Exile
- its.brittanyb
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
“I always said that if people saw me as the villain, then I’d be the their fucking villian.”
REVIEW
Would I read this again? Yes No Maybe
Spice Level Legend How spicy is this book?
Tropes | Trigger Warnings |
MMFM, Why choose, Friends to lovers, Enemies to lovers, Forced proximity | Multiple mental illnesses, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Torture |
SUMMARY
Want to just skip to the spice? I got you - Chapters 7, 9, 14, 18, 24, 29, 35
When we last saw Damon, he had just been shot and blacked out. This book opens with Grey locked in his room at Lilydale and throwing a shit-fit trying to get out. He woke up in this room after being tased by the guards when they were attempting to pull Avery off of giving Damon CPR. Now Grey doesn’t know where Avery is or if Damon is even still alive.
His door finally opens, he thinks his hacker friends have hacked the system again, but it's actually Christopher rescuing him.
We find out that when EMTs arrived, everyone was locked back in their rooms until Damon was taken away. Then Alexander and Whittingham were busy talking to police, Chirstopher implied he wasn’t sure if Avery was hurt, she was covered in blood but it was Damon’s, so she was also taken to the hospital.
When she got to the hospital, the police stayed with her and kept her in handcuffs. A nurse finally comes in and asks for the handcuffs to be removed and tells the cops to go get coffee while she assesses Avery. The nurse, Alyssa, says she remembers Avery from her two previous trips to the ER - both after being beaten by her dad. Alyssa says she did raise her concerns with her charge nurse that Avery was being abused but the system is so overwhelmed. Avery says she isn’t hurt but she is here to see her husband. Alyssa goes to check and comes back and tells Avery that Damon is in surgery. She also tells Avery that since Avery is there with shock, she will need to spend the night, and since her and Damon are married, she will be allowed to see him after surgery.
While waiting to see Damon, Alexander shows up at the hospital. He gets up in Avery’s face and Alyssa gets in between them and tells him he needs to leave or she will call security. Then she takes Avery to see Damon.
When he finally wakes up she tells him about his dad visiting and that she has to go back to Lilydale later. When she arrives, Christopher meets her at the door, and takes her to his office. He tells her that his termination has been temporarily stopped due to the current situation. He also tells her Grey is currently in solitary confinement and Theo is in his room. Grey is in solitary for rushing at Alexander after Christopher got him out of his room. Guards tased him and put him in solitary.
Avery asked Christopher to contact her social worker, to get everyone new cell phones since Whittingham confiscated the last ones, and for the new door code since it was changed again. Christopher tells Avery that he is proud of how much she has changed since she arrived at Lilydale and agrees to help.
Christopher gets Grey freed from solitary and takes him to Avery. He also gives them new access cards which Grey immediately uses to take Avery to see Theo.
Avery tells Grey a message from Damon that involves the Cirque. Theo is completely unbothered to find out that he has joined this little gang even though he could care less about what they are doing. Grey tells Avery that on the day that Damon got shot, one of their friends, Leighton, was murdered by the guards. Also, there are 5 patients that are missing, Grey believes each of them signed a consent form, and are now getting experimented on.
Theo notices that a new guy, Rian Thatcher, keeps watching Avery. And he is not happy about that.
The next day, Avery gets escorted to Whittingham’s office while Grey and Theo attempt to break into the rooms downstairs to search for the missing patients. Whittingham tells her that Damon is coming back to Lilydale tomorrow. And the board of Lilydale wants to offer Avery a deal. They will (somehow) give her freedom if she annuls the marriage between her and Damon. Which she refuses to do. She is sick of their shit and she takes a pen and stabs Whittingham in the hand. Then she gets thrown into solitary confinement.
Theo and Grey have Christopher take them down there but he doesn’t have a key to get her out. Theo and Grey sit outside the door to guard Avery but also to keep her company.
The next day, Damon lets her out. But he makes sure to consummate their marriage in the solitary confinement room first. Damon also has a surprise for Avery. He got them all rings - all 4 of them.
