.

"If you stall, I'll kill you," he whispered. "I don't give a fuck if I die or don't. I've died many times. I do not fear death." He chuckled. "But I'll make it painful for you and make sure your limbs are scattered around the maze."

. . .

I'll upload the rest soon.