Chapter 21: Chapter 21

I was still a bit stunned to finally hear that Lauren and my dad were dating. I mean ya sure I didn't mind them dating and I was happy for them but Lauren of all people? She was gorgeous as Rapunzel and adventurous as Princess Jasmine, she was every girl's dream mother yet I found it hard to connect with her.

She was way too nice to me and I knew if someone was that nice they had something planned in mind for you but that's not the type of person Lauren was then yet again I barely knew her from a bar of chalk. Sure she was kind, gentle and the perfect wife material but anyone could put such a great act on so what did she want with my dad? He wasn't rich that's for sure or maybe I was reading too much into it and my trust issues were showing since it felt like she was taking my mom's place.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" Malcolm asked me taking his eyes off his phone.

"Nothing," I said with a sigh.

"If you say so but we still gotta head over to count Dracula and his evil mansion," Malcolm shivered.

"Oh don't remind me." I groaned into my pillow as I lay on my stomach on my bed.

"Come on, the sooner we do this the better," Malcolm said getting off my bed with renewed energy pulling my leg to the edge of the bed.

"I'm up ok." I groaned sitting up and putting on suitable clothing before we headed out of my room.

"Do you two ever stay in one place for more than a day?" My dad asked with a raised brow as he watched us head to the door.

"Nope." Malcolm and I said in unison, popping the p before we waved bye to them and headed to his car. The ride was a bit shorter to Darrin's place than I remember but when we arrived I was glad it was still daytime so the creepy castle was a little less creepy.

We headed to the door and Malcolm rang the bell, we only had to wait for a few seconds before the huge double mahogany door opened on one side.

"How can I help you?" The butler asked, holding onto the door.

"We are here to see Darrin," I confidently said even though I was shaking like a leaf.

"He's currently in a meeting. Did you have an appointment with him?" He asked us.

"Oh no," I awkwardly said.

"I suggest you come again tomorrow because he is fully booked for the day," the butler said.

"Is that so then I'm sure we can head over to the police to inform them you wouldn't allow us to search for the lost belongings that we accidentally left after my partner here was attacked in this very place which you promised was a safe place for teenagers," Malcolm said with a raised brow, body cool as a cucumber as he had his hands in his pockets. The butler seemed to sweat at the mention of the police as he swallowed heavily looking outside as if the police were behind us.

"Uh, why don't you wait inside? I'm sure Mr Darrin can make a few minutes of his time to see you." The butler said, opening the door wider for us with a forced smile.

"Why thank you, good sir." I politely nodded my head to him before we followed him to the foyer where he said we could wait before he left to inform his boss that we were here.

"Ya know I need to use the bathroom terribly," I began painfully clenching my stomachs.

"Oh right, periods suck why don't you go to the bathroom and I'll hold the fort here," he smirked, catching on to my drift.

"Be right back, might take me a while to find the bathroom because this place is massive." I winked at him before leaving the foyer heading in the direction we went when we had the party.

I searched every room and no trace of that night was seen, I couldn't blame them. It has been months since that night but I didn't give up that easily. I stayed a little longer in the room. I got attacked searching carefully only to find nothing, the room looked nothing more than a delicately designed guest room smelling fresh as a daisy. I was about to give up when I decided to look under the mat where Malcolm found me bleeding. The floor was squeaky clean but in the cracks of the tiles, I could still see a slight red colour: blood.

I bent down to take a closer look and even sniff it a bit, the smell of bleach assaulted my nose but along that rancid smell the faint smell of blood was there and that's all I needed. I quickly fumbled for my phone and tried to take a picture but it couldn't be caught clearly with my camera.

I gritted my teeth in frustration stopping a scream of anger from being released as I took a deep breath to focus. I decided to take as many pictures as I could of the room before closing the door behind me only to get a fright when I turned around to face Darrin.

"Well, what can I do for you?" Darrin asked with a plastered smile trying to hide the tick in his jaw.

"Uh I was just uh looking for the bathroom," I swallowed heavily with my heart going through the roof.

"Bathrooms that way." He pointed to the right where I came from.

"Right of course." I awkwardly said fiddling with my phone in my hand attracting his attention.

"Why don't we head to my office? I believe you wished to speak with me unless you still require the bathroom?" He said with a raised brow.

"Uh no I can wait, I'd rather talk first," I said with a forced smile.

"Of course, follow me." He said leading the way to his office, I followed behind him, tracing his built figure with my eyes was not helping my racing heart as it sped up realising I was practically alone with him and he could easily overpower me if he wished. The thought sent my body on high alert as I kept a larger distance between us, taking out my pocket knife I got from my dad to put his mind at ease knowing I had something to protect myself with. I clutched the pocket knife in my hand keeping it out of sight as we turned a corner.

"So what brings you to this far part of town?" Darrin asked me as he opened the door to his office motioning for me to head in first. I hesitantly looked inside the massive office seeing Malcolm on the chair helped my nerves a bit as I walked quickly to sit beside him. He held my shaking hand turning his icy glare to Darrin who didn't seem affected by our strange behaviour as he held that plastic smile on his face.

"Just here for a quick visit," Malcolm answered Darrin's question with a locked jaw not straying his eyes away from Darrin afraid he might disappear if he looked away.

"Alright, then what can I help you with?" Darrin asked, folding his hands on the desk between us.

"I'm sure the police have already come here to question you but we have our question we wish to ask you," Malcolm began.

