The Art of the Corset (2017)

Alternate Ending!!!

Turned from the gravestone and saw a shadowy figure.

"Joseph..." She spoke with a surprised explanation as she nearly jumped from her own skin at the sight of him.

"You believe everything is as easy as that? Do you forget who owns you, Evelyn?"

"Joseph, please...allow me to live my life this way-"

"You and I had a deal..."

"I lived up to it. I was able to tear Marth away from the crown as you wanted, as you asked so many years ago."

"And yet...upon doing so...you ran...you were supposed to kill him. In his sleep, like an assassin-as we spoke of."

"I cannot hate him...no matter the words I spoke before, you knew they were not true. You threatened to place my daughter in the grasp of death, which you had delivered upon...which is why I then convinced him to leave the crown for me."

"You know very well I was not done with you."

"Please...Joseph...I beg of you to not force me to do another...I have lost so much already....I have nothing left to lose..."

"I would agree with that...there is something you have, yet..." Looking over his shoulder, Evelyn shook her head violently. "Please do not do anything to them! I beg of you!" With his silence, she grew sick to her stomach and raced back into town, drenched with sweat by the time she arrived to the refurbished brothel now burning before her eyes. Tears immediately fell onto her cheeks as she went to run in before being pulled back by strong arms.

"Evelyn..." Gasping as the voice came from Marth, she pulled him into her as she cried against him.

"Where are they?"

He shook his head as she screamed before falling onto her knees. Turning around, she saw how Joseph stood in the street, watching with a cane in hand as he was still wounded by the Daniels. Marching to him, she brought her hand to his cheek and slapped him.

"I do not care if it is the last notion in my life, you will die at my hand for all the ill-will you have done. You were supposed to protect me as I had done to you...and instead, you killed those that I cared for most."

"You forget something my dear...I own you." Letting out a scoff, Evelyn froze. The same grunt that was imprinted in her mind from the first time she gave herself to someone. She remembered everything-how the man was rough, senseless, ruthless...she became ill thinking of the moment. "Why did you do this to me?"

He moved close to her while Marth was being questioned by police men about the flames.

"It is simple, really. I was the one who saw you first."

"I thought you were a kind man..."

"I was...and then you threw yourself to every man who offered you a smile. I took something no one could have. Terrah assisted, along with Lilly and poor Marth...if he discovered that you placed reverse psychology in order to force him to give up his crown-"

"He would not believe you..."

"And why not? After all...I was the ONLY one who was there for him...even when you ran off with his favored friend..."

"What is it you want for your silence as he is all that I have left."

"You will do the one thing you have always done well..." Cocking his brow, Evelyn closed her eyes as a tear moved upon her cheek. "You do it as I expect and my lips will forever be sealed. For let us be frank with one another, a woman's word in this world is as useless as stopping fire with your own breath."

Looking to Marth as she clenched her fists, Evelyn slowly nodded to Joseph. "Good girl. Now, harlot...let us begin..."

In a world such as Evelyn's, the only power she had was with what was between her legs. For Marth, he never discovered her past with Joseph, for he was killed in his sleep within the week of the fire that killed all those women she knew as her family. For what happened to Evelyn and Marth, they disappeared from sight. Some say they lived the rest of their days as happy as can be, and others claim they never spoke again. For what I believe, is that a woman such as Evelyn would not risk losing Marth over something that someone forced her to do. But I suppose only Marth and Evelyn know...

THE END