Redemption Road (Vicious Cycle #2)(17)

I nodded, and he started into the room. “Mind if I check to see how you’re doing?”

“No, that’s fine.”

Rev stood up from his chair. “I’ll step out.”

While I knew that I needed privacy for the exam, my chest tightened at the thought of him leaving. He must’ve sensed my apprehension because he said, “I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

“Thanks.”

Once we were alone, Dr. Edgeway came over to me. Instead of beginning the exam, he stood awkwardly beside the bed, his hand shuffling some loose change in his pocket.

“Is something wrong?”

He gave a slight jerk of his head. “Before I examine you, there’s something I need to ask you about.”

“Okay,” I replied apprehensively.

Dr. Edgeway then pulled something out of his pocket. When he held it up to me, I gasped. It was the emerald and diamond ring I had briefly worn. I hadn’t even realized it was gone. I wondered if they had taken it off me before surgery. “My ring.”

“Your ring?” he questioned in an accusatory tone.

Shrinking back in the bed, I said softly, “Yes, it’s mine. It was a gift from someone, and I’d like to have it back.”

“Who gave it to you?” he demanded.

“A—a girl.” I swallowed hard under his intense stare. “Yesterday or the day before. I don’t remember.”

His anger slightly dissipated. “Did she have red hair?”

My brows shot up in surprise. “How did you know that?”

A wounded look appeared on his face. “Because she was my daughter.”

My chest clenched in agony. “She was?” He gave a brief nod. I had first seen the redheaded girl from the window of Mendoza’s bedroom. She arrived with two other girls the day after three girls had been sold. Her appearance after a barrage of blondes and brunettes made me wonder if I might have new competition for Mendoza’s affections. I guess I hoped it more than anything. But when she wasn’t brought into the main house, I realized I was to have no relief.

Suddenly it all began to make sense. “So that’s why Rev and his men stormed the compound: to get your daughter back.”

“Yes. It is.”

A horrible feeling overcame me. “Didn’t she make it out?”

Dr. Edgeway closed his eyes in pain. The torment on his face spoke volumes of the level of his grief. “No. She didn’t.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. I had only had a brief meeting with the girl. Ten minutes, maybe fifteen. But in that moment, I mourned her as if we had been lifelong friends.

Dr. Edgeway didn’t respond. Instead, he stared down at the ring. “This was a high school graduation gift to Sarah from her mother and me. She had always wanted an emerald ring like her mother had.” He shook his head. “I can’t imagine why she would have given it away.”

I knew that what I had to say was only going to make Dr. Edgeway feel worse. “She didn’t want to give it away. She only asked me to hold on to it for her in case she could one day get it back.”

His silver brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

Now it was my turn to close my eyes in pain. “The day after I arrived at the compound, Mendoza immediately made me his favorite. Besides being with him, one part of my job was to help acclimate the new girls who were brought in. Since I could speak English, I had to inform them of what was expected of them. Anything they had on them was taken. Jewelry was allegedly used to pay for their food until they were sold.”

Bile rose in my throat as I thought of the frightened girls I had been forced to talk to. I understood their fear even though I hadn’t received the same treatment. Instead, I had received my induction straight from Mendoza. Of course, mine was far different from that of the other girls, since I was selected to stay at the compound.

Focusing on Dr. Edgeway again, I continued. “I guess it was just two days ago when I met Sarah, and she asked me to take the ring and keep it for her. Since none of the other girls had been so attached to what they had, I felt I had to do as she asked. So I took it. And when Mendoza noticed it on my hand, I lied and told him I had wanted to pretend it was a present from him.” Revulsion rose in me at the memory of having to play those survival games. “After he beat me, he let me keep it.”

Dr. Edgeway cursed under his breath. “I’m sorry you endured that just to make Sarah feel better.”

Tears stung my eyes. Tears of anger. Tears of anguish. Tears of desperation. While I should have been touched by Dr. Edgeway apologizing for the physical pain I had endured, the blackened part of my soul wanted to lash out at him. How could he possibly think his sorrow could ever take away the degrading and deplorable things that I had experienced? Words only minimalized the suffering I had been through. But just as fast as the rage had risen up inside me, the more rational side of my mind reasoned that the man before me was a grief-stricken father trying his best to wade through the quicksand he now found himself in. “I’m just sorry I never got the chance to return it to her.” My voice hitched as I in turn minimalized his suffering with mere words.

“So am I,” he replied. With an agonized sigh, he slipped the ring in his pocket. “I suppose we better get to the task at hand before Rev wonders what is going on in here.”