The Runaways

Chapter 37

Her mouth turned up at the corners and all the color came rushing back into her face. I guess this is what coming back to a good home felt like. Everyday I went back to mine scared the hell out of me ‘cause nothing good was ever waiting on the other side of my welcome mat.

Hailey reached for the handle and nearly tripped over her feet when the front door gave way under her grip.

        “Does your Ma usually leave the door open?” I asked.

The flush in her cheeks died away just as fast as it’d bloomed in the first place.

        “No.”

An ugly familiar voice cut through the eerie quiet of the front hallway, and my blood ran rigid. I hoped to God Hailey hadn’t heard him as clearly as I had, but she had to disappear regardless ‘cause if he saw her again, he’d kill her, and Liam never broke his promises.

I pulled Hailey to me so hard that we both crashed against the doorframe, and I bit into my tongue just to keep quiet. I covered her mouth before she could breathe loud enough to be heard.

        “Hide someplace. I don’t care where, just make sure no one can find you."

Her breaths fell fast and frantic against my fingertips, but I couldn’t let her ask questions. Not yet. If she wanted to live longer than today, she’d make herself disappear. She tiptoed through the front hallway, steadied herself against the wall, and crawled into a little coat closet underneath the stairs.

The low hum of Liam’s voice got louder the further I walked away from Hailey. At least there was some solace in knowing that she was at least a room or two away from wherever he was.

I’d never seen a house this big, much less been lost in one, so every scuff my sneakers made across the polished wooden floors scared me into thinking Liam would hear me. I passed through something that looked like a larger-than-life living room filled with canvases, splattered tarps, and half-used buckets of paint all over the floor.

Most of the art scattered around was covered up aside from one unfinished portrait of Hailey standing alone in the center of the room. Everything about that painting looked like her, but there wasn’t a face, just a shell without an expression.

As beautiful as the room was, the ugliness of that painting rubbed my insides raw, so I kept moving, hoping I wouldn’t trip over my feet and snag Liam’s attention.

The only way out of that room full of painted ghosts was through a pair of fancy glass doors with Liam on the other side. His shadow spanned across the paint-can-covered floor, and I ducked outta sight as fast as my feet would let me.

I slid up next to the door to listen in and gripped the wood frame tight enough to splinter it to pieces.

        “Mrs. Anderson, you’ve been lovely. Truly, you have. My Ma would’ve liked you.”

What the hell was she thinking letting him into her house? How Liam had managed to slither his way down from Manassas, find this place, and get in so easily didn’t make any damn sense. Hailey’s Ma couldn’t have seen him coming. 

The house looked so calm from far away like it probably would have on any other night. There hadn’t been any glass or broken down door handles anywhere as far as I’d seen. But Liam could find his way outta hell if he had to, and tonight was proof that he’d done just that.

        “Now, if you’re the good girl that you seem to be, Maria, you’ll get this lovely tape we’ve recorded to the police after your husband makes his grand entrance.”