Chapter 7
M aya parked in the driveway of the house she’d grown up in.
It was Wednesday evening and she was beyond tired. To the point where she wasn’t even sure that she should be driving. However, she was worried that Vince might try to track her down again so she’d agreed to come here tonight.
This house had been in her mom’s family for years and was now held in a trust. It couldn’t be sold, instead it was passed from oldest child to oldest child.
Her brother would get it after her father left or died.
By rights her father should have left after her mom died, but because Maya had still been young and living at home, he’d stayed in the family home.
And now . . . well, she didn’t understand why he didn’t move out and leave so Marlin could move in. Maya wasn’t privy to Marlin’s thoughts on that, though. They weren’t close. At least, not anymore. He’d moved away a few years after mom died. He’d only come back to Billings a couple months ago.
Maisy had left as soon as she’d graduated high school to travel the world. She was the sweet one. The one everyone liked. She was beautiful and popular. But she was also kind and caring.
Their mom had had a lot of money, but most of it had been left to her father or was tied up in the trust. Maya had spent the small inheritance she’d received on her house. Maisy had spent it on traveling the world, which is how she’d met her husband, Fletch.
A wave of dizziness washed through her and she had to breathe through it. This couldn’t go on. She needed sleep.
Maya was still feeling ill as she walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. She knew better than to walk in. Her stepmother didn’t like her just barging in whenever she felt like it.
Even though this was her childhood home.
Don’t be bitter, Maya.
It’s going to turn you into someone you don’t want to be.
Water off a duck’s back. Water off a duck’s back.
She cannot hurt you.
Sure, she’d ruined the relationship that Maya had with her father. But her stepmother wasn’t entirely to blame. Her father also had a part to play in that.
And Maya knew that she felt more anger and animosity toward her father than anyone else.
He should have protected me.
He should have kept me safe.
It was his number one job. And if Maya ever had a child, she’d make sure her child was protected from everyone else. So they never suffered the trauma that Maya had.
The door opened and she stiffened as Vince smiled down at her.
God. This bastard.
How had she not seen his car outside? What was he even doing here?
“Well, look who is here, it’s the little bitch,” he sang.
“You’re deranged, you know that? There’s something wrong with you.”
He smirked and leaned against the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. “Yeah? Deranged, huh? You know, you should be nicer to me.”
“Why would I want to do that?” she asked.
Maya knew that you should never show fear to a bully. That it would just spur them on. That they would use any weakness to pounce.
And Vince had shown that he was willing to do that.
Maya had thought about her run-in with him the other night and she had come to the realization that he wouldn’t have taken her back to the station. Her father wouldn’t have been happy about that. And Vince wouldn’t upset her father.
Which meant he’d had something else in mind. It was hard to know if Vince had preplanned what he was going to do with her or if he’d just been winging it.
But she now realized just how lucky she was that he hadn’t gotten her into that car.
She shouldn’t even be alone with this asshole, although she had to hope that someone in the house would come to her rescue if she yelled out.
How had he managed to become a cop? How did he fool other people into thinking that he was sane?
Maya had to be very careful here.
She really wished she hadn’t chickened out yesterday when she’d attempted to go to Callahan Security.
Maybe they would have refused to help her. Or, more likely, she couldn’t afford their fees.
But at least it would have felt like she’d tried.
“How am I deranged, sweet Maya?” Vince purred.
Why was no one else coming out? Hadn’t they heard the doorbell?
“How? Look what you did to me!” She drew up the sleeve of her sweater to show him the bruising on her arm. It looked terrible. She actually thought it looked worse than it actually felt.
But instead of showing any sign of remorse or regret, a strange sort of hunger filled Vince’s face.
Oh God.
This was worse than she’d thought. Nausea bubbled in her stomach. He was taking pleasure in her pain.
No . . . in the pain that he’d caused her.
As quickly as that look entered his face, it disappeared.
Had she imagined it?
Maybe she was overreacting. She was tired. She hadn’t slept.
“Did you spray paint my garage door?” she blurted out.
It probably wasn’t wise. But Maya wasn’t known for being wise. She was known for being rash, impatient, and annoying.
Well, that’s what her stepmother liked to tell her. Along with some stronger words.
Like ridiculous, worthless, and stupid.
