Page 29 of Cook

Tommy G. never would have exposed himself that way. My gaze drifted over to the butcher block and back. If he were Tommy, I would shove a knife into his back.

This man, though. This Leo Finch was Vivi’s caretaker. I couldn’t do something like that to him. Could I?

“We need to take your pills,” continued Leo, his voice gentle but demanding. “It’s that time.”

“I want to have a tea party,” said Vivi.

A tea party? I hadn’t had one of those since I was a kid, but that’s exactly what it looked like she was playing at in the living room. Tea and crumpets. But there weren’t any stuffed animals like Mel and I used as our guests.

My sister and I had been kids, not women old enough to have a near forty-year-old son. So what was Vivi playing at? Cook’s mom was peculiar, but this was...

What were the pills for?

Who had Cook left me with? Sure, his mother and her—Leo. Who was Leo? And why did Cook trust me with them? Why did Cook have to leave?

I shouldn’t be here. It was time to go. I was surrounded by crazy, not that I was much better. But why would Daddy leave me in their care? Unless he thought I was crazy too. The doctors at the hospital had tried to shoot me up with a sedative after I’d thrown food at them and wouldn’t talk, claiming it was because of the trauma.

It wasn’t. I just wanted them to stop telling me what I needed.

What were they doing to the kids?

Iwasn’t a kid!

What was Leo doing to Vivi?

“Let’s have a tea party. Maddie, come here,” called Vivi.

I didn’t leave my perch between the bedrooms. Her voice was so childlike. Innocent. That had been snatched away from me.

She continued, “We need to have tea. And then we can—”

“Then you can take your pills, Vivi,” said Leo. “Right?”

Vivi stopped, blinked at Leo, and then slowly nodded with a pout on her lips. “Fine. But tea first. The pills taste bad.”

She frowned, her bottom lip quivering. Was she about to cry?

I stepped forward to comfort her, the way I hugged the younger kids at the mill after their first assignments. Vivi seemed broken the way they did. She needed arms around her to hold her together. I took another tentative step, eyeing Leo as I moved.

He stood. “Sit with us, Maddie.”

I froze and backed up a step. What the fuck was happening? When I comforted the other kids, it was just us. We didn’t have any clients around. What did I get into here?

His hand raised, reaching for me, and the look on his face turned stern. “Maddie, don’t move.”

I froze mid-step. My heartbeat hammered. Was he about to hit me? I tensed, preparing for the blow to fall. It didn’t though. I couldn’t understand what I did wrong, why he was coming for me. I wasn’t acting crazy—she was! Cook’s mom. I hadn’t done anything wrong. Why was I in trouble?

Leo stared at me. “Maddie, don’t leave. Join us.”

His voice was like silk. Like Tommy G.’s. Like Doctor Richardson’s. The order snaked around my throat until I could barely breathe. It pulled me forward, like I was caught in a spell, until I stood next to Leo. He could break me, rip my skin, draw blood, and then Tommy G. would laugh and laugh as he jerked off to my tears.

“Sit down,” ordered Leo . . . no Tommy . . . no . . . Leo.

I fell into the seat he pointed at, my dead weight pinning me down. I became a doll for him to control. I just had to do whatever he wanted, so he wouldn’t pull me by the hair and drag me across the room or slam my face to the window and rip off my clothes. But I had no way to keep him from shoving himself deep inside of me, ripping me to shreds. Again.

If I didn’t fight, it would be better. I could go to the safe place in my head. The one where my sister and I played in a room at my childhood home.

Everything would be fine if I could just escape to that place.

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