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I revved the engine and rolled away.
Maddie
My impression of Leo Finchwas wrong. Somewhere in the back of my mind, the sane person knew I was making monsters out of everyone, but that didn’t make me fear him any less. Especially with how Leo Finch talked to Vivi, like she was a child.
I hated that. Hatedhimfor that.
Why couldn’t these medical people get it through their thick heads? We may be tainted by shitty things in our past, but we were people too. Adults.
He led her around the front room of the house, and I ducked into the hallway to stay at a safe distance. I leaned against the wall, peeking around the corner. I should go back to Cook’s room and lock myself inside, but I couldn’t.
“Leo Finch,” I muttered to myself, reciting the name Vivi had given me.
Tommy G., answered my mind.
“Leo Finch.”
Tommy G.
“Leo Finch.”
Tommy G.
“Leo—”
“Did you say something, Maddie?” asked Leo, halfway across the living room. He wiped his hands on his pants. Red splotches covered his cheeks.
I wanted to say no, but I couldn’t find my voice.Tommy G.murmured my memories. The name rattled around inside. Flashes of my old life roared back.
“Maddie?” asked Leo. His eyes burrowed into me, his brows like the furry caterpillars on the limbs outside my window at the mill.
Vivi grabbed his hand, leading him toward the other side of the room, and I exhaled.
With his back turned, I muttered to myself, “Leo Finch.” I curled my hands into fists, holding them at my sides.
My mind answered,Tommy G.
Gambino, Signora’s man, and the one who had stripped me bare in more ways than one. He’d put a collar around my neck and dragged me along by the hair, calling me his bitch.
I could plainly see that Leo Finch was not Tommy Gambino, but there were similarities in their look.
Once I’d been bound and collared, Tommy would fuck me on my hands and knees, holding back my head at a neck breaking angle. He never wanted to look me in the eye. He just wanted to fuck me like the dog he thought I was.
Tommy G. had been the dog. Or a rutting goat. I could almost hear his bleating.
I curled my hands over my chest. Everything was fine. I was fine.
“Vivi,” said Leo, and I turned my head away. He had raised his voice an octave, like how Tommy G. did when he called for me.
He’d beckoned me to his side, patting his thigh, and I had crawled onto his lap just to get the little bit of praise he’d offer as he combed his fingers through my hair. He hadn’t cared when his fingers caught knots in my hair. He just yanked, thrusting back my head then too.
“You bend how I tell you to bend,” he’d often say to me, adding, “little bitch” for good measure. I bent how he wanted, and he slapped my ass when I showed any hesitance.
“Let’s take our pills,” said Leo Finch, trailing Vivi across the living room.
Vivi flipped her salt-and-pepper hair to the side. It whipped across her face. “No.”
“Vivi.” Leo turned his back on me.