Vince’s eyes widened then narrowed. “Someone spray-painted your garage door? What did it say? And you think I did that? I’m insulted. I’m an officer of the law.”
“Should an officer of the law bruise me? Have tried to pull me into his car? What were you planning on doing to me?”
“Careful, Maya. You’re becoming delusional. I don’t know what you’re talking about but if you go around telling people this false story, then I’m going to have to do something.”
Great.
A shiver ran up her spine. That was a threat if ever she heard one.
“Because I would never touch you in anger or abuse my powers as a police officer, would I? I’d certainly never spray paint private property. That would be illegal and what reason would I have to do that?”
And who would believe her over him? Not her father. Not her stepbrothers.
Vince was their friend and colleague. In fact, she was pretty sure that her father saw him as another son.
Maya was on shaky ground here.
She felt like she was walking into a den of vipers. Which was an awful feeling when this was where she’d grown up.
“Vince? Who is it?”
And there was the biggest viper of them all.
A shudder ran through her.
Her stepmother appeared behind Vince. She was made-up like always. Her hair was pale blonde. it was never allowed to show any gray. It was shiny and bouncy, the curls round and perfect. She never had a hair out of place.
Her eyes were a cold black-blue, much like the depths of the ocean. Or at least that was what Maya imagined. Pale skin with few wrinkles or splotches. The woman didn’t even seem real. She was tall and thin. Everything she did was so calculated and precise. She never made a mistake.
And she kind of terrified Maya.
The worst thing about her was that other people didn’t see her evil side. They all lauded her as a pillar of the community. And she did do a lot of good deeds. She was on committees for a number of charities. She raised money for sick children and veterans.
She’d even received accolades for her charity work.
But from the moment she’d moved in, she’d made it clear to Maya that she wasn’t wanted. That they would never be friends or even just acquaintances.
They were enemies.
Kathryn had managed to sever the last of her relationship with her father. Now, it felt like he was a stranger that she talked to occasionally.
And he certainly didn’t make much of an effort.
Kathryn put her hand on Vince’s arm as she stepped up beside him. He turned toward her. There was a look on his face that Maya couldn’t quite decipher.
It almost looked like . . . adoration? Love?
What the hell?
But when Vince turned back to her that look was gone. Maybe he wasn’t a psychopath. Surely a psychopath would be better at hiding his true thoughts than that.
Just an asshole then.
“Maya, we were expecting you fifteen minutes ago.”
The censure was thinly disguised behind a level of politeness.
Very. Thinly.
Someone else might not pick up the disapproval in Kathryn’s face. But she’d had years of practice at this.
“My apologies. I was here fifteen minutes ago, perhaps you missed me ringing the doorbell. I’ve just been having a lovely chat with Vince. He’s just a regular chatterbox, as I’m sure you know.”
Kathryn pressed her lips together before smiling. Her smile didn’t reach those dark eyes. But then Maya wasn’t sure that she’d ever seen her smile reach her eyes.
Deep breath.
Kathryn is not the devil incarnate.
Maya was aware that she liked to cast her stepmother as the villain but it was a bit cliché, wasn’t it?
“Yes, I suppose he is,” Kathryn said. “He does like you, after all.”
Gross. No, he didn’t. He liked to torment her. To scare her. To hurt her.
This time Kathryn’s smile seemed more genuine. Great, obviously her fear was on her face.
Shit.
Get it together, Maya.
She drew her shield around her to keep her safe.
“So? Are you planning on leaving me on the doorstep all day or am I allowed in? I do have an appointment after all.”
The smile disappeared off Kathryn’s face and she frowned. “There is no reason to be rude, Maya. You know that you never need an appointment to visit here. It’s your home.”
Yeah. Right.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
But Maya took a step forward. Neither of them moved. She kept her chin raised as she glanced from one to the other.
Kathryn ran her gaze over Maya, disgust filling her face. “What are you wearing? You couldn’t even dress appropriately? Have you not finished with this phase of your rebelliousness? It wasn’t cute at fifteen and it’s not cute now at twenty-six.”
“I came straight from work,” Maya said darkly. “If there was a dress code for me to enter my mother’s house, then you should have let me know.”
Oh, Kathryn didn’t like that. Maya braced herself for what she was going to say next.
“What’s going on out here? Dad wants to know what the two of you are doing . . . Maya.”