Page 91 of Monster Among the Roses (Fairy Tale Quartet 1)

What the hell had I done to warrant her losing so much faith and understanding in me?

The anger drained, and defeat reigned.

I returned to the doorway where brother and sister remained, waiting to be reunited with their family heirloom. When I calmly held it out to her between two fingers, she hesitated. There must’ve been some look on my face that conveyed how much she’d just killed me, but it didn’t give her much of a pause. She snagged the mirror and tucked it into her purse.

Then she glanced past my shoulder and into my apartment when Becky and Bryce burst out laughing over something I had no interest in. I kept watching her face as it wrinkled with disdain.

“Sorry for interrupting your party,” she sneered.

As she and her brother turned away to leave, I crossed my arms over my chest and pressed my back to the doorjamb, watching them go. “If you want to call my scavenger siblings going through all my mom’s shit hours after burying her to see what they can claim a party, then you’re more heartless than I ever imagined.”

Isobel slowed to a stop. My blood surged. I hated her in that moment, and yet the idea of her turning around to argue with me made something in me come back to life.

Turn around, that sick and twisted part of me silently begged. Please, God, just turn back around and face me.

She turned, and her face was drained of color.

My breath heaved through my lungs.

I wanted to strangle her.

I wanted to kiss her.

I wanted to bury my face in her hair and weep.

“Burying her?” she repeated softly.

“What?” I growled, keeping my back to the doorjamb and arms crossed as tightly over my chest as I could wind them…to keep from going to her, falling onto my knees in front of her and begging her to love me again. “Like you didn’t know?”

“I…” A strange sound left her lungs. “I didn’t. When…when…?”

“Monday,” I answered, narrowing my eyes and trying to figure out if she really hadn’t known about Mom. “She died on Monday, while I was being arrested.”

She set her hand against her heart and swallowed visibly. “I… Oh, God. I’m so sorry.” The words rasped from her hoarsely. Then she turned to her brother, looking lost, seeking guidance.

He took her elbow, looking not so hostile either. “We should go.”

Isobel began to shake her head; her chin trembled, her eyes filled with moisture. “But—”

“Izzy, let’s go.”

Ezra turned her toward the stairwell, but just as she started to move that way, something made her stumble back into her brother.

I peered past her to find Gloria arriving at the top of the steps, holding a casserole dish. And though seeing another one of those today was horrifying all on its own, I couldn’t see why it’d affect Isobel as strongly as it did.

Until Gloria saw her back.

My mother’s friend and the bane of my existence screeched to a halt. Her eyes went wide with recognition, then with horror, before she gasped, “Oh, no,” and turned right back around, hurrying down the stairs away from us.

I stepped out of my apartment, alerted to something big happening.

“What was that?” I demanded.

Isobel glanced back at me, her face white, as if she’d just seen a ghost.

I pointed to where Gloria had been standing. “Did you know her?”

Isobel gulped but said nothing. Tears still swam in her eyes and her chin continued to tremble. It was enough to make me want to pull her into my arms and hug all her pain away, except her continued silent treatment pissed me off.

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