Page 90 of Exit Strategy
Then it turned into violence.
He was throwing her around like a doll, striking her, making her flee from him.
When he hit her, the couch spattered with blood. It was almost black on the replay. He kept hitting her, and I could sense the malice and hostility through the low-resolution imaging. Kurt came in and grabbed Arik, and they grappled.
The headlock was clean, and then Kurt took a dive through the glass table, sparing Rex any injury.
It was tender the way he put Rex on the ground, and then checked Calanthe, and took her out of the room.
The award laying on the ground, partially bent, and dark with blood was a telltale heart, a smoking barrel. I felt sick.
I let my guard down, shoulders slumping and my hands unclenching.
He all but raped her. Maybe he did rape her, there was no audio. He assaulted her, and looking at the blood on the couch, the damage done to the room before Kurt appeared, Arik might have killed her in a fit of rage. This didn’t make sense. Sure he was a womanizer, but wasn’t that supposed to be one of the perks of being a celebrity?
“No,” I whispered.
“I’m sorry, Madeleine,” Calanthe said. “I wish it weren’t true, but it is.”
“Please, no,” I sighed.
“New Eden is a lie. It’s a cult for a bunch of assholes to get rich and have all the underage sex they want,” Calanthe said.
“They’re done,” the brunette said, her posture relaxing as well. “Fallout is going to kill New Eden in the courts, and what they don’t get, the DHS and a few other government agencies are going to chop up over money laundering, sex trafficking, and domestic terrorism.”
“They’re the bad guys, Madeleine,” Calanthe said, putting a hand on my arm. Reflexively, I stepped back and bumped into the wall.
“I don’t have anything left…” I choked back the sob. “I gave them everything, and there’s nothing left…”
“It’s okay, you can start over, but you have to stop. They’re the bad guys, and you aren’t a bad person. I know that,” she said, her eyes peering into mine.
“I think Kurt would beg to differ,” Sadie said.
“I’ll live,” Kurt groaned.
“I can’t believe this.” I felt numb.
“Give her a minute, all of you,” Calanthe said. “This is a lot, and I think we’ve destroyed her worldview. She’s going to need a bit to put it all back together.”
“I don’t know what to do,” I grasped. “I’ve always known what to do. There were always guidelines and all that.”
“New Eden has always been there, and now it’s not something you can go back to,” Calanthe said.
“I couldn’t even if I wanted. By now I’ve been blacklisted for failing to bring you back safely,” I said.
“I can’t extend the hospitality of my hosts, that would be rude, but if there is anything I can do for you,” she said, a hand on my arm.
“You were perfect.” I felt tears start to burn down my face. “You were everything that I couldn’t be. You were everything that New Eden stood for.”
“I was, at first,” she said. “Back when I was part of the National Honor Society and did things like speak in front of world leaders. You saw what I did after that. I did puzzles because that was what I was allowed – no crosswords, no television, no internet. The only books I was allowed were the ones August Emerson approved for the New Eden education. I used to be smart, and I could do some gymnastics, and now I stumble over words. I can get so confused trying to remember things that I burst out in tears of frustration.”
“What started the fight?” I asked, grasping for anything.
“Birth control,” she said. “That’s all I ever was to Arik – a tight wet place to put his seed. His broodmare. I was supposed to give him handsome sons and beautiful daughters. Once I was spent, I would be shuffled off, and another teenager would be trotted up to take hisaffections.”
I felt my shoulders slump.
I gestured and the Englishman rewound the file and I rewatched it at regular speed. In the entertainment room, I watched Arik pop a handful of pills into his mouth. I didn’t know what they were, but he chased them with a small glass, the sort that whiskey goes in. It was morning, and he was drinking and popping pills.
