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“So if you’re willing to stay here—permanently—as our doctor, I think we can move past this—misunderstanding.”
And there it was.
She wasn’t stupid. She’d expected this from the beginning. After the first conversation with Sylvia, she’d known. But sincethen, she hadn’t thought about it. There was just too much going on.
And now she’d played right into the trap.
Chapter twenty-eight
Maddie’s head snapped up as she finally heard footsteps against the wood floor coming her way.
“It’s Sylvia,” her mom muttered beside her.
Maddie took a step forward, ready for a fight. “You need to let—“
“Enough,” Sylvia cut her off, her voice now closer, along with her heavy, dragging steps. If she couldn’t already hear the exhaustion in her voice, she would’ve been able to hear it in the way she walked. “You can go down and speak with her.”
An instant weight lifted from her shoulders.Maybe the situation wasn’t as bad as it seemed.
“Talk some sense into her,” Sylvia hissed as she walked past.
Maddie turned. “Mom?” she asked, holding her free hand out in the air. “Can you—“
“Of course,” she answered, taking her arm and leading her forward.
Maddie’s heart hammered in her chest as they made their way down a set of somewhat familiar creaking wooden stairs.
She felt with her cane as they hit the bottom step.
The air was stuffy and hot, and even she could feel the dust enter her nostrils as she breathed. Anger flared in her, thinking about Saff being stuck down there.
Her mother led her forward until her cane hit against something that let out a metallic cling.
“Oh, honey,” her mother said, her voice dripping with concern. “Are you okay?”
Her throat tightened. Maybe it was actuallyworsethan it seemed.
“Fine,” Saff muttered, and something about the coarse sound in her voice made Maddie’s throat go dry.
“Do you need something?” her mom asked, the concern more present than ever. “Medical supplies to..“ her voice trailed off.
“No. It’s fine.”
Maddie strained slightly to hear her, almost like she’d begun to lose her voice.
“Mom?” Maddie asked. “Can we have a minute to talk—alone?”
Her mom went quiet for a moment before answering, and Maddie wondered where the hesitation came from.
“Yeah. I’ll wait upstairs.”
Maddie waited as she listened to her mother’s footsteps slowly leave.
And once they faded, she took a step forward, reaching her hand out to touch the metal of the cell. Her hand landed, but instead of smooth metal, it ran over something rough and crusted against the bars, poking into her palm.
“What happened?” she asked, leaning her head in toward the cell.
Saff let out a cough in front of her, then she heard metal creak, followed by scraping footsteps. They stopped right before her, and Maddie wished she could rip the metal barrier out from between them.