CHAPTER 16: The Art of Control.

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• Corrupt Temptation   CHAPTER 62: The Ghost of Sanctuary

  IVY. At last the taxi arrived in front of my apartment building a modest brick building sandwiched between a surprisingly upbeat flower shop and a perpetually sullen laundromat. The hour-long drive had been a haze of anxious expectation with every wheel turn bringing me one step closer to the brittle promise of freedom and one step farther away from the gilded prison. Throughout the entire trip, my heart like a panicked hummingbird had pounded against my ribs a constant reminder of the bold risk I had just taken. I struggled with the bills, paid the cabman in a hurry hardly noticing his kind worried look and practically jumped out of the backseat. After the suffocating perfection of my apartments polished marble the sidewalks solid worn pavement felt real underfoot. With each hurried step, my backpack pounded against my back as I hurried up the well-known slightly creaking wooden stairs of my apartment building. The sterile silence of my apartment was pleasantly broken by the grit

• Corrupt Temptation   CHAPTER 61: The Escape 

  IVY.My rooms heavy oak door felt like the entrance to an opulent gilded prison. Following the acerbic conversation between Sloan and Albert, Sloans icy rejection of my suffering and his shocking but unquestionably sincere pledge to find Willa. I had fallen onto my bed with my sisters picture cradled against my chest. Fueled by renewed despair the tears had returned in a new painful torrent. He made a promise. The question a constant torment replayed in my mind: could I trust him? Hours went by extending into an endless period of quiet sorrow. As the sun sank below the horizon flaming hues painted the sky mocking the icy desolation within me. The mansion which is typically a stronghold of quiet activity had descended into its profound all-pervasive quiet. No sound of distant footsteps. No voice muttering. No clinking of glasses. Just the deep oppressive silence of a house that is really deserted. That was my cue. In the midst of heartache and a desperate need for autonomy I made th

• Corrupt Temptation   Chapter 60: The Unsettling Promise

  SLOAN. Albert clicked the heavy oak door of my bedroom shut behind him leaving me in the tense silence of my bedroom. Finally with his judgment evident in his eyes and his questions unsaid he had left. I had said Nothing important ignoring Ivy’s intense unfiltered pain as unimportant. A necessary lie. It was required by my authority and control. However the deception left a bitter aftertaste that obstinately clung to my senses tasting like ash on my tongue. The cool crystal in the decanter felt like a familiar weight as I made my way to the bar cabinet. The amber liquid of my strongest whiskey glinted in the gentle light as I generously poured it for myself. I required it. I required the burn the well-known remedy for the disturbing turmoil inside of me. My mind which is typically a stronghold of icy reasoning and a well-tuned apparatus of strategic thinking was under siege. It resembled a battlefield more than a precision tool covered in the unexpected rubble of unfiltered emotio

• Corrupt Temptation   CHAPTER 59: A Promise and a Renewed Search

  IVY Despite Sloans arms providing unexpected unwavering comfort my sobs continued to rage through me. His pricey shirt was soaked by my face stuck in his shoulder and my own tears were like abrasive acid on my flesh. His hushed assurances that he would find Willa were reverberating in my ears as he rubbed my shoulders and pressed me close to him. This brief brittle glimmer of hope was amidst the utter darkness of my sorrow. The room went silent but then a soft sound broke the stillness. Footsteps. Close. My eyes filled with tears darted to the door as my head snapped up. Sloan also tensed up and retreated a little from our hug. Albert loomed in the doorway like a menacing silent ghost. Despite his stiff posture and hands in his pants pockets his dark unreadable eyes scanned the scene in front of him taking in my tear-streaked face my unkempt appearance and Sloans arm still hanging loosely around me. The private moment was shattered. The unadulterated fragility of my loss revealed.

• Corrupt Temptation   CHAPTER 58: The Exposure

  IVY.The rageful sobs continued to rip through me leaving my chest hurting and my throat raw. Beneath my tear-streaked eyes the cold wood had become a blurred memory as I forced myself to get off the floor. With my hands clenched into fists and my bare feet sinking into the plush carpet I paced the opulent room like a frantic caged animal the crumpled photos of Sloan and Willa still burning in my brain. A betrayal. Only that feeling a bitter excruciating taste on my tongue resonated. He knew. He had known where she was all along. Holding her secret close he had let me suffer search and think she was lost. The thought was a constant source of agony. In this agonizing dance of grief and rage hours seemed to go by. I was unaware of the unrelenting passage of time as the light outside the enormous windows changed. I was engulfed in the malice of his cruelty and the blaze of his deceit. My red and swollen eyes were hazy with tears turning the lavish room into a blurry whirlpool of agony

• Corrupt Temptation   CHAPTER 57: The Face in the Photograph

  IVY. My breath caught in my throat. Cradled in my shaking hand the photograph showed a face I recognized. It was a face I had not seen in years a face I had assumed was forever gone a ghost in my mind, she was grinning. She smiled broadly and carelessly and her eyes glistened with an unbridled joy that broke my heart. It was the same smile that used to brighten our small claustrophobic apartment and that I recognized from old faded childhood photos. Willa. my sister. She was also standing next to Sloan. For a moment I felt an intense rush of pure unadulterated joy that made my head swim. Wille. She had survived. She had a smile. It felt like a physical ache a sudden intense light in the years of darkness that had engulfed me. A different kind of emotion a desperate overwhelming wave of hope blurred my eyes which had already been swimming with tears from the initial shock. But then like a poisoned bloom a terrible reality started to slowly and agonizingly unfold as I rushed to gath