Page 43 of Monster

Aside from the phone call from my mom the previous morning, it had been months since I’d last talked to my parents.

My going even longer without talking to them wouldn’t raise any red flags, but how would he know that? How would he know I was alone in California?

“My job—”

“You’re a teacher. You’re off for the summer,” he said casually, as if the words he spoke weren’t so fucking creepy.

I blinked and shook my head. “I told you, I tutor in the summer.”

“And do you think those rich, entitled bitches whose kids you tutor will really be looking for you? They would just think you flaked on them. You might not have those jobs anymore.”

He didn’t sound sorry about that. I hadn’t expected him to, but for him to sound so casual while talking about it…

I had no retort to that. I thought back to Freddy’s mom, trying to think of her looking for me once I missed a lesson with her son without notice.

No, she wouldn’t be worried.

If anything, she would fire me and look for a new piano tutor for her son within the same hour.

My bottom lip trembled. Screw trying to be strong. I looked up at him with wet eyes. “Why are you doing this?”

For a moment, there seemed to be some sort of emotion in his eyes that wasn’t blank. Something that told me the man standing before me was human.

But it was gone in a blink of an eye. I didn’t think he felt anything, doing this to me.

I was wrong.

Dominic Madden wasn’t human.

He was a fucking monster.

“I’ll have Lucy bring some food for you,” he said, and with that, he turned around and walked away. The click of the lock was the final blow it took for me to lose it completely.

I buried my face in my knees and cried.

* * *

The room was bathedin darkness.

I didn’t bother turning on any lights.

I’d much prefer looking out the window, watching as the streetlight came on just a few feet away from the window. Looking at the darkened sky, and beyond that to the hidden stars.

I was sure they were out there, but I couldn’t catch a single one in this room. The food Lucy had brought me remained untouched.

She worked for Dominic.

It was strange to think of the rough biker employing a woman to cook and clean for him, though it made sense. He was probably too busy doing all sorts of illegal things to bother taking care of his kids, so of course, he would hire someone else to do it for him.

It was funny, because when I met the man, my first impression was that he was a good father. Braxton had clung to him at the farmhouse, seeking safety in his arms and knowing his dad would take care of everything for him, but perhaps that wasn’t a reflection on the kind of father Dominic was and more that Braxton was young and scared, so of course he would cling to the only adult in his life.

Dominic wasn’t a good man.

How could I see him as a good father?

Lucy probably did everything.

I looked down at the tray of food placed on the floor by the door.

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