Page 90 of Glass Wings
“Coming back here was a grave mistake. I will give you this last chance to turn around,” Hadley heard Sheng threaten.
“I don’t think you know who I am.” Reign’s voice was clear, frustrated and unmoving. “I am not leaving this time until I speak with Hailey. I know that she is here, and if you refuse, then you should know that I have given her father news of her whereabouts. He will come for you. He will kill you.”
My father?
Hadley shook her head in disbelief. Was this someone who existed? She had heard Amis throw out that idea when she was shackled in that closet, but didn’t think much of it.
She said he knew where she was. This man knew where she was and still wasn’t there. This man, this person, abandoned her and her mother before she was even born. She was alone, but maybe she was better off that way. Maybe she didn’t want to meet him. Maybe she didn’t want him to save her. She could save herself.
“Reign,” Hadley cried out, running into the foyer, passing the pentagram fixed into the ceiling. “Reign, I’m here. I’m ready to leave here with you.”
She ran right up to the door, and Sheng’s lips pressed together tightly, clearly displeased. Reign’s face looked relieved, and she opened her arms out wide as Hadley ran towards them. The two women embraced before Reign pushed her away, her eyes wide.
“Do you . . . are these . . . wings?” Reign asked, her arms brushing against them as they hugged. “Oh, Hailey, do you know, do you know what you are? I’m so sorry you went through this alone. I’m so sorry, Hailey.”
Reign brushed Hadley’s hair behind her ear tenderly. It seemed the opposite of the woman she knew. Reign was tough, forceful, and a bit scary. This woman was loving and gentle.
“Look at them. They are so stunning. I can barely even see them!” Reign exclaimed as Hadley teared up and let out a nervous chuckle.
“Come on, let’s go,” Reign said, grabbing Hadley’s hand. Hadley felt a pulse shoot through her, and her body automatically complied without thought. She lifted her foot to follow the small, dark-haired woman before her.
“If you step out of that door, you will regret it,” Sheng’s stern voice interrupted the small hint of hope that filled Hadley’s chest. “I don’t make idle threats, wife.”
“Wife?” Reign shot Sheng a look of rage on Hadley’s behalf. “You are a complete beast, a monster.”
“You are not saying anything that hasn’t been said before,” Sheng said, clicking his tongue and leaning against the door frame.
Walk out the door. Run.
The command that Reign had given her was still fighting her body while the chemicals in her blood began screaming against it.
Leaving him is a mistake. You belong here. You belong to him. You belong.
The conflicting thoughts were putting small spasms through her calves as her foot still hung in the air mid-step, waiting to cross the door's threshold.
Reign gave her arm a light tug, deciding for her as Hadley’s foot hit the exterior front porch while her body screamed and writhed against it.
“No,” she screamed as she pulled back.
“What’s wrong? What did I do?” Reign yelled back in a panic as Hadley cradled her knees into her chest and shivered on the cement.
“It hurts. It hurts to leave,” she sputtered out as her wings fell limp behind her.
Sheng gave a dramatic sigh and shook his head at the two in front of him as Reign kept hold of Hadley’s hand, trying her best to pull her up to her feet despite Hadley’s resistance.
“It will be a hard lesson to learn, wife, but I can’t let you think that you can take advantage of me,” Sheng said as he turned over his shoulder to press the talk button on the intercom.
“You can all come and have the dark-haired one, but do take care to leave my wife alone.” Sheng sounded somewhat depressed, disappointed as his finger let go of the button. His eyes met Hadley’s, a mixture ofI’m sorry, andthis is your fault, communicated through his gaze.
That’s when she heard the growls, and Reign started tugging more frantically on Hadley’s arm.
“Get up, get up,” she pleaded. “We have to go now.”
Hadley was transfixed by that sound, a sound that would have plagued her nightmares as a child, a sound that promised death, a sound of demons primed for a feast.
Reign let go of Hadley’s hand as the growling grew closer and more vicious. The thundering of bodies hurling themselves down the stairs made the panic grow in her voice.
“I can’t stay,” she said, tears in her eyes, looking at Hadley, pleading that she come with her.
