Chapter 44: Chapter 44

Kir

“Honey. I wanted to wait until we got home before I told you.” Charleigh takes a deep breath and holds her younger sister’s hand where they sit on the big leather sofa in the library.

I debate whether my brothers and I should leave them alone while Charleigh breaks the bad news to her sister, but figure we’re in the middle of this too.

“Pops is gone, Evie.”

Her face is blank at first, then she frowns, then yanks her hand from Charleigh’s. “No, he’s not!” she yells, jumping to her feet.

She runs for the doorway just in time for Niko to pull the doors shut, blocking her.

“Let me out!” she shouts, trying to reach around him.

But with one swift move, he has both her wrists in one of his hands and for all her struggling, she can make no progress.

So she tries to bite him. Not smart.

“Jesus, child,” Niko hollers.

I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve heard my youngest brother raise his voice.

I reach into the drawer of one of our end tables, and pull out a handful of zip ties. I never thought I’d be using them on a sixteen-year-old, but I never thought we’d have one living with us, either.

Niko deftly gets Evie’s hands behind her back, and before she knows it, she’s restrained.

Charleigh looks upset for a moment, but then understands what we’re doing is for her sister’s own good.

“Go sit over there with your sister,” Niko barks, pointing toward Charleigh.

Evie runs back to the sofa, and with her hands tied behind her back, buries her face in her sister’s shoulder and sobs while Charleigh rubs her back.

As frustrating as this kid is, it’s sad to see her lose her father. I mean, she knows nothing about what a loser he was, and unless Charleigh decides to tell her, she never will. All she knows is that he was pretty checked out after their mom died, and that he was an otherwise okay guy. Not a very hands-on father, but did Evie ever know any different?

“Wh… what happened?” she sobs.

Charleigh smooths her hair. “He was shot, honey. He died fast. He didn’t suffer.”

“But why?” Evie wails.

Charleigh looks at me, her expression begging for help.

“Evie, we don’t know exactly what happened yet, with either the pawn shop or your dad, but we are working on it,” I say.

She looks at the floor, tears streaming down her face, then narrows her eyes at my brothers and me, her face red and distorted, spit flying out of her mouth. “It never would have happened if not for you guys,” she screams.

That’s not exactly true, that we’re the cause of her father’s demise. The man dug his own grave, so to speak. But no need to get into that now.

“It was probably the same person who hurt you and me,” Charleigh says. “That’s why we must be so careful. If they knew you were at Pops’s apartment, chances are they would have come after you too.”

After several minutes of sobbing, Evie starts to calm, unable to wipe her tears because of her restraints. She’s so pathetic and yet I’m not sure I’m ready to remove the zip ties yet.

“Fuck this. Fuck you all. Charleigh, our lives are so messed up right now. What are we going to do?”

Charleigh takes hold of her sister’s chin and looks straight at her. “We are going to stay here on the compound unless we’re out with the guys. We are going to listen to what they ask of us. And we’re going to keep you up with your schoolwork.”

“C… can you take these things off my hands now?” she asks.

I reach in my pocket for a knife and cut them clean off. I don’t know if Evie is more surprised I had a knife within reach or that the ties came off so easily. “Your sister is right, Evie. You must listen. When you don’t, you not only put yourself in danger but also the rest of us. What if we’d gone over there and walked into a trap, like the one you helped set for Charleigh at the arcade? We could have all been killed. Over nothing. So, please promise you won’t do things like that again.”

She rubs her wrists. “Sorry,” she mumbles. When Charleigh nudges her, she speaks up a little. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was making such a mess of things.”

“Next time you have something on your mind, or something you’re unhappy about, come tell one of us first. You can come to your sister, my brothers or me, or even Gloria. Just don’t take it upon yourself to problem solve. It could get you killed,” I say.

Her face is crossed with terror, which I hate to inflict on someone, but if it gets the message across to this stubborn teenager, I’m good with it.

“We’re going to find out who killed your father, Evie. Mark my words,” Vadik adds.

Charleigh doesn’t look that torn up about her father, which is understandable. I mean, she looks sad, for sure, but she’s far from broken hearted. I guess resigned would be the best way to describe her, almost as if she expected him to meet his end this way.

Niko opens the library doors and lets the housekeeper enter. “Evie, go ahead and go upstairs now with Gloria. Take a bath and watch a movie or something. Okay?”

She nods and the housekeeper puts her arm around her as she leads her away, offering her something to eat like she always does.

Satisfied all is taken care of, Charleigh leans forward and buries her face in her hands. “When is this going to stop? It’s out of hand. Is Dimitri completely off his rocker?”

I hate to see our girl suffering, and it’s made all the worse knowing a fucker like Dimitri is behind it. I wish I could get my hands around his neck right now. I’d enjoy slowly choking the life out of him, watching his face turn red and then purple, his eyes bulge, and his tongue spill out of his mouth.

I try not to be a gruesome fucker, but here we are.

“I’m worried about Victoria,” Charleigh says.

The woman’s slippers sit on the floor next to Charleigh, alongside the other things she brought from her father’s apartment. It’s funny Charleigh chose those, out of all the things Victoria left behind, but I get it. Slippers are personal. Intimate.

“We’ll do what we can, but we don’t have much to go on with her. She’s kind of like a ghost. Even the first time we checked her out, before we had to confront your father, we found very little about her. Interesting person,” I say.

Most people are very easy to find out about. Too easy, even if you don’t have access to all the fact-finding tools my brothers and I do. Hell, we can find social security numbers, credit card numbers, you name it. Nothing is safe if we want it.

And yet, Victoria had little or no imprint. We found no bank accounts with her name, no credit cards—I don’t think she even had a lease for the apartment where she lived. She probably paid her rent in cash and never made a sound, so her landlord never bothered her to sign anything. It’s all very odd, but this has enabled her to slip away undetected. It’s likely that unless she contacts Charleigh, she will never be heard from again.

Under the circumstances, that’s a good thing. If she did eventually end up on Dimitri’s radar, it’s best that she not be found.

Not that that’s any comfort to Charleigh.

“We’ll do what we can, darlin’,” Vadik adds, “but I personally think she’s better off disappearing like she has. She’s much safer that way.”

Much safer than Charleigh and her sister, for sure.