Merrick's POV
I moved towards her, but she was already moving backwards.
A deliberate step first. Then another. The withdrawal of someone putting distance between themselves and a thing that had hurt them.
"Agnes…"
She shook her head.
I reached out.
She took another step back, and the quality of it - the way her body angled away from my hand, the involuntary recoil of it - hit me somewhere hard.
"Just listen to me for a moment…"
She turned and went for the door.
I went after her.
She was fast, but I followed with the same speed. There was no way on earth I was letting her get away from me due to a misunderstanding.
She went toward the stairs, and I eventually caught her at the top of them.
I quickly grabbed her wrist, stopping her from running further, and she went very still.
"We need to talk," I said.
"Let go of me."
"Agnes…"
"Let go…"
"Just five minutes," I said. "That's all. After that, if you want to walk away, I won't stop you."
She didn't answer.
