The Fallout (The Therapist #3) - W.S. Greer Page 0,59

I get more and more nervous. What is Evelyn going to think when she sees all of this? Is she going to run back up the stairs? This could be the last moment I ever see her, because she already ended our professional relationship together. If she runs now, it’s over. Is this about to be it?

We reach the bottom of the stairs and the room is lit up in front of us. It’s been a while since I’ve been down here, so I feel a rush of excitement, but Evelyn is quiet. She looks around at everything she can see, and I can only imagine what is running through her mind because she doesn't say anything.

I see her eyeing the bed at the far end of the room with the ropes dangling from the pillars. She looks at the two chest of drawers to her left, wondering what’s inside as she takes her first steps forward. Her eyes roam to the leather table with the hooks on the bottom and the glass cabinet full of spreader bars and handcuffs. She walks slowly into the room as if something might come to life any second now, and my heart races with anticipation as she turns to the right where the Saint Andrew’s Cross is located just out of view. The second Evelyn turns, she lets out a terrifying scream at the top of her lungs.

I jump back in complete and utter shock, because I never thought she’d scream just from seeing the large X in the corner of the room. This is it, she’s really going to run out. I jolt myself from my place at the foot of the stairs and run over to her.

“Okay, just calm down, Evelyn,” I say just before reaching her. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but …” My words are cut completely short, as fear and shock surge through my body like bullets screaming through my veins.

“Oh my god!” Evelyn shrieks, her hands covering her mouth as she freezes, too terrified to move.

“What the fuck?” I whisper to myself as my eyes bulge.

Evelyn and I look down at the woman kneeling in front of the Saint Andrew’s Cross. She’s completely naked with her dark hair tied into a ponytail that hangs to the middle of her back, and her head is down, her chin tucked into her chest. She doesn't move, and she doesn't look up after hearing us enter. She’s frozen in the position I taught her to be in when she waits for me to arrive.

It’s Ava.

31

~ Malcolm ~

Fear swirls through me before reaching out and overtaking Evelyn, as the two of us stare down at Ava as she kneels in front of the cross. I don't know what to say or do first, but I know this looks terrible. Evelyn is going to think I was behind this somehow, but I obviously had no clue, because I’m as shocked as she is. I have to figure out what to say, and I have to do it right now.

“A … Ava,” I stammer. “Ava, what are you doing?”

Ava doesn't move, but she speaks in a soft, quiet voice. “Waiting for you, sir.”

Evelyn looks at me with wide eyes. She doesn't know what to think, but a natural first thought is that I made Ava wait here. I’m so fucked.

“How did you get in my house, Ava?” I manage to say as I try to compose myself as best I can.

“I've been getting in, sir,” Ava replies, still not moving. “The last time you let me in your house, I unlocked the window leading into the backyard. You assume it’s always locked because you never unlock it, so I’ve been coming and going as I please since the day you left me standing on your doorstep. I knew you were confused the day you dumped me, so I came back to you. Over and over again, I came back to you. I even came back to you at your office when your secretary left for lunch. I never liked her, so I left a gift on her computer. I'd do anything to show people you are mine, sir.”

I could collapse from the terror that grips me. Ava has been getting into my house all this time. All of it was her. My keys being on the counter, my tumbler being moved in the cabinet, and that day I was in the shower. I didn't imagine it. Ava was in my