Can you tell me if there’s anyone else here? She shook her head. No. Linda sometimes leaves before nightfall. Curtis brings food. Ryan comes at night. Hearing Ryan’s name, something changed in her face.
It wasn’t love, it wasn’t pain, it was something colder. He said it was for my own good, he whispered. I felt my whole body stiffen. Ben looked at me for a moment and then back at her.
Can you tell me why they kept you locked up here? Janet looked at her hands. For a moment I thought she wouldn’t answer, but she did so slowly, clearly, as if each word had to crawl through years of silence.
Five years ago, I discovered that Ryan was stealing money from my father’s company fund. After my father died, some of that money was supposed to remain protected. Ryan had convinced me to sign some small documents because I trusted him.
But then I saw bank statements with Linda’s name on them. A lot of money had also disappeared. Her mouth trembled. When I told Ray I was going to the police, she said I was confused.
Then he cried, then he begged me, then he got angry. I closed my eyes. I had loved that man like a son. Janet kept talking, looking at the ground. She was driving toward the village the day they said I died.
Ryan called me and asked me to stop by Linda’s house first so we could talk to a lawyer she knew. I believed him. When I arrived, Linda was friendly at first.
Tea, cake, smiles. Janet let out a small, bitter giggle that didn’t sound like laughter. There was something in the tea. The whole basement seemed to tilt around me. When I woke up, I was down here.
Ryan told me I’d been in an accident and hit my head. He said I was confused and dangerous, and that they were keeping me safe until I got better.
When I struggled, they gave me pills. When I screamed, they said no one would believe me. Later, my voice broke. Later, I heard them talking. That’s when I knew they had told everyone I was dead.
For a second I could breathe. The room blurred. Sam leaned against the wall as if he were about to punch his way through it. Ben’s jaw tightened.
And why didn’t they let you go when they’d already covered the money? Janet looked at him with tired, hurt eyes. Because I knew the truth, because I could prove that Rayan had forged more documents, because if I came back they’d lose everything.
There it was, clear and horrible. Money, greed, control. That’s what five years of my pain had been worth to them. Money. Janet reached for my hand. I stopped taking all the pills months ago.
I was just pretending. I wanted to keep it clear enough to escape. Linda realized I was changing, which is why everything got worse. Ben stood up and spoke into the radio.
He ordered the entire house searched, every file and drawer bagged, every medicine bottle collected. Then he looked at Janet and said, “You’ve done very well. You’ve held out.” She let out a trembling breath.
I almost didn’t make it. I kissed her forehead. “But you did it,” I said. “And now I’m here.” This is the part where I wish I could say the worst was over right then.
It should have been this way. The door was open. The truth had come out. My daughter was in my arms, but evil doesn’t give up cleanly. As the paramedics came downstairs and Ben stepped aside so Janet could be examined, one of the assistants called from upstairs.
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