Emery’s POV

“Emery will you please sit down!” Chris groaned as I anxiously paced the private waiting room.

I couldn’t sit still, let alone ease the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. In a matter of minutes everything would be out in the open and the truth would be written out for my father. There would be no more secrets, no more freedom, no more love, and no more Avenged Sevenfold. My father would undoubtedly kill every single one of them without hesitation, thinking that they inflicted these scars and took away our virtue. Jo and I would forever be prisoners to my father and whoever our highest bidder was.

I was terrified and heart broken all at the same time as the realization washed over me. Once the truth about my virtue and what really happened when we were at the Sevenfold compound came out, I would never see Brian again. Just thinking about never seeing those handsome brown eyes or that charming smile made my heart ache painfully and a new wave of anxiety wash over me. I could taste the bile rising in my throat and I felt like I was going to be sick.

“Em, sit down!” Chris grumbled, grabbing my arm and pulling me back down into the seat next to him. “You are going to get me in trouble if anyone watches the security footage! What’s got you all worked up anyway? You’ve done this a million times.”

I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, nervously chewing on my bottom lip. I couldn’t accept this fate, not when I had finally found the life I had always dreamed of with Brian and the Avenged guys. I had to make a plan and fight because I wasn’t going to just turn into someone’s trophy wife. I had to do something! I just needed to get Chris on my side.

“Remember when you said you’d do anything for me?” I whispered looking up at him with big blue eyes. “Do you still mean that?”

“Of course I do, Em, but what—” I quickly pressed my finger to his lips, my eyes begging him to listen. We didn’t have a lot of time before Jeremy came back out.

“I need your help,” I said in a barely audible tone. I had no idea who was listening or if the room was bugged. All I knew was that I had to get Chris on my side or else I would never see Brian again.

Chris furred his brow as he looked down at me, a look of confusion spread across his handsome features. “Help you with what? You know I can’t change the doctor’s report or anything like that,” he replied in the same hushed tone.

I shook my head and moved even closer. “I know that… but I-I need you to check on something for me… maybe even sneak me out of my room after hours,” I hissed. I knew he would be risking a lot for me but I hoped he was willing to help.

Chris shook his head as he looked down at me. “You know I can’t sneak you out, Em. Your father wants me to keep a close eye on you, and that is a direct order. You’re on house arrest. ”

“What if you come with me?” I asked, grabbing his arm. Maybe I could find a loophole in my father’s orders that I could use to my advantage. “And technically, we wouldn’t be leaving the mansion, just my room.” I nervously bit down on my bottom lip as I met his blue eyes. “We would be in and out quick and no one would know I was missing from my room.”

“What are you talking about?” He replied before a look a realization washed over his face. “Oh no, Em. Don’t even think about asking me to take you down to see them! You know I can’t do that!” He hissed, looking around to make sure no one was watching us.

“Please, Chris… I need to make sure he is okay…” I begged, squeezing his arm tightly. “I need to see him… just one time…please.”

Chris pulled his arm away from me and crossed them in front of his chest. “You can’t ask me to do that, Em… If your father finds out, he’ll have both of our heads!” Honestly, I didn’t care about my own fate as long as I knew Brian was safe. I had to get him out of here.

“Please Chris… for me…” I pleaded, my eyes swimming with tears. I had to get him to understand the magnitude of this situation or at least to see reason. He was my only hope.

Chris let out a sigh and looked up toward the ceiling. “Emery… As much as I want to—” he started just before Jeremy opened the door to the examination room.

“Please just think about it,” I quickly muttered before Jeremy walked toward us, abruptly ending our conversation. As Jeremy took a seat next to me, Chris looked down at me with an unreadable expression. It was almost a look of promise mixed with one of regret and fear.

What did that look mean? Was he willing to help, or was he putting his foot down and following orders? Only I didn’t have much time to think about it because the next thing I knew, I was being ushered into the examination room. As I passed Jo she gave me a sad smile and I felt that feeling of sickness wash over me again.

“Ah, Miss Emery, what a sight for sore eyes,” Doctor Morris greeted with a sad smile as the door closed behind me. I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief and pull him into a hug. Finally someone I could rely on to keep at least one of my secrets. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“It’s good to see you too, Doctor,” I sighed before Chris cleared his throat behind us. Apparently our greeting was not on my father’s approved list of things to do.

“You feel much too thin,” Doctor Morris said as he pulled away, looking me up and down. “Please step on the scale,” he instructed with a slight frown.

