Adalyn took a deep breath as she stood in front of a very large and intimidating building.

The last few days had been a blur for her. After being escorted from Brahms's mansion by the police officer, she'd been taken to the nearest station where she'd reunited with her mother. It turned out her mother was indeed the reason the police had shown up in the first place. Upon landing in the UK, she'd marched into the station and demanded that someone help her find her missing daughter. The second she'd heard about a missing cab driver, she knew that it had something to do with Adalyn's disappearance. From there, it had just been a matter of finding out where the cabbie had driven last.

When Adalyn had been rescued, one of the officers explained the history of the Heelshires, which was apparently the family name of the mansion she'd been staying in (which would've been nice to know five days ago).

And what a morbid history it was. The Heelshires had lost their eight-year-old son in a fire twenty years ago and started living with a life-sized doll of him to cope with the loss. Though much to their disbelief, it appeared that Brahms Heelshire had actually survived the fire all those years ago and had spent all the time since then living inside the walls.

Mr. and Mrs. Heelshire had recently been found in a lake with rocks in their pockets, apparently having decided to end their lives.

Adalyn wasn't sure how she felt about the Heelshires after hearing that news. From what she understood, they supposedly forced their only son to live inside the walls of the house after he'd been severely burned from the fire and then twenty years later decided that they shouldn't have done that so they just left other people to pick up the pieces of their grievous mistake?

She tried to put herself in their shoes, but she just couldn't find any way to justify any of their actions.

A door slamming nearby brought her back to the current moment.

Mustering up all of her courage, Adalyn walked through the main entrance of the building.

After she signed in, someone escorted her through the hallways until she found herself standing in front of a locked door with a small window that allowed her to see inside the tiny room.

It had been two weeks since she'd last seen Brahms, but one of the officers informed her that he'd been transported to a mental institution where he would most likely spend the rest of his life.

Even though her mother had heavily insisted against it, Adalyn had decided that she wanted to see him one last time.

Her heart pounding, the door opened and she slowly stepped inside.

Brahms was standing towards the opposite end of the room and staring at the left wall, his back to her. Instead of his usual clothing, he was now dressed in white scrubs. With his arms now bare, it allowed her to see his burned and scarred skin.

"Brahms, it's…it's Adalyn," she said softly.

His hands tightened into fists, and she stiffened, prepared to bolt out the door if he so much as twitched. She was sure he was angry with her and she couldn't really blame him. If she was in his position, she'd be pretty ticked too.

"I'm sorry. I never meant for all this to happen. But I guess realistically…there wasn't really any other way for it to end."

Brahms didn't move or say anything.

"I know this place is a lot different than what you're used to, but…they have strict rules and schedules. I know how much you like that sort of thing."

"You lied to me," Brahms said in a low voice, all traces of his childlike personality gone.

Adalyn sighed. "How did you expect it to go?"

"I took care of you."

That statement made her feel even guiltier than she already did because for the most part, he really had looked out for her, whether it be protecting her from her attackers, giving her a teddy bear to comfort her, making her food when she was sick, or giving her her favorite book to read.

"You wouldn't let me leave," she told him.

"I would've always taken care of you. I loved you."

Adalyn felt any response die in her throat at those words. While it was a little concerning that a man in a mental institution was confessing his love for her, she also knew that it was true to some degree. Maybe it wasn't exactly the kind of love he was thinking of, but she figured that some weird part of him probably really did care enough about her to love her.

"You only knew me for five days. And just a few weeks before you met me, you were in love with Greta, weren't you?"

"That was different."

"How?"

Because from what she'd seen, she'd pretty much only served as a replacement for Greta, right down to wearing her clothes. Was she really any different than his former nanny? She'd sure acted like one, following his rules and his daily schedule that was more fit for a child.

"…You knew the real me."

Adalyn's heart throbbed painfully in her chest at his sudden vulnerability. If Brahms's parents had lived with the Brahms doll while their real son lived in the walls, then perhaps it to stood to reason that they'd lured Greta to the mansion under the guise of being a nanny to the doll. After all, what woman would live in that house and work as a nanny if she knew that a fully-grown man was living inside the walls watching her?

