Page 60 of Dangerous Silence
What was Axe doing that was so bad, that he had left me home when he had taken me on other tasks? Why did I need a babysitter now?
Maddie cleared her throat and I turned back to the bowl. The steam hit my face. It smelled good, but I couldn’t stomach it. Taking a bite seemed like too much.
“That’s a lie,” Maddie said, then she took another bite.
“Seriously. That breakfast sandwich was a lot,” I said. She raised a brow at me, and I knew she wasn’t going to let it go unless I hadat leasta bite or two. I raised the spoon to my mouth, sighing before I swallowed. The broth was addictive. It was one of those soups with spicy Italian sausage. I took a few more spoonfuls.
“See? Not so bad,” she said.
I managed to finish half of the bowl. I pushed it back, then stared out the window again. At the storm from hell.
“What do you think they’re doing out there?” I asked.
“Oh, Axe?” Maddie shrugged. “You know, the usual. Adler business.”
She said it casually as if it wasn’t a big deal to her. How could she be so flippant about the mob? Had she grown up with them?
“How long have you known them?” I asked.
“A year or two now, not sure. I don’t keep track,” she said. “But Wil hired me to clean his penthouse, and once his brothers saw how well I took care of his place, they hired me too. Between the three of them, and the occasional job at the Adler House, I’m pretty set. They don’t pay too badly either.”
I would hope not. I assumed they would be flush with cash, considering what they did for a living. But it was hard to tell in Axe’s apartment. He didn’t even have a dining table.
But that still didn’t explain her blasé attitude.
“Doesn’t it bother you?” I asked.
“What?”
“The—” I didn’t know how to put it without sounding crass, but none of my words seemed to work. “I don’t know. The mafia stuff.”
She lifted her shoulders again, then started putting our disposable cutlery into a pile between us.
“You know, all families have their own skeletons,” she said. “Sometimes, they’re just secrets, and sometimes, they’re actually skeletons.” She snickered. “In their case, it’s a backyard full of bones.”
I could agree with that. Dad had kept his association with the Adlers a secret for all of my life. If I had known about it, how different would my life be? Who would I be now? Would I have killed as a kid, just like Axe?
Would I have turned out cold like him too?
“And what about yours?” I asked. Maddie blinked, holding her chin steady. “You know. What skeletons does your family hide away?”
“Ah,” she sighed. “Don’t know. I hardly ever talk to most of them.” I nodded. That would be my future now too. “And yours?”
“Same,” I said.
I didn’t have any family now. Maybe that was part of why I was drawn to Axe. He knew my father in such an intimate way, a side of him that I knew nothing about. If I held onto Axe long enough, would everything start to make sense?
Would my lifeevermake sense?
After I helped Maddie clear our takeout from the counter, she started cleaning the apartment. There wasn’t much to do, but she did it all anyway: vacuumed the carpet, mopped the tiles, wiped the counters, cleaned the sinks, the toilets. I offered to help, but she wouldn’t let me, so I stayed in the living area, letting her do her thing, chatting whenever something came up.
Just as she was working in the kitchen, a shadow crossed the back window of the living room. I watched for a second, not sure if I had actually seen anything, but then it crossed again, this time going the opposite direction. With the cloud cover, it was hard to tell what it was.
“Did you see that?” I asked.
Maddie put down her rag and looked out the window. “What are you—”
Then it happened again. That same shadow. Round, like a hunched over person.
