Page 66 of Dangerous Command
You’re next.
Maddie sank to the ground, her head in her hands, hiding her face. Sobs rocked through her shivering body. The knife wound on her face was minimal compared to her other scars, so why had this broken her so much?
You’re next.
It was pissing me off. Whoever those men were,knewMaddie, knew something about her, knew more about her than I was supposed to know. I protected her life and yet, she wouldn’t tell me a thing. She owed it to me, and yet it was nearly impossible for her to admit who she was.
But you couldn’t hide from the past forever.
I kneeled down in front of her, then grabbed her by the shoulders. “Tell me,” I said. “Who were they? Why did that man say you’re next?”
She closed her eyes, refusing to look at me, her lips trembling, the rain washing down her face. I squeezed my grip.
“I’m tired of this, Madison,” I said. “Look at me!”
Finally, she opened her eyes, rage and fear and guilt smoldering inside of her like the last embers of a fire. As if she could walk through the flames untouched, only to die in the end from exhaustion.
“Tell me,” I shouted. “Tell me. What do you know? What aren’t you telling me?”
She shook her head. Always a refusal. She could never tell me the truth.
“Who were those men, Maddie?” I howled. “Tell me. Tell menow!”
“I don’t know!” she screamed. “I don’t know! I don’t know! Why do you keep asking me that?”
I studied her deep green eyes. The world was muddied around us, but those eyes meant more to me than I could explain. And I hated it. But I needed to know that she was here with me, as much as I was here with her.
Damn it. I loved her. I knew that now. There was no way I would ever hurt her, even if I had to.
“I know who you are, Mads,” I said, my gaze boring into her soul, but she held back, showing me nothing, hiding everything. “But I want you to admit it. I want you to say the words.”
Still, she shook her head, speechless. Even when I saved her life, she couldn’t give me those words.
I knew then, that I would never be able to trust Maddie. Not if she couldn’t even trust herself.
CHAPTER 19
Maddie
I could feel Derek’s eyes on me, but I couldn’t actually see him. Instead, I saw the high walls of the buildings next to us. The patch of grass. The alleyway leading back to the road. The dead, butchered bodies. Those red tattoos streaked with blood. That maniacal voice:You’re next.Nothing was safe. I knew that even if I ran away again, that evil never slept. It would always find me. The world was never safe.
It washim. I was scared of him. So terrified that I could barely see straight. The world spun around me like a tilt-a-whirl, but Derek held my shoulders, trying to steady me. His neck was veiny, his jaw tight. He wanted to shake the answers out of me, but I wouldn’t let anything come out. It wasn’t safe here. We were too far gone.
It didn’t matter if I had an evil stepdad, if I was fighting a criminal overlord, or if I was helping the new king of a family mafia. It was all the same. There was danger everywhere. And somehow, I kept doing the same wrong moves.
“Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?” Derek asked. I shook my head. What would Derek do if he knew the truth? Would he kill me too? Would he kill Mack?
I pushed his shoulder and threw myself to the side, throwing up. I waited for a moment, staring at the brown and yellow chunks, blood from the cut on my chin mixing with it, washed away with the rain. Once I was certain that I was done vomiting for now, I wiped my mouth and sat up carefully.
“He hurt me with a knife like that,” I said.
“Who?”
“My stepdad. I’m next,” I whispered. “I’m next. They said it themselves.”
I clutched my stomach, sure that I was going to puke again, terrified that I would convulse right when I needed to run away. I held completely still. The rain splattered on my face, making it hard to see.
“Those men were Muro’s men,” Derek said. “Who is your stepdad, Maddie? Tell me. Right now.”
