Maggie glanced toward Dante. He was staring at her, watching her closely, his dark eyes glittery with a frenetic energy that was off. Her stomach heaved as a slow smile spread across his face.
In that moment Maggie knew that if she wasn’t smart, she wouldn’t be leaving this house alive. She had a child to protect, and right now that’s all she focused on.
Dante didn’t say a word as she crossed to Michael and grabbed him close. Her son shook and clutched at her fiercely as he whispered near her ear.
“I’m sorry I let him in…I thought it was Cain.” His voice was so small, so full of remorse, that Maggie had to take a minute to push back the tears that threatened.
Be smart.
Her only thought and concern was Michael. Dante would never let him leave, and she knew she needed to get him out of the house. If anything happened to Michael…
She cleared her throat and gently tugged his fingers from her shoulders so that she could look into his eyes. “I want you to listen to me and do exactly what I say. It’s important.” At his nod she continued. “Go to your room, and you know those big headphones that I’m always yelling at you to turn down?”
She saw the confusion in his eyes, and when he would have glanced back to his father, she grabbed his chin. “
I want you to put them on and listen to your music as loudly as you can. Turn the volume up and just…listen.”
Would he know what she meant? The headphones were outside in their small shed, where she’d banished them a few days earlier. He could get them…if he climbed through his bedroom window. The screen could easily be knocked out.
“Can you do that for me, Michael? Find your headphones?” Her grip tightened on his shoulders. Oh God, she needed him to understand. She needed him to escape.
She turned Michael before Dante had a chance to speak to him and pointed him toward his room. “Go.” She bent down and kissed him quickly before whispering, “You know where they are.”
She watched her son hesitate, and everything inside her screamed so loud that she winced.
“You heard your mother, boy. Go to your room. She and I have unfinished business.”
Michael stumbled and then ran the rest of the way. Maggie didn’t breathe until she heard his door slam shut.
And then she turned to face her past.
Dante’s eyes narrowed as he glanced around the home she’d made. “So, this is where you’ve been hiding out.” He gestured toward the living room. “It’s a dump.”
She shook her head, though the denial died on her tongue as he moved closer.
“What was that?”
Maggie flinched, though she didn’t move.
“You don’t agree?” He cocked his head and studied her for several moments, slowly moving over every inch of her body. When his eyes returned to hers, she began to panic. They were black with anger, hatred, and something else.
Something insane.
“You look like a whore in that dress, with your tits nearly hanging out. Is that what he likes? The bastard you’ve been fucking?” His words lashed at her, but she kept her eyes lowered.
“Lift your dress up.” His voice was flat.
She glanced up as everything inside her stilled. “Dante, I don’t…” Fear clogged her throat as his lips drew back in a feral snarl.
He took a step toward her and squared his shoulders, his hands fisted into deadly weapons at his side. “Lift…your…skirt.”
She stared at him in silence. What game was this?
But then what did it matter? She’d do whatever it took to protect Michael. To give him enough time to escape.
Maggie fixed her eyes onto the pulse at his neck and let her hands fall to the soft material at her hips. Carefully she gathered the material into bunches and slowly pulled it upward until the hem was near her crotch.
“Don’t stop now.” His voice had changed. It was thicker. Darker. She recognized the tone, and it made her sick.