Silent Daughter 1: Taken Read Online Free PDF Page B

further away from the house and the terrace. A maze of bushes and smaller trees conceals the rest of the garden in the back, and she walks right into it.
    She turns left, disappearing between two apple trees and right into the maze.
    As soon as she is out of m y — and everybody else' s — sigh t I step forward, idling at the edge of the terrace for a few moments before I decide to take a stroll myself, following the path she has taken before me. I leave my glass on one of the nearby tables and go.
    I look at the flowers beneath my feet left and right, pretending to adore them while I approach the obscured corner through which she disappeared.
    Just before I reach it, I am startled by another couple coming out of it. They are middle-aged and unknown faces to me, probably friends of the family out on their own little stroll through the garden before twilight sets in. We almost bump into each other. I regard them with a polite nod, raising my glass as they walk past me, smiling equally politely.
    It is a good reminder for me that I cannot be sure I will be alone with her, even in this secluded area of the garden.
    When I turn around the corner into the maze, a small path lined with high hatches reveals itself in front of my eyes. I follow the passage for a while before I come to a crossroad. Two possibilities, left and right, both lined with hatches just like the one before. This really is like a maze.
    I ponder for a moment before I opt for the right side, the one that leads further away from the house. The farther I walk, the wider the path gets. The hatches around it open up a little and soon, I find myself in what seems to be a little garden of itself, surrounded by light brick walls and decorated with flower beds and little bushes. It's almost like a little hall without a ceiling. I follow the pebble path that goes in a circle through the entire miniature garden, the brick wall to my right, a decorative fountain to my left, marking the center of the garden. In between, flower beds and herb beds.
    When I reach the opposite side of the small garden, I notice a door in the wall. It is partly covered by ivy and doesn't look like it's meant for people to walk through it.
    I stop in front of it and turn around to see whether I am still alone. There is no one around, nothing but absolute silence interrupted only by the sporadic tweeting of birds. I don't hear voices or steps. No sign of another human being.
    The door is very old and rusty, and it appears to be locked. There is no path leading towards it.
    But something tells me that this is where I need to go.
    I take a step forward and reach for the door handle. It opens.
    While the door is not locked, it is still hard to open because the hinges are rusty as hell.
    I squeeze myself through, cursing at a branch that gets caught on my suit and almost rips a hole in it as I make my way through the door.
    "Fuck," I hiss as the door closes behind me and I look down on the ugly scratch the damn tree left on my suit.
    A girlish giggle resonates from the right.
    I look up and find her standing a few feet away from me, standing on what seems to be another path, but this one is not as neatly arranged as the ones I walked before. I am not even sure we are still in the Barringtons' garden. It looks like a garden at first, but the forest that opens up behind her doesn't look so neatly groomed.
    She is standing there, looking like a fucking fairy. Pale and delicate in her light gray dress, her cheeks blushed from the champagne. Her hair looks a bit messier than it did before, but otherwise her fancy and elegant getup is the exact opposite of the wild nature behind her.
    My insides growl at the sight of her in this surrounding. Something so perfect, so beautiful. I cannot help imagining her tied around one those trees, her knees drenched in dirt and mud from crawling behind me, her limbs trembling with fear as I tie her up and have my way with her.
    Elizabeth smiles.
    "You're good," she says,