I keep my mouth closed.
The only way to get out of this is by playing it smart and antagonizing the crazy woman with a knife who recently flipped out and shot her husband isn’t exactly a sure-fire way to make that happen.
I’m fucked. This woman is bat-shit crazy.
Maria had my parents killed, kidnapped us as babies, turned a blind eye to Lucien raping teens for who the hell knows how long, married me off to a millionaire rapist, and then finally lost it and killed her husband.
This isn’t a situation I want to be in. Not now, not ever.
My heart rate increases by the second, tripling when Maria leans into me, putting her face in beside mine as I stare at the cupboard. With the rapid way my pulse is racing, if she was to slit my throat, I’d bleed out in seconds. “You took my husband away,” Maria claims. “You need to make up for your sins.”
Okay…I’ll bite. I know I shouldn't play into her twisted little game, but if she’s going to kill me, then I’ll be screaming out the truth until my final seconds.
“My sins? Are you insane? You’re the crazy one here. You were the one who stole the gun and you were the one to pull the trigger.”
“I wouldn’t have done that if you hadn’t lured us out. You burned down my home. You took everything away from me. I have nowhere to go, my father hates me since marrying Lucien, I have no real friends. You owe me my life back.”
“And what about my life?”
Maria scoffs. “I gave you an incredible life. You had everything with me, anything you wanted you got at the snap of your fingers. You had a life of privilege. You lived in a mansion, had expensive cars, designer clothes, loving parents, and friends. I even gave you the biggest wedding this world has ever seen. You never would have had that with Rochelle.”
She spits my mother’s name like it’s filth on her tongue and I clench my jaw, struggling not to do something stupid that would cost me my life.
“Not once did I ask for any of that. I didn’t want it. You never asked me what I wanted because you knew my answer was to go home, to have my parents back, and live here in Aston Creek. You wanted that ridiculous wedding, I didn’t. It was an embarrassment.”
The knife cuts and I feel a trickle of blood run down my throat. “Watch what you say, princess,” she growls. “You had the world at your feet but you’re an ungrateful little bitch, just like your mother was.”
“My mother was amazing,” I demand, not caring if I was to go down like this. I would die any day defending my parents to trash like this. “You’re delusional, you’re a murderer, and you’re a trashy bitch.”
“She was not amazing,” Maria seethes, struggling to keep her voice low. “She was a slut, the popular girl who no one was good enough for. She thought she could get everyone, thought she had it all, but I showed her, and now because of you, I’ve lost everything. Without Lucien, the girls at the country club won’t even look at me. I’m a social outcast because of your actions.”
“No. You’re a desperate, try-hard and it’s not because of me. You’ve always been that way though, only now, you’re letting the rest of the world see it. Though I’d be careful if I were you, you’re letting your crazy show.”
“VIRAGO? What’s taking so long?”
Maria’s back stiffens at Slade’s voice and I chuckle. “Oh, there’s your late husband’s bastard son. Should I call him in? Let him know that step-mother-dearest has come for a visit?”
“Say a damn word and your life will be over,” she says, curling her arm around my waist and starting to pull me toward the back door. “You’re coming with me.”
“You clearly haven’t thought this through,” I laugh, desperately trying to keep her from getting me out of the house. “Honestly, I’m a little disappointed. You’d think being Anton Mathers’ cousin, you’d be a little better at this. Let me help you out, there’s a buzzer on the back door. You try to take me through it, they’ll know straight away and if I don’t respond to Slade in the next three seconds, he’ll be in here and I can guarantee that when he sees you, he won’t hesitate to kill you.”
Maria grins wickedly. “Well then, I guess it’s time to see whose reflexes are faster. Can he get to me quicker than my blade can slice across your neck?”
Well, shit. That’s not exactly the response I was hoping for.
I press my lips together, not wanting to make this any worse than I already have but something has Maria pausing and looking out toward the kitchen entrance. I bet she hears the seconds ticking inside her head.
She has a choice to make and I don’t know if it’s her conscience that has her reconsidering or if it’s the knowledge that when she opens the door, she’s going to have every person in the other room coming for her.
Could she kill the child she raised? I don’t know. I sure as hell didn’t think she was capable of killing her husband, but we’ve all done surprising things over the last few days.
A frustrated groan is pulled from deep inside her chest and I feel it vibrating against my back. Maria releases the pressure of the knife on my neck and gives me a hard shove, pushing me toward the living room.
I don’t know what kind of game she’s playing. There’s no way my family in the next room is about to allow her to waltz out the front door with me. Slade would sooner die than let me go again.
If this was my game and I was the crazy woman with the knife, I would have simply gotten my hostage to un-boobytrap the back door and be out of there in seconds. What can I say? Maria has always had a flair for the dramatics. Hell, if there’s attention to be had and it’s not on Maria, then she’ll have a problem with it.
I grin while trying not to walk too fast. After all, she didn’t completely take the knife away. It’s still there and extremely life-threatening. I’m still feeling the burn from the small cut she gave me and it’s not nice. It stings like a bitch.
The second we step into the living room, Maria’s voice rings out loud and clear. “I want to see everyone’s hands.”
Blake’s head is the first to whip my way, instantly recognizing the voice. His eyes go wide. He hasn’t seen this woman for nearly seven months, and when he did see her last, she was a doting parent, giving him everything he ever wanted.
Slade is next to react. He instantly flies to his feet and goes to rush toward me but Maria tightens her hold on me; a silent warning that he needs to take her threat seriously.
He comes to an instant standstill, the panic clear on his face.
Shay stands, keeping her hands clearly visible as Nessa and Damian do the same with caution. Shay’s eyes darken in a way that I’ve never seen before, her voice low and demanding. “Take your hands off my niece before I take your hands off your body.”
Maria laughs. “Don’t use that tone on me. I’m the one who’ll be making the demands around here.”
Shaylee is backed into a corner. With the knife at my throat and the knowledge of how easily she shot her husband, there’s nothing she can do. She won’t risk it.
I meet Slade’s eyes, silently begging him to get me out of this situation, but the helplessness reflected in his own is making my hopes plummet. If I were anyone else, he’d take a risk in trying to free me, but he won’t play with my life. All it would take is one quick flick of her wrist and I’ll be dead.