I did as I was told and closed my eyes when I saw the new number flash across the small screen. I was down fifteen pounds from my last visit and I knew that wouldn’t go over well.

“You’ve lost a lot of weight. When was the last time you ate something, Miss Pagano?” the doctor asked.

“Last night,” I admitted, though to be honest I still wasn’t eating much after the Viper attack. I just hadn’t felt very hungry. The guys had been urging me to eat but my mind and body were still trying to recover from my traumatic experience.

“Were those bastards feeding you?” Chris growled behind me and I frantically nodded my head.

“Of course they fed us,” I said defensively as panic washing over me. They couldn’t blame this on the guys, not when they were the ones who had rescued me from that hellhole. If it wasn’t for Jimmy and Brian, I probably would have died of starvation or malnutrition by now. “It’s my fault I lost the weight… they fed us all the time…Its-it’s just… I haven’t been very hungry…” I started, nervously twisting my hands in my lap. How was I going to explain this without telling them everything?

“Why haven’t you been hungry?” The doctor pressed, looking up from his notepad. He was writing down everything that I said for his report for my father.

I closed my eyes and blew out a slow breath. “I’ve been having nightmare and terrors…” I breathed, trying to stop the demons from coming out.

Doctor Morris frowned as he took my pulse and my vital signs. “Nightmares? What has been causing nightmares and terrors?”

I pinched my eyes shut and willed the tears not to come. I didn’t want to relive those awful days with the Vipers, but maybe it was a necessity. Maybe if I told the whole story they would see how Brian and the guys saved us? They would have to let them go for rescuing us, right?

I quickly told the whole story about the Viper’s kidnapping Jo and I, and how they tortured us for information. I even told the doctor about Joey and how Brian rescued me from him before he could rape me. I laid everything out on the line, praying that it would help their case when my father read the report.

“If it wasn’t for the Avenged guys,” I cried, wiping the tears from my eyes. “They would have raped and then killed Jolie and I without a second thought,” I explained, hearing Chris curse behind me. “They saved us… its all thanks to them that we are still in one piece.” And that was an understatement.

“They saved you?” Chris asked and I tearfully nodded at him.

“I owe them everything,” I sniffed, picturing Brian’s face. “They are the reason I still have my virtue,” I met the doctor’s eyes and he gave me quick nod, wordlessly confirming that he would keep my secret. We all knew I was no longer a virgin, but for my own safety, it was best to tell my father I was.

I looked up and met Chris’ eyes and he flashed me a small smile, knowing full well what I was doing. Chris had been my first lover many years ago. We had an agreement to keep our little ‘relationship’ a secret and thankfully Doctor Morris was on our side. My father didn’t need to know any of this, and I just hoped it stayed that way.

“Emery, I can’t keep this information about the Vipers and Avenged from your father. I have to tell him about this,” Doctor Morris said and I sighed. I knew something like this was going to happen, but at least the truth was out there.

I nodded sadly before the doctor instructed me to take off my sweatshirt for the next step of the examination. I slowly pulled the dark purple sweatshirt off, leaving me sitting in the doctor’s office in a pair of shorts and a black tank top. The last thing I wanted to do was explain the scars and small little bruises on my skin. Some of them were left over from the Viper attack and others were little love bites from Brian.

“Emery…” Doctor Morris sighed, picking up my arm to take a blood sample. His kind eyes were focused on the large scar that traveled from my armpit to the bottom of my bicep. “What is this from?”

My eyes glanced down at the ground as a wave of embarrassment washed over me. Never in my life had I felt so humiliated. Who knew the Vipers could still hurt me after they were dead. “The Vipers… they’re all from them,” I muttered, feeling him touch the small scars at the base of my neck too.

I flinched away from his touch as the image of Joey grabbing my throat flashed before my eyes. “No… please, please don’t,” I said, my eyes snapping open to see both Chris and Doctor Morris looking at me with concerned expressions.

“You’re safe here, Miss Pagano. No one is going to hurt you,” Doctor Morris said, exchanging a quick look with my guard. “I’m going to recommend that she sees a psychologist to help with her terrors.” He wrote everything down on his notepad and I felt my anxiety rising. My father would surely blame it all on Avenged if he knew what I had been through.

“No,” I cried, shaking my head. “I just-I just need to see—” I started to say but then stopped myself. I couldn’t give away Brian’s name—it would just put a bigger target on his back. I had to protect him.

“See who?” The doctor questioned and I just shook my head, staying quiet for the rest of the exam.

