I got as close as I dared. “Look at me, Maisie. Told you I don’t lie. So when I say I’m here to help you, I mean it. You can trust me. We’ve gotta go.”

She put her chin in the air, and the motion reminded me of Mac’s stubbornness. “Take Mama, Anna, and Zoe. I have to stay.”

“Why?”

All the liveliness she’d had while we’d talked about cats was gone. Before, she’d looked young, but right then, she looked too old in a too frail, tiny body.

“Because if I say anything or try to leave, he’ll go down the hall. He’ll start visiting them.”

* * *

I waited in the dark house.

It’d been a long-ass day, including a drive to Albany and back.

Didn’t give a damn.

I’d wait all night if I had to.

I heard a car engine cut off, then footsteps approached. A key unlocked the front door.

It opened, and a light flipped on.

A man screamed.

Just a small one. A startled one. Nothing like the terrified screams of pain to come.

His gaze darted to the door.

I lifted my gun. “Try it, motherfucker.”

He was smart enough not to. “Who are you? What’re you doing here?”

“What’s worse than a monster?” Standing from the chair, I kept my piece aimed at his face as I approached. “I’m whatever that is. The thing that goes bump under a monster’s bed.” I pressed the barrel under his chin, digging it in till he winced. “I’m a monster’s monster. Their nightmare.”

“Is this about money? Take whatever you want.”

“Up the stairs.”

The sniveling piece of garbage begged. “I have a wife and kids. A baby—”

“They’re already gone.”

He paled, sweat beading across his skin. “You killed them?”

I smacked his mouth with the gun handle, his lip splitting open.

He grudgingly went, nearly tripping more than once. All the while, he kept talking. Offering up money. Electronics. His car. Anything he had to barter to save his soul.

I wanted none of it.

And there was no saving it.

He kept heading toward his bedroom at the end of the hall—likely assuming I wanted access to the safe.

Scythe had already made easy work of that earlier.

I grabbed Martin’s collar and threw him to the side. He stumbled to the floor, his eyes going wide when he realized which room we were in.

Flicking on the light, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a metal piece.

The same one Maisie had been fidgeting with.

Sliding it in place, I closed the door, temporarily locking it from the inside so no one could enter.

Not that it was needed.

No one would be rescuing him.

Martin’s wild eyes darted around the room, looking for Maisie. Instead, he saw Glitch.

And what Glitch held.