Page 55 of Reckoning

Madeline

The day felt colorless after he left. I grabbed his arm before he could pull away completely, pushing my fingertips into the healing wounds on his shoulder. He snatched my wrist as he turned to look at me.

“You want to hurt me?” His voice changed tenor, no longer a whisper but full-throttle defense.

“No. I want to heal you.”

He threw my hand away and stalked out. That didn’t surprise me.

What did surprise me was when, halfway through the afternoon, Joshua abruptly stood, told me to lock the doors, and then walked out without any explanation. All I could do was stare at the door in shock for a moment. He was supposed to stay with me, and he was gone. What had called him away? Was there something wrong with Meyer? Surely, he wouldn’t keep me in the dark if that were the case.

He would if Meyer asked him to.

I weighed my options. Should I run after him? He probably took a car. I’d be alone and defenseless on the vast property, and I didn’t know what the other security personnel would do if they found me. Last time, they had left bruises over my entire body.

Running to the door, I flipped the deadbolt quickly and hoped it would be enough to keep out any intruders. What time was it? Would Meyer be home soon, or would he work late tonight to punish us for getting too close to each other?

The garage. I sprinted through the kitchen to turn the lock there too, wishing it had something more substantial. I didn’t know if there was a way to prevent the garage door from opening. Even if there was, that would mean Meyer couldn’t get in later, so that wouldn’t work.

Nausea settled into my gut, and anxiety skyrocketed through my body as I thought about all the points of entry to the house. There were windows and the sliding basement door made of glass—so many places a determined person could get in if they wanted. Had the order to lock the doors been a precaution or a warning?

I hadn’t been truly alone for two seconds since I was brought here, but now that I was, I recognized I was in more danger than ever. Walking to the bedroom, I sat on the bed and waited. Every passing second felt like an hour, but despite how often I checked the clock, it was never late enough, was never a time I could expect Meyer to be home and stand between me and the far worse monster residing only a few thousand yards away. The skin on my bottom lip was worn away, my nail beds completely destroyed as I tore apart my own body while I waited.

Then it happened.

The quality of the air seemed to change in an instant. It wasn’t something I could explain. Maybe I heard the front door close, or a murmur in the hallway, but I snapped my head up toward the door a moment before it opened, and Conrad stepped into the room.

He grinned at me lazily, an expression I’d seen a hundred times on Meyer’s face. It seemed much more sinister coming from his father. “Well now, what exactly have you done to land yourself in my son’s bed?”

An excellent question, one I couldn’t quite answer. I scrambled off the mattress to the far side of the bed, but he was in front of me before I could get to the bathroom and shut the door. Where was Joshua? Where was Meyer? What had happened to land me alone with this man?

“There’s no one here to interrupt us, darling. I sent my son’s little pal on an errand.”

My hands flew up as he reached for me, but he grabbed my wrists and yanked me forward. “Let go of me.” I put every ounce of bravery into my words, knowing I couldn’t do anything to make him comply with my command. Conrad didn’t take orders from anyone.

“I don’t take orders from you, my dear. Are you perhaps too used to giving them to my son?” He tossed my hands aside and grabbed me around my throat, pushing me backward into the hard corner where the door met the wall. My spine protested at the wood pressing into the bone. “I want to know what you’re doing to him. He’s been off-kilter ever since you arrived, and I know I did a better job of preparing him than this.”

“I doubt you’ve ever taught him anything useful.” My voice gargled around his hands, and his fingers loosened a fraction so I could take a deeper breath. “You think you’re some sort of maestro, crafting the perfect psychopath? He’s too good to be your son. Whatever poor woman you tricked into carrying him for you put too much of herself into him.”

He laughed in my face, so cold it pinned me in place more effectively than his hands. “His mother died giving birth to him; I have Eva to blame for his upbringing. Maybe that was where I went wrong. I should have dropped him at the nearest fire station the moment we cut the cord. Or better yet, drowned him in the bathtub so he could join his mother in the afterlife.” He adjusted his grip on me, tilting his head to study me better. “I don’t know what I ever saw in him. Keeping him alive was my moment of greatest weakness. Now, Anita? She’s truly my child. As ruthless as they come. Maybe it’s not too late to correct the mistake I made thirty years ago.” He lifted one hand, finger against his temple like a gun. “One shot would be all it takes. A little messier than putting him down in a bathtub, but that’s my own fault.”

I slapped at his wrist, but his grip was unyielding. My feet kicked for his knees, but his arms were too long; he held me far enough away that I couldn’t make contact. “You’re fucking sick.”

“You have no idea, Madeline Sheppard.” He sneered. “Is that sorry excuse for a man who invaded my property the other week your true father? Or was it one of the men your mother fucked the night she decided to throw my generosity in my face and walk out the door?”

An inhuman scream escaped me as I scrambled to hit him, scraping my nails across his fist in an attempt to do some sort of damage in exchange for his horrible words. “Take that back!” His skin broke beneath my nails, and he hissed at the pain, jerking back just slightly, enough for me to kick out and hit his shin.

“Didn’t you hear me the first time?” He yanked me away from the wall and threw me to the floor across the room. The carpet cushioned my head as it hit the floor with a thud, but I retched as his foot landed in my stomach. He liked to hit the soft spots. “I don’t take orders from you. Stay on the floor where you belong.”

I clambered to my feet, ignoring my cramping stomach, and spun to face him once more. My back pressed against the wall with nowhere to escape. “I know the truth now. You’re the monster here, not that there was ever any doubt. But I have proof.” I held my breath, trying to stop my shaking. He continued moving toward me even as I spoke, the predator stalking his prey to the end. “You kidnapped her. She was a child. And you hurt your own son in order to make her comply.”

“Meyer told you that, did he?” He shook his head as he came to a halt in front of me, disgust clear on his face. “I knew I could never trust that little brat. If anything, your mother ruined him.”

My heart pounded. I couldn’t let this go back on him. I’d already fucked up by letting my emotions get the better of me when he insulted my mother. If he suspected that Meyer really felt anything for me but disdain, he’d bury us both. “Meyer didn’t tell me. He defends you to the end, even when you don’t deserve it.”

He laughed as he reached out to touch a strand of my hair, the tips of his fingers brushing against my cheek. I jerked away from him, but he closed his fist, pulling tight on my hair and straining my scalp. “There’s no need to protect him, little girl. He’d never do the same for you.”

I flashed back to in front of the fire, his lips on my neck with my mother’s letter in my hand and the taste of my own blood on my tongue. The next words left my lips without my permission. “He already has.”

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