42. A Family Affair

Layla took a step back. Her first instinct was to run, but where the hell would she go?

The girl was blocking the path down the side of the vast building, and they had come quite a distance from the main door of the house. The girl was strong. Maybe she was fast, too. Trying to make it back to the room would be a gamble. She should never have come out in the first place. She should have listened to Jackson.

"You shouldn't be here, Monica," Diedre said, stepping in front of her as if to shield her.

The woman's sunny nature had disappeared, and it actually felt a little chilly in the air. Layla had no idea if Diedre was just like the girl, if she was just as strong from whatever they ate or injected themselves with in this place, but she hoped so. She did not fancy getting her ass kicked again.

"But I didn't do anything wrong," the girl, Monica, said.

Her voice sounded small. That fierce snarl she had shown the first day was nowhere to be seen. The anger and the attitude were gone as