"...don't you think, Lyndall?"
There it is, that abrasive, furious tone, now dripping with sarcasm.
It's ripping strips off me.
God knows what it's doing to a kid.
I try to think, but there's nothing she could have done to warrant this.
She's been through an ordeal, and now we're locked up.
What did she do? Break his favorite mug?
Maybe he really is a monster, after all.
She says something back, clearly very upset, and I take one more step.
"For fuck's sake. You're a kid! I'm starting to fucking see why Dad sent you to boarding school. I'd have you locked in your room until you turned fucking forty."
I flinch as something boils up in me.
How dare he talk to his sister like that? How dare he use the fact that her father shipped her off like that?
"...and I'm sorry." Lyndall sounds close to tears.
It rips into me, hard.
"It's too late for sorry. You should have told me!"
She says something else, but I can't hear it.
My heart is hammering.
Then a different kind of horror strikes me, streaking heat and ice through me.
What if Lyndall told him about my pregnancy?
I know she'd never just blurt it out or spill any secrets I might have. Or better yet, Lyndall wouldn't ever spill the secret I have. She isn't that kind of girl.
I frown, biting my lip.
No, she's not that kind of girl.
However, I think that Enzo is the type of man to do what it takes to get information from someone.
His own sister, though?
Lyndall's either a second away from crying, or she has been crying already. The upset in her voice tears shreds of flesh from my bones.
"Enzo?" Lyndall's voice is suddenly clearer, and I quickly back up the stairs, stumbling back into the great room as his voice thunders up along with the thud of his feet.
"Go to your fucking room, Lyndall. Now!"
Lyndall crashes up the stairs, pausing to cast me a tear-stained glance. "Sorry!"
Then she runs to the next set of stairs and crashes up those, too. Disappearing.
And terror has me firm in its grip. Fear, too.
