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The slight twinge of her fruity perfume wafts through my nostrils and my nose pinches automatically in distaste recognizing the scent.
I slice a look to Abram. His reaction is more subtle but not any less confirming. We’re getting close.
My heart drills into my chest. Pounding, my breathing shallows out.
We’ve looped past the kitchen and are headed toward the bedrooms at the back of the house. A blaring noise rings past my eardrums and everyone halts.
A scream.
The shrill, painful sound is different from a normal one. This noise was deep within the lungs. One of fear that comes straight from the heart.
Everyone’s already moving back toward the front of the home as the choked-out noise is cut off. Whomever it was had been abruptly strangled into silence.
Is it Eli’s mom? His sister?
The aged wood below us blossoms, screaming its own resistance to the strain. The force of our migration ruthless as both Daniels’s men lead the pack back toward the living room. Abram and Silas are next as Cole and I take up the rear.
It’s Eli who reaches her first. Spotting a bleary-eyed Madison in the center of the room with a piece of tape over her mouth. She’s tied to a chair by her ankles, waist, and wrists.
The thick layer of mascara she usually wears is caked to her lashes as she bounces in her chair. Eyes wild and large.
Either she’s a superb actress, or she’s petrified.
None of us get long to dwell on it because as soon as Eli starts ripping at the tape, a slow, menacing clap sounds at our backs.
The sound is tactile and venomous as it reverberates around us as thunder does in a valley. It’s the sound of power, victory.
The noise blooms something inside my ribs. Everyone’s heads curve following the pitch. Even Eli who’s on his knees stops what he’s doing to join.
“What, no hello?”
“What do you want? Why are you here, Lorna?” Cole questions, taking a half step forward. Determination rolls off his shoulders as he zeroes in on her.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Her tone was mocking. “I want what’s owed to me.”
Cole’s chest inflates. If his ribs are in pain right now, he doesn’t show it. He’d never allow anyone, especially not a threat, to see how stricken he really was.
My stomach heaves. “Is that why you came here? They have something you want?”
Wincing, he side-eyes me only for a moment. The expression is too quick for anyone else to see before that indestructible barrier is back in place. The one subtle look humanizes him.
Cole’s as unsettled as everyone else.
Righting himself, Eli asks his own question. Jaw tight as he nods toward a motionless, trapped Madison. “What about her?”
Lorna’s smirk is of a fiend. She acknowledges he’s spoken, before her gaze shifts, sweeping the room like she’s taking inventory. The shadowed line that crosses half her face makes her look all the more menacing.
Her smile turns teasing, and my body goes hard hearing the subtle sound. The soft click.
Sgt. Daniels’s shoulders roll back at attention. He caught it too.
“This one was trying to ruin my fun,” she pouts. “Wouldn’t stop banging on the door.”
Madison bounces in her chair, eyes too large to be natural at the unwanted attention. The sound of wood scraping wood, is like nails to a chalkboard. Her muted screams fill the room.
Realizing in that moment he hadn’t removed the tape from her mouth, Eli goes to reach for it but halts, hearing another click.
This time the sound isn’t as subtle. It overshadows Madison’s screams. They too dying on her tongue. Slowly, Eli raises his arms, pretending to not be alarmed like the rest of us, but he knew.