"Do I need a lawyer?" He asked with a raised brow, Malcolm and I looked at each other not sure how to reply to that," Because I told the cops everything I knew so if you want answers I suggest to go check with them because I have nothing more to say, so if you don't have another question please leave my house you know your way out." Darrin sternly said, his plastic smile dropping showing his true colours.

"We don't mean any disrespect but we just want to ask you one question," I said gently, putting on a sweet voice trying to convey his emotional side.

"Fine one question," he agreed.

"Why did you look at me that night the way you did?" I asked him with creased brows.

"You just looked familiar is all," he shrugged nonchalantly but I could tell it was a lie even a blind person could tell he wasn't telling the truth.

"Did you know that man who escaped your house?" I asked impatiently.

"That's two questions little girl, I think we're done here and if you want answers come back with a real cop because you won't be allowed back here without a search warrant are we clear?" He asked with a hard stare in my direction.

"Crystal," Malcolm said through gritted teeth, just by his posture I could tell Malcolm wanted nothing more than to beat the living shit out of Darrin but he was holding himself back. The fact that he called me little girl infuriated me beyond a measure of doubt as I gave Malcolm a knowing look before we got up to head to the door.

"Thank you so much for your time. It was a pleasure to see you again, but might I suggest one thing before we go?" I asked, trying to hide my smirk.

"What might that be?" Darrin asked with a raised brow but didn't expect a gut-wrenching punch from Malcolm who punched him hard in the stomach making him wheeze in pain.

"Put some ice on that," I said in a sassy manner before I strolled out of the office with my head held high.

"You'll get arrested for this," Darrin grunted painfully on the floor.

"Be my guest, tell the police but we'll mention your little underground business if you rat out on us," Malcolm said with a straight face, Darrin froze in place before he went silent. We left him grunting in pain as we left his mansion with pep to our step.

"Wow we are badass," I shrieked happily fist-pumping Malcolm who smiled lightly.

"Ya we are," he said a little down.

"Then why aren't you happier?" I said to him with a raised brow.

"Because I was bluffing P.B but the look on his face tells me he's hiding something dangerous," he said in thought looking back at the castle that stood tall and proud.

"What do you reckon he's hiding?" I asked worriedly.

"I don't know but we'll find out soon." He slowly said getting into his car with me in pursuit sitting in the front seat. He drove out of the parking lot at top speed like the devil was on his heel.

"Where to next?" I was not sure I wanted to hear the answer to that.

"Tj's uncle of course," he sighed heavily.

"Who is TJ anyway?" I asked.

"Tristan was our tech guy back in the day when you know-" he said, letting the sentence hang.

"Oh right," I sighed looking out the window with a heavy heart. We weren't even a step closer to finding my attackers and during these few months, we've been searching for TJ's uncle. Only today did TJ finally come back to us.

He was actually out of the country but he promised when he came back he would hold a family meeting with his uncle and invite us to ambush his uncle. I didn't think TJ would ever allow such a thing but he said he didn't like his uncle and if his uncle did something bad he wanted him to pay for it.

I was practically shaking on the spot when we arrived at a brick modern two-bedroom house. Malcolm and I exchanged a worried look before we headed to the front door. You could tell the house was old by the peeling paint on the house and moss growing in the cracks of the porch. The grass around the house was untamed and needed a cut as weed grew in the grass as well.

Malcolm knocked on the door loudly cause I sure as well wasn't with how much my nerves were on high alert. We heard shuffling on the other side of the door before someone opened it. A young-looking man in his early thirties answered the door, he had black dreadlocks that suited him well. He was a pretty skinny guy and short in height, shorter than Malcolm but still taller than me.

"My brother, longtime." His voice was rich and deep as he hugged Malcolm.

"You're telling me, how was Florida?" Malcolm asked TJ.

"It was amazing, you should check it soon," TJ smiled.

"Ya we will," Malcolm smirked, turning his attention to me.

"Well, who might this little beauty be?" TJ smirked and wiggle his eyebrows at me.

"She's off-limits," Malcolm said with a hard expression leaving no room for negotiations.

"Aight I got it." TJ laughed, holding his hands up in a surrender motion.

"Is your uncle in?" I urgently said, wanting to get this over and done with.

"Oh right ya he's in the back smoking." TJ pointed behind him into the house.

"Alright let's get this party started," Malcolm sighed, heading into the house as he owned it.

The house was cleaner on the inside with beautiful decorations littering the house from picture frames to flowers on tables and window sills. I could smell the braai from outside taunting my stomach as it growled in hunger, I shoved down my hunger and followed TJ who led us to the back of the house. I stayed behind Malcolm practically being hidden by his huge figure just the way I liked it.

The backyard porch was big and led onto a neater trimmed grass porch with a pool that was as clear as the sky. A big braai stand was on the grass with meat frying on it, a bulky fat black man with no shirt on was busy making the braai by occasionally rubbing his nose with one hand and searching his exposed hairy stomach. I didn't think what he was doing was healthy but since no one was pointing anything out I sure as hell wasn't.

A Lot of people were chatting away catching up with family members as they held a drink in one hand or a phone. TJ led us to the group closest to the house smoking in a corner while laughing wildly at something. I froze in my tracks, eying the men who were laughing recognising two of those men by their eyes. Malcolm stopped in his tracks turning his head to look at me questionably.

"It's them" I whispered to him with trembling hands that I held onto his shirt to stop them from shaking. At those two words, Malcolm went rigid, his body heaving up and down in pure rage as he clenched his fists with his bloody eyes directed at the laughing men who didn't know the shit they were in.