By the time everything was said and done, I felt sick to my stomach. Everything was going to be different now on and I wasn’t ready to accept that. I needed Brian, my sister, and the rest of the Avenged guys in my life, though that all seemed like a distant pipedream now that the truth was out. I didn’t know exactly how my father would respond to the doctor’s report, but I knew it wasn’t going to be good.

“Here are the reports,” Doctor Morris said a few minutes later, handing an envelope to each guard. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as I grabbed my sister’s hand, panic coursing through my veins.

“It’s gonna be bad, huh?” I asked in a shaky tone as we made our way back out to the car. Jolie nodded and I swallowed thickly, trying to calm my rising anxiety. “Everything is out in the open now… everything…” I muttered.

Jolie snapped her head over to look at me, her mouth agape. “Everything?” she asked in a barely audible tone. I could see the panic in her eyes and I gently squeezed her hand.

“About the Vipers…” I clarified, earning a warning glance from Chris. I knew we weren’t supposed to be talking but Jo and I had to make up some kind of plan before we met with my father. “Other secrets are still secure.”

“Same here.” Jo nodded before Jeremy started giving my father’s instructions for the rest of the day.

When we arrived at the Pagano mansion, Jeremy and Chris guided us towards the office, just as our father had demanded. No funny business, direct orders.

They put both envelopes onto my father’s desk, with both our names up. Jo and I sat close together on the lounge chair, while Chris and Jeremy stood behind us, waiting for our father to arrive. With each passing second in the uneasy silence, I could feel my heart beat painfully in my chest.

Suddenly my father burst through the heavy oak doors and I couldn’t help but cringe. Never in my life had I ever felt so afraid and disgusted by someone I used to love—someone I thought cared for me.

“I want to talk to my precious daughters alone for now,” Father barked at the guards and I had to keep myself from rolling my eyes. Yeah, we were only precious because he was getting a hefty sum for our heads. I felt more like a piece of meat than his beloved daughter as he always claimed. “Stay close, if I need a report or have questions. Any troubles at the doctor or on the way?”

“No troubles.” Chris announced and then with a wave of our father’s hand, the guards were dismissed, leaving Jo and I alone with our father and the reports, deciding about our future treatment.

“Ahh… let’s see what Doctor Morris had to say about my girls,” Father stated with a sick smile plastered on his face. “Is there anything you want to tell me before I read the report? It might make this a little easier if it came from you instead of a medical report.” He looked between us with his dark green eyes and I shifted uncomfortably next to Jo.

When neither of us said anything, he sighed and opened the envelop with my name on it. What did he expect us to come out and tell him that we were sleeping with the enemy? Did he really think we would put a target on our own back like that? We knew what he was like!

I squeezed Jo’s hand as we watched our father read over the reports with a look of disgust on his face. With each line he read on each report, his face turned redder and redder and I swear he looked like he was going to pop. I chewed my bottom lip and held by breath, hoping he wouldn’t be too hard on the guys or us. He had to trust his own daughters, right?

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, my father dropped the reports on his desk and tsked, slowly shaking his head. “What did they do to you girls to brainwash your beautiful minds into telling your father such lies?”

I opened and closed my mouth a few times as I looked back at him. What did he mean tell lies? Nothing in that report was a lie, well, except for the still present hymen! He had to be joking, right?

“What-what do you mean?” Jo asked softly, recovering from his question first.

Our father scoffed and then leaned closer to us, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “Please girls, you and I both know this Viper story is a fabrication! I have a report from a very reliable source to prove it. Now, stop playing games and tell me what those Sevenfold swine did to you,” he said, his green eyes flashing with warning.

“They didn’t do anything to us,” I snapped, clenching my fists. I felt Jo’s hand land on top of my mine, wordlessly telling me to calm down but I couldn’t. No one accused me of lying, not to mention I wasn’t going to let him put the blame on the guys.

“And what the doctor wrote isn’t a fabrication! The Vipers kidnapped us and Sevenfold saved us. Sevenfold didn’t lay a finger on us,” I tried to clarify, working very hard to keep my anger in check. I knew it wouldn’t end well if I got all worked up and I was trying my hardest to stay in control. “Right, Jo?”

Jo frantically nodded her as my father slammed his fist on the desk. “I don’t know what they did to you to make you feel like you need to protect them, but enough is enough,” he growled, narrowing his eyes at Jo and I. “I know what happened. Those sick bastards took what didn’t belong to them and I want the truth so I can make them pay!”