A few days later, Avery is removed from her room by guards and taken to Whittingham’s office. Alexander is there. He is there to take her to a board meeting. He forces Avery to sign a Will he has drawn up naming him the benefactor and has her sign a paper giving him access to Damon’s trust fund. Because Avery and Alexander can make a majority vote and they don’t need Damon.
Christopher has finally gotten Avery’s social worker, Margie, in the building. Christopher has already filled her in on the fucked-up-ness going on at Lilydale and Avery tells her she needs help. She wants to shut Lilydale down and get the rest of the patients out of there.
The next night, Cirque des Morts are attempting another rescue mission. They are going to break into the labs downstairs and rescue everyone that signed the consent forms and have been being experimented on. They manage to get all of the patients out and then Avery and Theo set fire to the lab. They get interrupted by the new patient, Rian. He tells them that he works for Alexander and he is going to end Avery, once and for all. But he has to get through Theo and clearly, Rian is stupid. While they’re fighting, Avery ends up stabbing him. Then she sprays a bunch of chemicals on him and shoves him into the fire.
Avery had grabbed a bunch of files before setting everything on fire and Christopher takes them and files a complaint against Lilydale. With a complaint, the board can’t touch any of the money so they are at a standstill. Avery asks Christopher to draw up a new Will, overriding the one she was forced to sign.
Cirque des Morts starts telling all the rest of the patients about what is really going on in Lilydale - which ends up causing mass hysteria and riots. So everyone gets put on lockdown. Well kind of - Avery gets smuggled out of her room and spends her nights in either Damon’s, Grey’s, or Theo’s room.
They decide to escort her to her appointment with Christopher and then they are planning on going to talk to Dr. Markel. After her appointment, the guys are nowhere to be seen. She and Christopher look for them but are stopped by Whittingham who tells them that Avery needs to be escorted back to her room.
Once there, she tries to call the guys on their cell phones but they don’t answer. So she calls Jillian. Jillian looks at her camera feed and says that the guys are talking to Dr. Markel. Avery tells her that’s not true and Jillian realizes that the time stamp is off. She tells Avery that she is going to come let her out and then they will go find the boys.
When someone starts to open Avery’s door, she assumes it's Jillian. But it's Alexander. WIth a gun. He tells Avery she has to come with him now.
They go to Whittingham’s office. Him and Alexander are pissed that there is an investigation now. The other psych doctor, Dr. Elsher, comes in, slaps Avery, tells her that Rian was his nephew. Alexander tells her that the boys got sent downstairs, thinking that Avery got sent down there. He holds a gun to her head and tells her once she’s dead, he’ll be back in control again.
Damon rushes in and fires off a shot - purposely missing his dad. Alexander uses Avery as a shield and tells Damon that he can kill her now because of the Will. Avery starts laughing and tells him that she signs another one. Damon shoots him in the shoulder, shoots Elsher in the forehead, then shoots his dad two more times. Whittingham escapes.
The police show up shortly later. Bryone and Jillian have managed to save the security tapes to be used against Alexander but it also shows Avery killing Rian.
A day or so later, Lilydale is being shut down, and all patients will be getting moved to other facilities. Avery will be facing charges for murder.
Avery, and a few other women, get taken to Ridgeview Rehab. It couldn’t be more different from Lilydale - less prison, more rehab like it should be. Jillian is there and her and Avery room together.
Six weeks later, Avery goes to court. Christopher and Margie are there. Christopher told her the guys haven’t been there yet. She is on trial, not only for the arson and murder at Lilydale, but also they are reviewing her original case. They, again, deem her guilty of the involuntary manslaughter of her dad. But not guilty of the crimes at Lilydale. They also considered her time at Lilydale as time served. So she will be free.
Then Christopher admits he lied. The boys have come through already - and they have all been set free.
Damon tells her that the trust has been released back to him. He also now owns his old house. He has been out for a few weeks and has been working on making it liveable for all 4 of them. Avery suggests that they take Lilydale and make it what it should have been - an actual rehab facility.
Epilogue - shows Grey and Theo getting their revenge on the asshole that raped Avery when she was younger.
Then showing Lilydale, fully remodeled and not being called that anymore, getting ready to open. Christopher is back - him and Margie have gotten together and she’s pregnant.
Comments