Was she really the only one he had ever had full contact with in twenty years?

"Brahms…controlling everything that someone does, never letting them leave your side, forcing them to do things that make them uncomfortable…that's not love."

His hands uncurled, and she hoped that didn't mean he was preparing to attack her.

In reality, Brahms was considering her statement and wondering if that was the reason behind his mother and father leaving him. They'd forced him to live inside the walls, and he in turn forced them to give him whatever he wanted. Had they ever really loved each other?

"Will you at least turn around?" she asked.

"You left me. You promised you weren't going to leave me like everyone else! You promised you wouldn't look at me!"

"Brahms—"

"You promised! You lied to me!"

Brahms angrily threw one of his books across the room and shoved his bedside table so hard that it fell over.

Adalyn jumped in surprise and put her hand to her mouth as tears pricked her eyes.

"You said we were friends! You said you wouldn't leave! I hate you, Adalyn!"

The employee who'd led her to the room quickly opened the door and started to pull her out. "You have to leave now, ma'am."

"I hate you! I'll always hate you!"

"…I'm sorry," Adalyn said quietly.

Then she exited the room as Brahms continued to completely trash it in his angry fit.

Adalyn leaned up against the wall, put her hands to her face, and cried.

That night, Adalyn lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep.

Brahms's furious words repeated in her ears over and over again.

Her mind kept flip-flopping on how she was supposed to feel about this whole thing.

She shouldn't feel guilty. Brahms had kept her captive in that mansion and forcefully made sure she never left his side. And the few times he did leave her alone was either because she was deathly ill or because he was waiting for her to fall asleep. And then of course there was the forced kiss and the way he'd run his hands and face all over her body when she'd repeatedly told him to stop.

But every time she tried to think about why it was better that she was away from that house and away from him, she just thought about how scary it must be for him to be locked away in a different, strange place when he'd never been anywhere other than the mansion. And he didn't even have a mask to hide behind anymore. And of course, the reason he was there at all was kind of her fault.

On the other hand, if she hadn't happened to arrive at that house, maybe Brahms would've tortured or killed any other person who happened to step inside. Maybe she'd saved innocent lives by forcing him out of the mansion.

He'd scared her with his abruptness, how quick he was to get angry, and how possessive he was about her. What would've happened to her if she'd been there for another day? A week? A month? Would Brahms have hurt her or killed her the moment he got tired of her? Would he have forced her to fulfill his fantasies of living with another human? All of them?

But could she really blame him for his behavior? He'd been subjected to severe isolation for twenty years. It was no wonder that he was so desperate for human contact, particularly female human contact. Had she been hidden in the walls for that long, she would've fallen in love with the first guy she laid eyes on or the first guy who was nice to her as well.

It had hurt her so much to hear that he hated her which was incredibly stupid because he'd been controlling and imposing and it shouldn't matter whether he liked her or hated her or even knew she existed.

But…then there were times where he'd been so gentle that it was so easy to think that he'd really loved her and wanted to take care of her. Their long slow dance was the first thing that came to mind if she ignored everything that had happened after that. After spending five years feeling incredibly underappreciated at her job and in her personal life, it had felt so nice for someone to give her attention and care for her and hold her. That was probably why it had been so easy to indulge him and allow him to touch her as often as he had.

The whole reason he hated her was because she'd lied to him and left him. Considering that both of his parents and the mysterious Greta had all abandoned him, even if they had their reasons, it made sense why Brahms had wanted to keep her by his side. He was terrified of being left all alone again.

And what made it worse was that Brahms had fully believed that she cared about him the same way he cared about her. After thinking he'd finally found someone who would stay, she ended up being the fourth person in his life who acted like they cared before ultimately leaving him. She'd probably hurt him more than he ever could've hurt her.

Adalyn sighed and threw her arm over her face.

She was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, plain and simple.