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“Yeah. Some of this other stuff is hers too. Isn’t it, Cook?” pushed Bou.
If she wasn’t basically kin, I would’ve told her to fuck off. They all needed to get the fuck out of here. Before I could unlatch my jaw, I heard the floor creak again in a different part of the house.
Stopping outside her bedroom door, I listened. Shuffling sounds came from inside, but the door was locked. “Maddie, come out.”
She didn’t listen. Didn’t even still in the bedroom.
I glanced over my shoulder. It would be easy to bust down the door, but I didn’t want to do that in front of her sister, or anyone. However, I had witnessed what would happen if Maddie kept spiraling. If I didn’t get to her soon, shit could get real dark.
“Maddie, come out of your bedroom,” I ordered. “Now.”
The door swung open in a second, and Maddie stepped out, head bent. Her shoulders slumped forward, but it didn’t hide how she trembled. Wetness slipped down her cheek, gathering at her jaw.
Lanie gasped, and I curled my hand into a fist. Apparently, she had to see firsthand the pain she was causing by being here.
“Maddie?” Lanie stepped forward.
I put my body squarely between them as Angel grabbed Lanie’selbow. Maybe he was finally starting to see the light.
The bleeding had crusted over on Lanie’s hand, but I knew Maddie could be more feral to those she didn’t want around. How she’d acted at the recovery house with Doc and Doctor Richardson proved it.
Surely, they’d mentioned that to Lanie.
“Maddie, talk to me,” pleaded her sister. Tears brimmed in her eyes. “Please. Just look at me, at least.”
“Get out,” said Maddie, venom lacing her voice.
“What?” asked Lanie, dumbfounded.
Maddie raised her head. The tears had dried from her eyes, and her hair fell back to her shoulders. If I didn’t know any better, I would say this woman was here to kill.
The death in her gaze stilled even me, but I pushed past it to step closer to Maddie.
Her eyes flicked at me. For half a second, I was sure she was about to attack me if it meant getting to Lanie. But then she dropped her eyes and her head. At least, she no longer shook, but this was far from over. Maddie put on a brave face, but she was broken inside.
Lanie and the others were walking over the shards.
I tried to reach for her, but she shrank back. She had never shied away from me before. Not in the recovery house or Signora’s mill or any other time. We had been growing closer. I tried again, but she slipped away, hovering in the center of the room. She flicked her gaze up toward the others crowding around.
Then she quivered.
“You heard her,” I said, looking at Angel and then Wilde. “Get out.”
Out of my fucking house.
Off my fucking property.
Lanie jutted her chin, clearly about to argue when Angel said, “Okay.”
She looked over at him, questions in her eyes.
Angel repeated, “We’ll leave.”
Then Lanie turned to Wilde and Bou, like she was looking for backup, but Bou already had her hand in Wilde’s, pulling him back.
“Fine,” growled Lanie and then stalked out of the house.
Wilde pinched his eyebrows together, studying the house with a frown. Bou left before him, but he turned back at the door.
