Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
JUDE
I took one last look around the room, then followed my brother out as he carried our sister to his car.
“You’re in the back.” Silas muttered when I reached him. “With her.”
I knew without asking why. Gabe was barely two steps behind, lengthening his stride.
“What the Hell is happening here?” He barked as Silas opened the rear door, placing her inside as I climbed in on the opposite side.
“Get in the car, Gabriel.” Silas muttered. “We’ll discuss this at home.”
I could feel the anger emanating from our little brother as I climbed in and closed the door behind me. He stood out there for a second, then yanked open the passenger’s side and slumped in.
“Angelica?” I called and reached across, securing her seatbelt across her chest.
She never answered, just stared with that same glazed expression as Silas slipped behind the wheel and started the engine. We were backing out of the driveway in an instant, pulling away from London’s home and headed for our own.
“I don’t understand any of this.” Gabe snarled and cast our brother an icy stare.
Silas said nothing, holding the same stoic, empty stare our father carried. He was so much like him…too much and look at where that led him? Murdered in cold blood in his own home.
My pulse sped and the thunder in my head grew louder as we turned into our own street.
I’d never felt this kind of dangerous loyalty to my family before, but now…
now it was all I felt. I glanced at our sister with her eyes closed and her head rolling backwards as we drove along the driveway and parked at the rear entrance.
Theo’s car wasn’t here and we hadn’t been gone that long. Which told me he hadn’t yet surfaced from whatever hole in the wall he’d crawled into. Our family was failing, growing more distant by the second and for once it fell on us to stop it.
“I’ll get her.” Silas killed the engine and climbed out before opening the rear door and pulled her into his arms.
“Silas?” She murmured, opening her eyes.
I climbed out, catching her words.
“What…what just happened?”
“Nothing.” He said, his tone husky and strange. “Nothing for you to worry about.”
I followed them inside with Gabe behind me as Silas carried her along the hallway and turn, pushing her bedroom door wider and entered her bedroom. The bed was unmade, sheets and comforter pushed aside.
A shiver coursed through me as I stopped at the doorway and watched them.
I was waiting for whatever this spell was to break, and for Silas to lunge, grab her around the throat and scream in her face.
This wasn’t natural. It wasn’t him. He didn’t contain his emotions like this, not when it came to family.
No, when it came to blood my older brother was as dangerous as a goddamn viper, lashing out, striking whoever stood in his way…whether he wanted to or not. It was his nature. Maybe it was in all our natures?
“I don’t know what’s happening to me.” Our sister murmured as Silas straightened his spine, standing above her. “And I can’t seem to stop it.”
He moved suddenly, reaching around to grab her by the back of her neck and stared into her eyes.
Her own widened, looking up at him. She was frightened of him, maybe even terrified and yet the longer they held that connection, the deeper her breaths became. It was almost like…almost like they?—
I flinched.
No.
That’s not happening.
One jerk of my gaze to Silas and I knew that gut reaction was telling me the cold, hard truth. My brother, our brother wanted her.
Heat soon replaced the icy chill of the truth, surging through my body until I felt flushed and fevered. My own body responded, replaying that night Silas forced her to his knees. Our lying, fucking sister. His cruel words resounded in my head.
Gabe cleared his throat behind me, shattering the moment making Silas jerk, then pull his hand away. “I’ll bring you some food.” He muttered, then turned and walked away.
I followed him as he headed for the kitchen, waiting for him to move around the counter, opening the refrigerator door and pulling out butter, cold meat and cheese before placing them on the counter.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Silas?” I asked. “Playing goddamn house, now?”
He never answered, grabbing the loaf of fresh sourdough bread and tossed it to the counter. He didn’t want to hear it, but it needed saying.
“Goddamn brainwashing and a fucking traitor . You fucking saw what I saw and you heard what I heard. She’s a liability just having her here. We need her gone, Silas and we need her gone now.”
His fist clenched around the knife as he sawed it through the bread, carving one end so thin it fell apart.
“Gone where?” Gabe pushed past me. “You can’t do this. She’s our sister.”
”No.” I shook my head. “She’s not.”
Silas tried to butter the ruined slice, slamming the knife into the soft center over and over and over again, until it was a mangled mess.
“Enough!” He roared, grabbed the bread and spun, hurling it into the sink before turning back. “She’s not going anywhere!”
“Are you fucking insane?” I barked. “Did you even hear what that guy said back there? She’s been mind-fucked into laying a goddamn trap for all of us. For all we know she could be the one who killed our goddamn parents!”
Gabe unleashed a snarl and lunged, grabbing me by the shirt…and for once I didn’t fight him. Instead I met the pain in his eyes. “Tell me you haven’t once thought the same thing…both of you.”
Gabe’s fists trembled as he shook his head. He could fight his demons all he wanted, but the truth remained the same. We now lived with someone we couldn’t trust.
“I am a liability,” the whisper came from behind us. “And you should…you should send me away.”
I spun around as Silas carved a new slice of bread. She stood in the middle of the doorway, staring at us with wide shimmering eyes. Her body curled in, arms wrapped around herself protectively.
“You heard?” Gabe pushed past, instantly going to her side…just like he always did.
“You’re dangerous.” I said.
She winced as though I slapped her. “Then do it…cast me aside. Put me somewhere you’ll never have to see or hear from me again, then you’ll all be safe.”
Silas slowly lifted his gaze and looked at her, before slowly pushing the freshly made sandwich her way. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Then he just left, striding past without a glance my way. The only time he reacted was when he brushed past her. He looked down for a second, then left, his steps thudding back along the hall as he headed for his bedroom.
“Silas is right.” Gabe cut me a glare. “You are not going anywhere, and I don’t want to ever hear anything like that ever again, okay? You’re our sister, your place is with us. Period.”
But she didn’t react with relief at hearing his words.
Instead, she stared at that carving knife on the counter as though she wanted to snatch it free and plunge the blade deep inside herself, cutting out whatever black seed of deception had been buried inside.
Guilt found me then, savaging that pulsing thing in the middle of my chest.
“Come on.” Gabe strode to the counter, grabbed the sandwich our brother meticulously prepared and cut me a look of utter disgust before pulling her away.
Maybe I deserved it.
But someone had to say what we’d all been thinking.
Including Theo…wherever the fuck he was.
I grabbed my cell, swiped the screen and hit his number, listening to it ring before it went to voicemail.
“Hey, don’t bother leaving a message. I won’t ring you back.”
“Where the fuck are you, Theo?” I hung up and lowered my cell. I needed him here. Hell, we all needed him here.