Penelope steps up beside me then, voice steady even though I can feel the tremble in her fingers. “And you’re not talking to him like that,” she says. “And you’re not talking about my mom like that again either.”
Abi’s lips press into a thin line. “How much do you pay her to fuck you, Silas?”
“Don’t you have a doting fiance to go home to? Does he know you’re wandering around a sex club at night…alone? Are you scouting for husband number four?”
Abi laughs. “For your information I was hiring a PI. My daughter has disappeared. Penelope, your father is going to be devastated when he finds out how far you’ve fallen.”
“My father,” Penelope says, “is going to find out a lot of things. You might want to start praying he believes you when you lie to him. Because I don’t anymore.”
Something mean and sharp flickers in Abi’s gaze. “We’ll see about that.”
She turns on her heel and stalks toward her car. The engine roars to life a minute later, tires squealing as she peels out of the lot.
The silence she leaves behind feels heavy.
Penelope sags against me. I wrap an arm around her automatically.
“You okay?” I ask.
“That woman,” she whispers. “I swear, if murder was legal…”
“Already on the list,” I mutter.
Penelope huffs out a shaky laugh. I guide her toward the truck, open her door, and help her climb in. Her hands are trembling as she buckles in.
We drive in silence for the first few miles. She stares out the window, and I keep one hand on the wheel, the other resting on her thigh. Every time she exhales, her fingers twitch toward mine like she’s making sure I’m real.
When we turn onto her street, the house is dark except for the soft glow spilling under the living room curtains. Gideon’s awake. Good.
I park. Penelope hesitates for half a second before getting out, like stepping out of the truck might pull her back into reality. I place a hand on the small of her back and steer her inside.
The door clicks behind us.
Gideon looks up from the armchair, book untouched in his lap. His eyes track every flicker of emotion in Penelope’s face. “What happened?”
Penelope swallows. “We… ran into Abi.”
I swear the temperature in the room drops ten degrees.
Gideon stands slowly. “Define ran into.”
“In the parking lot,” I answer. “She apparently was hiring a PI to find Minxy. She unloaded on our girl.” I lay out the confrontation in clean, efficient detail. Every insult. Everyaccusation. Every deliberate attempt to cut Penelope to pieces with Dominic’s ghost.
Gideon’s jaw flexes hard enough I hear his teeth grind. “She called Dominic weak?”
“She compared me to him,” I say. “Suggested I’d off myself when Penelope leaves me.”
Penelope winces. I reach for her hand without thinking and she takes it instantly.
Gideon drags a hand through his hair. “She’s escalating. She’s desperate, paranoid, and slipping. This is good.”
Penelope glares at him. “How is that good?”
“Because desperate people make mistakes,” Gideon answers. “She showed her hand tonight.”
I nod. “She’s scared.”
“Terrified,” Gideon agrees. “And she should be.”
