House of Agnes by Fiona Zedde

Author:Fiona Zedde
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Published: 2021-05-18T01:12:26+00:00

Chapter 17

“She was asking for trouble showing up at the park like that.” Whit scowled into her hot apple cider before taking a long drink.

Agnes grimaced at the understatement. One wrong move and the security men would’ve taken Lola down, breaking bones in the process. They were all on edge due to the aggression coming at The House from hidden corners.

“I wonder what she was really hoping to find by tracking me down.” It couldn’t be as simple as wanting another pizza date. Could it?

The smell of Whit’s drink was spicy and sweet, mixing with the crispness of the evening. She and Agnes sat in the tree-enclosed balcony just outside Agnes’s home office. The evening breeze was a shade too cool for the oversized hooded sweater, long skirt, and fuzzy socks Agnes wore, but she didn’t want to go inside.

They’d all had the chance to shower and change since getting back from the park. Agnes had insisted on it, not wanting to talk about what had happened with Lola while she was still angry, still scared. But she could only push the conversation away for so long.

Gretchen was in her room remotely playing video games with some friends from school, her absence giving the adults the privacy they needed. The tablet at Whit’s side monitored the video game’s screen as well as the cameras in the rest of the apartment.

Whit’s hand curled tight around her cup of cider. “Maybe she found exactly what she was looking for.”

Gretchen. Agnes’s weakness. And also Whit’s.

Like Agnes, Whit would give her life to protect Gretchen. They’d both watched her grow from a frightened infant into this sweet, intelligent child who knew she was loved.

Gretchen deserved to be sheltered, treasured, but also given room to grow. Long ago, Agnes swore to herself she’d never allow Gretchen to be treated like a commodity and to be used the way Agnes’s father had used her. First, by teasing his “associates” with the possibility of buying her virginity. Then later, at House events, parading her in front of them as his untouchable showpiece, practically daring anyone to kidnap her. One of his frenemies had eventually accepted his dare and died with her father grinning at him from over the barrel of a smoking gun.

If Agnes were a better person, she would’ve allowed Gretchen to get adopted by a nice, normal family. But she wasn’t always nice. She was her father’s daughter after all.

“Lola isn’t going to use Gretchen against us,” Agnes said softly.

Her instinctive panic and rage had blinded her at first, but she was thinking more clearly now. Lola played games, but she wasn’t cruel. From everything Agnes had seen so far, Lola was the type to put herself in danger, not someone else. Certainly not a child.

Whit speared her with a single glance, looking so much like a stern teacher in her black sweaterdress and pale green scarf. “How can you be so sure?”

“I just am.”

Lola’s almost aggressive apology had felt real. After the initial burst

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