I knocked as I stepped into the room. “Hey, it’s me.”
Dad glanced up and smiled. “Hi, sweetie.”
Mom put her book aside. “Maddy. How’s your day going?”
“I’m fine,” I lied. “How’s it up here?”
Dad took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “It’s good. I don’t think we’re the ones you need to worry about, though.”
Mom nodded and gave Dad a furtive look. “Abi still isn’t quite right.”
A lump formed in my stomach. I’d been worried about that. Ever since the guys had rescued her from captivity, she’d seemed so distant, so… broken. I chewed at my lower lip. “Hasn’t she got any better?”
My parents had always been a surrogate second family for Abi. Even when we’d been kids in high school, they’d taken her in and loved her like one of their own. If there was anyone other than me who could get her out of her funk, it was them.
Dad shook his head. “If anything, it seems to be getting worse. Maybe you could go talk to her again?”
“I’m sure she’d like that,” Mom said.
I’d tried several times since we’d all gotten back. Her initial excitement and happiness over my having been rescued had quickly faded and been replaced with the strange malaise that seemed to drag her down and put a pall over her personality. I did my best to put a brave smile on my face. “Okay. I’ll see if I can cheer her up.”
I made my way down the hallway to the closed door of the other guest room. Abi had been holed up there most days since getting back. Every now and then, when she came out, and Sebastian was over, he did his best to get her to smile or laugh. I did the same—even Nico, Felipe, and Luis tried. She’d give a hint of a smile, maybe even a laugh, but she always slid away into the dark cave of her mind again.
I knocked, and Abi’s muffled voice told me to come in. She was sitting on the floor beside the window. The sunlight spilling through the glass highlighted her strawberry-blonde hair.
I leaned against the door jamb and smiled. “Hey, girl. I’m getting a little hungry. You want to have some lunch with me?”
Abi shrugged and shook her head. “No. I’m not hungry.”
I sighed. “You haven’t eaten much this week. I’m afraid you’re gonna waste away to nothing.”
Abi stared out the window for so long that I thought she’d forgotten I was there. Right as I opened my mouth to say something, she spoke up but didn’t look at me. “I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t want your help. It’s just that for a few weeks, while they had me, all the food and drinks they gave me were drugged. I guess I’ve developed an aversion to food. I’d… well, I’d eat something, and then after a while, I’d get dizzy or groggy. Sometimes my brain was foggy, like I was stoned out of my mind. Then those guys would beat me while they questioned me. Nothing major because they wanted me to stay healthy until they didn’t need me anymore. They… uh…” Her breathing started to get heavy and labored as she worked up the courage to say something. I went to kneel beside her. She went on. “Well, the guards would get sort of… handsy, you know? They were… assholes,” she hissed, tears starting to slip down her cheeks. “I think if Sebastian hadn’t come for me when he did, I’m pretty sure they would have done more than talk.”
My heart broke for her all over again. Those bastards had done everything they could to break her, and it sounded like they’d been days away from breaking her completely. It filled me with a rage I hadn’t known I could feel. A dark burning fury that sent my wolf into hysterics. It was all I could do not to growl.
I reached forward and took her hand. Abi turned and looked at me, her cheeks still wet with tears. “Come down and have lunch with me. You can watch me make the sandwiches. Then you’ll know nobody drugged them. Will that help?”
Abi stared at me for a few seconds, her face emotionless and almost dazed. I thought I might have lost her then. A deep and weary sadness was starting to drape itself across my heart when she gave me a tentative smile and nodded. “Okay. Sure. We can do that.”
I grinned at her and opened my arms. To my relief, she fell forward and let me hug her. “I’m sorry we couldn’t come for you sooner, Abi,” I said, my own tears starting to flow.
Abi trembled in my arms, also crying. Finally, she said, “I know you came as soon as you could. I really do. I never thanked you.”
I stroked her hair. “You don’t have to.”
“Thank you, Maddy. Thank you for coming for me.”
We sat like that for several seconds as I shushed her and let our tears dry. Once she’d gotten herself back under control, I patted her back. “So, are you ready to eat a nice healthy bologna and cheese sandwich?”
Abi sat up and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Can you put potato chips on it? That’s the only way I’ll eat one. With lots of mayo?”
Unable to help myself, I laughed. “For you? I’ll make whatever nasty crap you want.”
Abi laughed. It was a high, giggly laugh that I’d known for so many years. It was a sound I hadn’t heard since before she’dbeen kidnapped. I took that as a good sign, and as we walked downstairs, I let myself have a little moment of victory.
79
NICO
