Page 76 of Pretty Little Assassin

A hallway laden with Primacy operatives?

My stepfather standing and waiting in the hallway like a fucking vulture, just like he did all those years ago?

Only one way to find out.

I look at my watch; I've got fifty-nine minutes left.

I push through the front door. The house smells like dust and stale air, with the faintest trace of my mother’s perfume.

It might be more memory than molecule.

I swallow the grief. This is not the time. This is the time for revenge.

I am the blade he made me by depriving my mother and me of each other for nine years

I will make him pay.

The house is eerily empty. I suppose he could have sold it. Maybe he kept it and stored my mom here, bumping her in and out of rehab between bouts.

The camera is still mounted in the corner where the hall meets the stairs. I can see the red standby light blinking.

He’s watching. Obviously.

“Hi, Stepdaddy,” I say to the camera, and keep walking.

I clear the ground floor first. Methodically, room by room, the way Zero drilled into me until it was reflex. You don’t assume a room is empty. You confirm it. Kitchen: empty. Dining room: empty.

The house is a shrine, untouched. It’s like a sick circus mirror reflecting the distorted image of all the seriously fucked-up shit that went on in this house.

Each room brings back memories that I’d rather forget.

The sitting room where Mom used to drink, with a glass in her hand and a bottle on the coffee table beside her. My stepfather’s hand on her shoulder, a gesture of ownership masked as care.

Also empty.

No omegas. No operatives. No ambush waiting behind a door.

Which means he’s upstairs. Or he wants me upstairs.

I take the stairs.

Seven rooms open off the upper floor. I know six of them. I know the hallway even better.

That fucking hallway leading to my bedroom.

Every time I stepped out into that hallway, it felt like walking a gauntlet.

My boots land hard with each step. I want this house to know I no longer fear it. And if Stepdaddy is watching from some hidden camera somewhere, I want him to know it too.

I’m here, asshole.

My phone buzzes in my jacket.

50 minutes. Take your time, my girl. Have a look around.

I search each room methodically. Empty.

I clear five.