Page 5 (1/2)

Carency roo the nurse’s station for his father’s office on the third floor Vincent sat at his desk with his arms crossed over his chest He motioned for Caret a few stitches"

"Nice"

Vincent ree of his nose "What were you thinking?"

"He started it"

His father shook his head "It’s never your fault, is it? There are only going to be so oing to get yourself in a situation that has no way out, and you’re finally going to have to learn to live with the consequences"

Carht back at you"

Vincent walked hiency room, and Carmine took a seat on one of the stiff beds as he waited to be sewn up After a fewblonde-haired woman in hot pink scrubs stepped in "My, ed as he said her naer was to make it into the dictionary, Carmine was sure her picture would be plastered beside it Even he wouldn’t touch her, but his father had He’d walked in on the he often tried to drink away

Three stitches and a stolen double dose of Percocet later, Car on air Vincent cornered hiht hoet there"

Car lot His car was parked in a spot reserved for a doctor, right in the front near the building Reaching into his pocket for his keys, his brow furrohen he felt a piece of paper "Fuck"

He’d forgotten about the list, after all

He clih town He bypassed the road that led toward hooing to be in trouble, he figured he ht as well make it worth it

Haven hummed while she worked

It was a habit she’d had all of her life Her mama used to say that before Haven could talk, she huht in the stables It had calmed her as a baby, soothed her, and as she went about her work, it had a siotten, but the ht Haven back to an earlier tis were still innocent She’d huhter, the world around her not as dark as she knew it could be

Used to having every detail of her life controlled, she had a hard tiotten clarification, because nothing should be assu a mistake that she couldn’t force the questions out She’d already upset Dr DeMarco once asking soet before he snapped?

So she did whatever came naturally to her That afternoon, she scrubbed the hardwood floors and cleaned the bathrooms She dusted and vacuumed, but stayed away from every room with a lock She found a clear bottle in the supply closet, labeled in black lettering that it was for the s They were the only dirty part of the house, so she cleaned theh up as she could reach

By three o’clock, Haven was fresh out of things to do

She was sorting through the pantry when the alarm in the foyer beeped and the front door opened Footsteps headed her direction and her heart thumped wildly Panicked, she darted for the doorway, irrationally planning to hide, and collided with Dominic when he stepped into the kitchen "Whoa, Twinkle Toes Warn me next time you wanna dance"

Instinctively, she backed up a few steps "I’erator "You hungry?"

Haven watched the doorway for his co to her She staet out a coherent thought

He laughed "I’ll take that as a yes"

He slapped sorabbed a paper towel, holding it out to her She stared at the sandith surprise but took it carefully She couldn’t recall the last ti, too nervous to touch their food on her own

Haven took a se surreal She couldn’t believe he’d served her, the servant

3

Haven sat on the edge of her bed, her hands folded in her lap and her gaze trained on the floor She could see Dr DeMarco’s shoes from the corner of her eye, a sed in The ie to clean it hit her, but she re to offend hi She’d slipped up to her roo out of place downstairs

"You cleaned"

"Yes, sir"

"But I told you to relax"

She tensed Was that disrespectful? "I ake and didn’t knohat else to do"

"I appreciate the effort," he said "In all honesty, I can’t recall the s ever being free of griht?"

"Yes, sir"

"And you used the correct cleaner?"