Magnolia didn’t blink.“The trick is to eliminate them before they eliminate you.”
Yes, her mother had perfected that trick.Or, she’dalmostperfected it.Thealmostpart that had led to her being locked away.
“I tried to love,” her mother admitted.“I tried to love them all.Maybe…” Softer.“Maybe part of the problem was on my end.I can love you.I just do.No effort.It’s like breathing with you.But the others…” A shake of her head.“The connection isn’t there.They disappoint me.Then they die.”Her gaze sharpened.“Do you think it will be the same for you?Do you think you won’t be able to love a mate?”
“I’m not looking for a mate.”She would not make that mistake.“I’m looking for?—”
“Someone to understand your darkness.Someone who won’t fear you.Someone who can protect you, even from yourself.”A nod.“That’s what I wanted, too.But I never found that person.”
Lily rose.The chair legs screeched as they slid over the floor.“Of course, you did, Mother.You have me.”
“Yes, I do, don’t I?”A slow smile bloomed on Magnolia’s face.She’d never had trouble smiling.She used her smile as a trick—a weapon—all the time.
Lily turned for the door.
“Be careful.”A rare warning from Magnolia.
Lily darted a glance at the watchful guard.Jesse Baker hadn’t made a sound during her talk with Magnolia.She knew he’d paid careful attention to every word, though, and would probably report the conversation immediately to the warden.
“There’s an old saying,” Magnolia told her.“‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.’”
Lily looked over her shoulder at her mother.“I am not you.”I will not be like you.I can change.I can stop.
“Perhaps not, but the others could be just like their parents.And if you get attacked again, prison guards might not be there to pull a killer off you.You might not walk away with a jagged scar on your stomach.You might not walk away at all.”Magnolia’s lips pressed together.“If that happens, I will be very upset.”
“Oh, no.I can’t have you upset.Not like I want you to start poisoning guards.”
The guard choked.
“I was joking,” Lily told him.
But…
She hadn’t been.Because as Magnolia had pointed out before, she wasn’t really the type to joke.Lily spent her days and nights being far too serious.Far too aware of the darkness that was waiting to wrap around her like the greedy lover that it was.
For her whole life, she’d walked a tightrope with her mother.Always trying to keep Magnolia content.Always trying to keep her mother’s emotions regulated.Because when Magnolia wasn’t content, when she wasn’t controlled…
She tended to murder someone.
“If my mother offers you any tea,” she told the guard, “don’t drink it.”
A sharp gasp from Magnolia.“As if I would do that!Jesse is my friend!”
Lily raised an eyebrow.
“Besides, they don’t justgiveme teapots here in maximum security, Lily.”A huff from her mother.“Not like one can just snag poison from thin air.”
The guard relaxed.
Then Magnolia…winked.
ChapterFive
Present day…
Atlas keptone arm wrapped around Lily as they left the hospital.As she’d expected, reporters waited like the hungry predators that they were.
But it wasn’t just reporters outside.Hospital guards.Cops.Some of Atlas’s own security personnel.