“They. Didn’t. Do. Anything. To. Us,” I growled, my temper flaring more. “They saved us!” I raged, clenching my fists as I looked back at the man I once cherished. I wouldn’t let him put the blame on the guys.

“Are you calling my informant a liar?” Father asked with a warning tone. He hated when I talked back to him but I wasn’t just about to sit here and take it.

“If the shoe fits!” I snapped, standing up as my temper got the better of me. “If it wasn’t for Sevenfold, you never would have seen us again and your precious goods would have been more than a little battered!”

“Em,” Jolie hissed, grabbing my arm and trying to pull me back down as my father stood up and leaned across his desk.

“If anything you should be thanking those guys! Not keep them captive!” I spat, narrowing my eyes at him. I wasn’t afraid of him right now, not when he was so blatantly wrong.

Father let out a low growl as he looked back at me. “Thank them? You want me to thank them for doing this—” Within a blink of an eye, he ripped off the arm of my sweatshirt, revealing the long scar on my arm and array of bruises that remained. He grabbed my arm and pulled me so close to him that I could feel his breath on my forehead. “Look what they did to you?! And you’re fucking protecting them?!”

“I’m not protecting anyone! They didn’t do this!” I insisted, my jaw tight as I glared back at them. “Just listen to what we’re telling—”

“I’m not listening to these lies when I know the truth!” Father hissed, squeezing my arm painfully.

“Em’s right, they didn’t hurt us,” Jo argued, now standing up behind me. “Please don’t do this. You have to believe what we’re telling you.”

Father snapped his head toward Jolie so fast that I thought he broke his neck. “I don’t know exactly what happed to you girls in that compound, but you seem to have forgotten how things work around here,” he said in an eerily calm voice. “You do what I tell you to, or you suffer the consequences. I want the fucking truth!”

“We are telling you the truth!” I raged. “When will you get it through your thick head that we are telling you what happened?!”

“And when will you learn that you are not in charge here?” Father hissed, getting right in my face. “You will remember your place and do what I tell you to!”

“And what’s that? Sell out some innocent men and marry your highest bidder?!” I raged, ripping my arm away from him and moving back next to Jolie. “I wont be doing that! You’ll have to kill me first!”

My father narrowed his eyes and took a dangerous step towards Jo and I, seeing that we seemed to have more strength in numbers. I took Jo’s hand in mine and glared right back at him, staring the monster down.

“Is that so?” He scoffed. “We’ll see about that…” he said before calling Jeremy and Chris back into the room. I looked at Jo out of the corner of my eye, seeing her nervously chewing her bottom lip. I could tell she was panicking but I wasn’t going to give our father that much satisfaction. It was time to start standing up for ourselves.

“Yes Sir?” Jeremy replied, he and Chris standing at attention as soon as they entered the room.

“Take Jolie back to her room and bar the door. She is not to see her sister or anyone else and that is a direct order,” he said with a sickly sweet smile and I quickly shook my head. No, he couldn’t keep us apart! Jo was the only person I had left to rely on.

“No, you can’t do this!” Jo said, tears forming in her eyes as Jeremy pulled her away from me. “Please! We will follow directions!”

“Your sister made her choice,” our father said shaking his head. “Now you must suffer the consequences. Tucker, take her to her room. Remember, no outside contact.”

“Yes Sir.”

I clenched my fist, my chest heaving up and down as Jeremy dragged my sister out of the room with an apologetic look on his face. I knew he didn’t want to do that but he had to follow his orders or his neck was on the line.

“Sit. Now.” My father ordered. When I didn’t move right away, I felt Chris’ strong hands land on my shoulders and force me back down into the chair. “Let me make myself perfectly clear,” he started, pacing the small space in front of me.

“You belong to me and you will follow directions, or you will spend the rest of your days locked up in one of the cells in the basement,” he continued, stopping and looking down at me as I glared back at him. I didn’t know if possible to hate someone this much. “You will eat all of the meals that are provided to you and you will wear what is laid out for you.”

My father slowly kneeled down in front of me and put a hand on each one of my shoulders, squeezing them tightly. “And in two days from now, you will put on your best dress, find your manners, and meet with Mr. McGinley. You will be on your best behavior and be your normal charming self to close this deal.”

“And what if I refuse?” I growled through gritted teeth.

“Then you can kiss seeing your sister and everything else you ever cared about goodbye.”

Notes

Hello fellow Deathbats! I am so sorry for the long hiatus from updating our stories! Mei and I have been very busy with our lives (I got married!!!) but never fear, we are getting back into the swing of things! We are currently working on more updates for you so please stay tuned!

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