Page 31 of Trick's Trap

This place screamed money and prestige. She felt as if she was soiling it just being here.

Maia gripped her hand. “I wanted you to come home with me, but Trick kicked up a fuss about having you here instead. Itisa secure building, especially at the penthouse level. There is even on-call medical staff. That’s the reason I let him win.” She shrugged, stroking Tahlia’s hair.

Tahlia pulled away. “I must be filthy.” It was as if a grimy film was enveloping her body. Her hair was hanging in greasy clumps. Someone had wiped her face and arms with a damp cloth, but she needed a shower…followed by one or two hot baths.

“You’re fine,” Maia said. “But there’s a nurse waiting to tend to your every need. I’m sure she can help you bathe if you want to get clean.” She broke off and grinned, leaning conspiratorially closer. “At first, the agency sent a young male nurse, a rather handsome one. Trick took one look and sent the poor man away, insisting on a replacement. He said you’d be more comfortable with a female nurse—as if he would know.”

“He’s right.” She would have felt uncomfortable having a male nurse help her bathe. No one had seen her naked before. She’d never even changed in a locker room in front of anyone because she’d been homeschooled.

Maia waved that away. “Doesn’t matter. It’s Trick’s reaction that counts. I’ve never seen him act like that before. He’s got itbad.”

Blushing, Tahlia averted her eyes.

“I can’t believe you met him playing poker,” Maia continued. “He’s an excellent player. He wins huge tournaments all the time, but you creamed him right out of the gate.”

Tahlia’s brow creased. “He told you about that?”

“Oh, yes. It was almost as if he were bragging about losing to you…and I had no idea you even knew how to play.”

Chagrined, Tahlia pressed her lips together. “It was a secret.”

One of many.

Maia nodded as if she understood. “We were pretty shocked to discover Trick was the last person to see you before you disappeared.”

Her chest constricted. “He wasn’t exactly.”

Tears stung at her eyes again in defiance of her belief she was completely spent.

Her friend didn’t say anything. She just held her hand and waited.

“They’re crazy,” Tahlia confessed in a whisper. Her heart raced, the panic clawing at her as if trying to stop her from saying it aloud.

“Who is?” Maia asked. “Is it your family?”

She nodded, too overcome with rolling waves of adrenaline to speak. Talking about her family always terrified her—and that was by design.

The refrain of ‘family first’had been drilled into her head since before she could walk. To her family, it wasn’t just a motto—it was an all-encompassing way of life. Absolute loyalty was the rule. She was never supposed to speak about them to an outsider. Revealing their darkest secret was enough to make her spiral, even after they made their enmity toward her clear.

“You can tell me anything,” Maia assured her. “And I won’t share it with anyone else if you don’t want me to—not even Trick, no matter how hard he pushes. You say the word, and I zip my lips and throw away the key.”

That was a sweet offer, but Tahlia wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. She was a wreck both physically and mentally. As much as she wanted to avoid dragging anyone into her mess, she needed time to recover and regroup. Holding back while she was near these kind people might make things worse.

“No. I want you to tell Patrick. He thinks he can help me.” She broke off and stared at her hands. “That’s because he’s rational. I could see the gears turning in his head when we played. He’s quick and takes risks, but he operates in a totally logical way. But my family doesn’t respond to rational. They’re flat-out insane—”

She broke off, swallowing reflexively.

Maia squeezed her arm. “It’s going to be okay. We can protect you from whatever they throw at us.”

She shook her head. “You don’t understand. It’s not one or two of them. It’severyone.They are all mental because—and I can’t believe I’m saying this out loud—they worship the devil.”

Maia blinked, her lips parted and pulled down.

“Well, not the devil,” Tahlia amended. “It’s a demon to be precise.”

Whatever Maia had expected to hear, it hadn’t been that. “As in a cult?” she asked, her nose twitching.

A shuddering sigh escaped her. “I guess that’s close enough. There’s no church or magnetic leaders. No one talks about it openly. It’s a secret, but all the men and most of the women—they worship this particular demon. They think he really exists.”

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