Page 110 of Total Exposure

“You never told me the end of the story!” I scream, whirling around, looking for more cameras.

That’s when I see the last two gifts still sitting on the bench where I left them this morning.

I sink to the floor in the grand foyer, the piles of golden silk ribbon surrounding me like a pond of summer, tears welling up in my eyes.

“I don’t want them,” I say. “I don’t want presents. I don’t need more clothes. I don’t need jewelry, I don’t need any of this stuff! I just want to talk to you! I’ll take off the blindfold. I promise.” I’m pleading now. Begging to the empty air.

And because he’s gone, there’s no reply.

No crackle of the intercom to urge me on. No sense of his all-seeing stare.

I am alone. Unseen. Unheard. Hidden from the world.

And it’s ironic, after all those years of wanting to be invisible, right now I can think of nothing I want less.

The front door is still open. The wind is whipping through the house, making me shake with cold, when a shadow falls onto the floor in front of me.

I look up, hopeful, but see only Lucinda standing there, her body a silhouette of darkness against the bright winter sun.

“What’s going on?” she asks. “What happened here? Did he touch you? Did he hurt you?”

I shake my head as a tear falls down my cheek. “No,” I whisper. “He was gentle, and good, and I want him back. Can you bring him back?”

I see that Jordan—the real Jordan—has also come. He steps out from behind Lucinda and says, “He left. About an hour ago. Called me up and said the job was done, I should go to the tea room to meet with Lucinda and you, and that was it. He hung up. I tried to call him back after you ran out… but…” He shakes his head. “He won’t answer.”

“Where did he go?” I ask. “Where does he live? I need to find him!”

He shrugs. “I don’t know, Evangeline. Somewhere up in Wyoming, I think. I found him in jail a few weeks ago.”

“You what?” Lucinda asks. “What the hell is wrong with you, Jordan? Why the hell did you hire a man who—“

“He’s a friend, OK?”

“Then why don’t you know where he lives?” I ask, getting to my feet. “If he’s your friend, then where is he!” I yell that last part. “Is this part of your stupid game? Am I just another piece to play with?”

“Evangeline,” Lucinda says in her stupid, calm doctor voice.

“No!” I scream. “No! You people put me here with him and now you think you’re gonna take him away? No!”

“I’m sorry,” Jordan says. “When Ix disappears, well, he just… goes. He’s just gone.”

The three of us stand there, staring at each other. Lucinda looking like she really needs me to accept reality. Jordan looking guilty, about what I don’t know, but I want to find out. And me… God, me… I feel so… alone.

That word in my head makes me wilt. “I want to go home,” I say in a soft, small voice that reminds me of the woman I was before I came here. “I want my apartment, with the curtains drawn, and the city far, far away.”

“Why?” Jordan asks.

“Why what?” I snap.

“Why go back when you came this far? Ixion was never part of your future, Evangeline. He never was. He wasn’t supposed to talk to you or… whatever else he did,” Jordan says, starting to put the pieces together. “He broke the rules, OK? You need to forget about him. Believe me, he’s forgotten about you. That’s what he does best.”

I seethe at that characterization of Ixion Vanir. I glare at Jordan. Stare him straight in the eyes. Let him see me as I draw myself up, square my shoulders, lift my chin and say, “You don’t even know him. You don’t even know me. But I know you,” I say, pointing my finger at him. “He told me everything about you.”

Jordan shrinks back.

“Yes,” I say, nodding. “And if he left here, it was because of you. Not me.”

We stare at each other for several seconds. I pull away first and that’s when I see the last two gifts. The one marked Five is about the right size. And when I walk over and pick it up, it’s the right weight too.