Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Felicity
One of the women and the man look strangely familiar to me. But I know I’ve never met them.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask them.
“You’re going to help us get what we need. So just sit back and shut the fuck up,” the other woman says.
Well then, it seems she’s the female version of the pilot. They’re both assholes. I can tell that we’re headed back to town.
“I don’t think the kid is here,” asshole woman says to the other one.
“It’s fine. We’ll get the money, then get the kid.”
“Lorraine said we need to be careful. These fuckers are sneaky, and the family is full of criminals. So really, we’re saving the kid.”
What the fuck are they talking about? Kidnapping a child? Getting money? And how do I fit into all this?
Levi
The walk to the school feels like I’m heading towards a firing squad. When shit happened before, we knew who was coming for us. This time we don’t, and not knowing is really hard. Because we don’t know how to fight the unknown.
I slow down as I get closer to the school, I’m hoping I’ll see them before they see me. From what I can tell, no one’s there yet. After a few minutes, I see a car pull into the parking lot and park in a corner of the lot. I watch them from where I am. Holy fuck. It can’t be…
I watch Tyler and Marcia Anderson, my own mother and father.
I watch them get out of the car, my father yanking Felicity out with him.
I watch him force her to sit on the ground.
I haven’t seen them since the day I turned eighteen.
Four fucking years. I text Enea to let him know I’m here and what I just saw.
There’s a part of me that just refuses to believe my parents are behind this, even with the proof right in front of my face.
Levi: Should I go over to them? I can see Felicity is scared. I can’t just watch…
Enea: We’re five minutes out. Wait two more minutes and then go over to them. We’re coming, and Tadashi will be there at the same time with his backup. We’ll park on the street and walk over. Don’t provoke them
Levi: Okay. Please hurry
Enea: We are. Two minutes out. Go over there
I put my phone back in my pocket and head over to the car.
“I’m glad to see you know how to follow directions,” my father says to me.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask him.
“We know that you and your sisters have hooked up with a very wealthy family. And well, we need money.”
“Why would you take Felicity? I don’t understand any of this.”
I remember how my parents were before we left them. They use to talk about so many random things, the drugs and alcohol always made it worse. And it looks like they haven’t changed. I’m surprised they’re still alive.
“First of all, we’ll trade this bitch for some cash. You get us one hundred thousand dollars and she goes free.”
I laugh. “Do you really think I have that kind of money?”
“You moron, of course you don’t, but that mafia family you’re involved with does. And that’s who you’ll call to get us our money.”
I’m trying not to say anything stupid. It’s a fucking struggle because I can see the fear in my girl’s face. I really want to beat the fuck out of my father.
“So are you going to call the Mancinis? Or do we take it out on this pretty girl instead?”
All three of them smile at me. My mother and the other woman are standing to the side of Felicity. I need to figure out how to get her to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a big white thing moving towards us.
“Holy fuck. Tyler, you might want to look and see this. What the fucking fuck,” the attendant says, he looks like he’s shaking.
I turn to my left and see three polar bears casually walking towards us. I have to remember not to smile at them.
“What the fuck? Is there a zoo nearby? Why are there polar bears out here?” my father says as his voice shakes.
While all of them are watching the three polar bears, Felicity slowly moves towards me.
“Call the fucking cops,” the other guy screams at my father.
One by one, the polar bears back the three guys up against the car. My mother pulls a gun out and points it at the bears.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” we hear a voice say.
Enea has a presence, even when you can’t see him.
“Who the fuck are you?” my mother yells.
“Someone you don’t want to fuck with. So you have two choices. One, you drop the gun and let Levi and Felicity go. Or two, the bears take care of all of you.”
That last choice makes me want to laugh. I don’t doubt that the bears would rip them all apart. But to hear Enea say it just sounds funny.
“You can’t control the bears,” my mother says as she pulls the trigger and shoots one of the bears.
We watch him drop. I can only hope that she’s a horrible shot, I know that the shifters are fast healers, but it depends on where they’re shot.
“NO!” Felicity screams.
I grab her and hold her. I won’t let her get in my mother’s line of sight. I have no doubt she would shoot us if she thinks we’re a threat.
“Shut the fuck up or you’re next,” my mother snarls at Felicity.
I move Felicity so that she’s behind me.
My mother laughs. “You think I won’t shoot you too?”
“Wow. Mother of the year,” Valentino says as he steps out of the shadows.
Enea, Leonardo, Noah, Francesco and Sebastiano come forward and surround us. Each of them has a pistol in their hand. The pilot and attendant finally look scared. And they should be.
“I’m pretty sure you’re outnumbered. So again, you have two choices,” Enea says to all of them.
“Who the fuck are you?” the other woman snaps at him.
“I’m Enea Mancini. The one you and your friends want to blackmail.”
I watch my father’s face as all the color drains from it.
He talks a good talk until he’s faced with reality.
He used to beat my sisters, until I got bigger than him.
Then he just screamed at them. Except when I wasn’t around, then he hit them, because he’s a coward.
They didn’t want me to get into trouble so they told me not to touch him.
But I wish I had. I wish I had done something so that we wouldn’t be in this position now.
My mother smirks at Enea and before we can react, she turns the gun on me and fires.