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My heart beats loudly in my ears, making the ringing unbearable.
He’s here. He’s sent someone already. This is it.
I can’t take my next breath until I face whoever Viktor sent to bring me back to him.
The front door makes a strange noise, unclear if it’s opening or closing. I hear something light across the floorboard.
“Sunshine,” I say low.
“Rose, you’re scaring me,” she whispers back, now understanding we might be in danger.
“No matter what happens,” I say with a tight throat. “I want you to stay in this kitchen and not do anything stupid. Understand?”
My heart is about to burst as I hear them approaching.
I pull my gun up in front of me. Ready to shoot the motherfucker who thinks he can get me. I try to aim it where I think the heart of a man would be when he enters the room.
“Rose,” Rachel repeats, her throat tight.
“Just stay behind me,” I whisper. “And—”
Meow.
Sam’s beloved cat, Bella, saunters into the kitchen like she didn’t just scare the shit out of everyone. Despite my gun still being up, she comes to rub herself against my leg and mewls again.
“You little bitch,” I tell her softly.
Meow.
“Oh my god,” Rach sighs. “You scared me, Rose. It was the cat flap you heard.” She lowers into a squat and taps her thigh. “Ps-ps-ps, come here kitty.”
Bella leaves me and meows her way to Rachel. She pets her as she talks to me. “Isn’t it so weird that you look so much like an animal?” she giggles.
“She’s the one who looks like me,” I mumble.
“It’s your eyes,” Rachel adds. “They’re so feline-like.”
“Mphm,” I grunt.
“Will you please put that gun away now?”
I lower my gun, sit back at the table, and check my phone again, but I can hear Rachel talking to Bella in that high-pitched voice she’d use for a baby.
“No, missy. Your daddies aren’t here. But we mommies are, and we’re gonna feed you. Well,I’mgonna feed you like I feed this entire household. Yes…oh…yes. Who’s the cutest kitty on the planet? Yaaay, it’s Bella!”
I hear the clink of the bowl and look up to watch her pour food into it.Waytoo much food.
“I hope you never have kids because they’re gonna be spoiled rotten,” I tell her.
She puts the bowl on the floor, but Bella just looks at it.
“Don’t you want to eat?” she insists.
“You have to tap the bowl with the spoon and tell her to eat. She’s used to Sam feeding her that way,” I explain.
She does so, with a smalleatthat sounds nothing like Sam’s usual soft order, but Bella eats anyway. Rachel then turns to me, her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.
“You hopeInever have kids? Just me? Am I counting you out of whether I want a family or not?”
