Damned and Cursed (Book 6): Broken Home Read Online Free PDF

couldn't be everywhere.   She'd be ready for that window of opportunity.
    She would kill him, before he could kill them.
    "I don't have to talk to you," she said.
    "That's fine.   I'm not really much of a social person."

NOON

    An hour passed.   Byron didn't say a word as he kept watch over Janet and her daughters.   Elizabeth handled the situation they found themselves in better than her sister.   She played with her dolls and hummed quietly, trying to engage Sarah.   Sarah was fidgety, looking back and forth between Byron, the front door, and her mother.   Janet sat on the floor and played with her children, wanting to keep them as distracted as possible.
    As the noontime sun poured in through the front window, Elizabeth curled up on the carpet and went to sleep.   It wasn't an unusual sight.   She often took a nap while they watched evening television.
    "Hey," Byron said from the chair.   "Wake her up."
    Janet regarded her sleeping daughter, running a hand gently through her hair.
    "What?   No.   She's napping.   She isn't hurting anyone."
    He leaned forward.   "I said , wake her up."
    "Why?   It's one less person you have to stare at, one less person you have to threaten."
    "Interesting logic.   But let me say it a third time.   Wake her up .   I don't like people sleeping around me."
    Janet didn't react right away.   She simply watched Byron, trying to figure out where his anger was coming from.   She wanted to categorize him as crazy, and leave it at that, but there was something else to the man.
    "Fine," he said, rising from the chair.   "I'll do it."
    "No."   Janet shot to her feet, guarding her daughter.   She stood mere inches away from Byron.   The top of her head lined up with his chin.   She lowered her voice.   "If my children weren't here—"
    "Ah," he interrupted.   "But they are here.   You chose to have them.   They make you weak.   They let people like me control people like you.   Now, wake up Sleeping Beauty."
    Janet knelt next to Elizabeth and gently shook her shoulder.   It took a moment for the girl to rouse.
    "Elizabeth, wake up, sweetie."
    The girl let out an irritated moan as she sat up.   She hugged her mother around the waist.
    The Fields family stayed close together.   Byron looked at each of them, a disturbing grin on his face.
    "So, who's hungry?" he said.   "Hey there, Mommy, why don't we all go in the kitchen and you make us something good to eat?"
    "I'm not hungry," Sarah said.
    "Well, I am.   So you can all watch me eat."
    Janet's mind raced at the possibilities.   The kitchen was full of potential weapons.   Knives, frying pans, glass.   When the opportunity came, she would end the siege.
    Byron followed them into the kitchen.   He was so careful.   He never led the way.   He was always behind, always watching, always kept everything in front of him.   Who was he, and what could he possibly want with her husband?
    "What do you want to eat?" Janet asked.
    "Peanut butter and jelly.   And don't skimp, either.   Lay that shit on thick, like it was mortar and brick."   Janet's heart sank as he led Sarah and Elizabeth to the table, separating her from her daughters.   "What about you two brats?"   He gestured to Sarah.   "Oh, that's right.   You said you weren't hungry."
    Janet watched helplessly as he sat them at the table.   Another man even laying a finger on her girls ripped at her chest.
    "Mommy," Elizabeth said.   "I want to help you make sandwiches.   I always help you."
    "I'm afraid not," Byron said, pulling out a chair for himself.   "You two will be sitting right here with me."   He sat in between them.   "You see, your Mom is trying to figure out a way to deal with me in that tiny little head of hers.   I wouldn't put it past her to grab the large knife from that drawer on the left there, and come charging at me.   But with you two on both sides of me…."   He stretched his arms, letting them rest on the back of the girls'