Chapter Three
Leighton
I let the phone ring twice before disconnecting the call and doing it again. It was our signal when I couldn't call from my own phone. Call three times, allowing it to ring twice each time, and I'd be answered on the first ring of the fourth call no matter where I called from.
"What kind of mess have you gotten yourself into this time, Leighton?" Her tone was clipped.
"The usual. You know me, Lacey." I laughed. "I need somewhere to lay low for a while, I was hoping you could get the cabin ready for me."
"Just you, or are the other four coming with?"
"Six of us, actually."
"For Christ's sake LeLe, who have you mixed up in this mafia business of yours?"
"She'd have been mixed up in it without us. We're just trying to keep her safe." I retorted. "And don't call me LeLe, you know I hate it."
"What can I say, little brother? I wanted a sister and got you instead." Lacey's laughter tinkled through the receiver.
"Can you have the cabin ready, or not?"
"I'll have it ready. Try not to get yourself killed before you get there." Lacey replied.
"Good. I'll call you with our eta when we're on the way."
She didn't bother saying goodbye before she hung up the phone. Shaking my head, I pulled the sim from the burner and dropped it on the ground, crushing it beneath my heel before tossing the phone in a trash bin nearby as I made my way back toward the Cobra. We'd been staying in Harrison's apartment above the bar for the last five days, waiting for him to say Rich was well enough for us to leave.
Tensions were running high with all of us in such a small space, and la petit démone 's refusal to be around me only made it worse. Unable to deal with everything, I'd spent the last few days gathering supplies and making arrangements. The call to my sister was one of the last things I needed to do. Getting us a vehicle that couldn't be tracked was last on my list, but that would have to wait until we were ready to leave. Couldn't risk whatever car I stole being reported before we were on our way out of town.
Looping the handles of the plastic bag that held all the burners I'd bought over my arm, I headed back toward the Spotted Cobra. Making sure nobody was watching, I slipped around the back of the building and took the stair access to Harrison and Mags' apartment.
"Innocenti, if I catch you up without the cane we gave you again, I'm gonna make sure you can't get up next time." Harrison scolded, holding out an oaken cane toward Rich, who had his arms crossed over his chest.
"I'm not using that, Doc. I'm fine, just stretching my legs." Rich retorted stubbornly.
"Bro, you need to do what they say. You've only been able to move around for a few days." Joey jumped in, Craig nodding in agreement just behind him.
"We really don't have time to be arguing about me using the damn thing! I'm fine!" Rich argued.
"Which is exactly why you should just do it." Az offered, coming into the room.
"Rich, please, use the cane. You need to be careful so you don't reinjure yourself… We almost lost you not long ago," Victoria said gently. Her brown eyes were big and pleading. "It won't be long before you don't need it."
Rich grumbled something under his breath before snatching the cane from Harrison. "Fine, fuck! Can we just get on with it now?"
I chuckled at his quick change of heart after Victoria asked him to use it. Big softie.
"I've got good news, boys." I interjected. "We've got a place to lay low. Just waiting on the word from Doc that we can get outta dodge."
Harrison scowled at Rich before turning to address me. "As long as he agrees to use the cane, you boys are free to leave. Not much I can do for him now. He needs to rest, take the pain meds, and heal." He said before shifting to address Victoria. "You make sure he keeps the wounds clean and doesn't over-exert himself since he'll listen to ya, girl."
"Well boys," I grinned, rubbing my hands together. "Looks like we just need a car, and we can bust outta this joint."
Two hours and another phone call to my sister later, the six of us were stuffed into an old, beat-up, gray minivan I'd stolen. Rich had given me an incredulous look when I pulled up to the Spotted Cobra in it, but we needed something big enough and unlikely to get noticed. Az had wanted to drive and only conceded to having me behind the wheel when I reminded him that I'd not disclosed to any of them where we were headed.
It was a full day's drive through the mountains east of Sacona to my family cabin. We'd made good time, but only because none of us wanted to stop in a public area to stretch our legs or take a piss. La petit démone had scrunched her nose at the empty Coke bottle I'd passed back when she complained of needing to pee, forcing us to pull over to the shoulder of the empty mountain highway so she could relieve herself. The enraged look she gave me when I told her it was the roadside or the bottle was enough to let me know I had dug an even deeper hole for myself.
"Thank fucking God," Craig muttered as my family cabin came into view.
Lacey's Maserati Quattroporte was parked off to the side of the gravel drive, a massive white box truck blocking most of the view of the cabin. I frowned as I watched two men moving furniture from the back of it and carrying it inside. Easing the dilapidated van into park on the other side of the box truck, I cut the ignition and climbed out, not bothering to wait for the others as I stomped toward my sister.
"What the fuck, Lacey?"
"Oh, LeLe," She sighed. "These men are on my payroll. They know how to keep their mouths shut. You had to know I'd need movers to get this place ready for you. You can't have expected me to do it myself."
"The whole point of me calling you to get this place ready was so that nobody, not even our parents, would realize I was here." I hissed.
Lacey rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Father has no interest in this place. And as I said, these are my men. They are loyal to me and me alone." Her gaze traveled over my shoulder, and she continued speaking as if it were an afterthought. "I've secured everything you need. One of my men will restock your food stores in a week's time. If there's anything in particular you need, just tell them and they'll have it on the next run."
"Lacey, good to see you." Az spoke behind me. "I didn't realize this is where Leighton meant when he said he had a place for us."
"Az." She nodded curtly before a saccharine smile spread across her face. "Richard, how lovely to see you again, darling. You're looking a little worse for wear."
I turned to see Rich slowly making his way to the cabin porch, gritting his teeth as he relied on the cane Harrison had insisted he use. Craig and Joey were on either side of him, a very worried-looking Victoria trailing a few steps behind.
"I've been better." Rich replied.
"Do let me know if you need a little extra care to nurse you back to health. Our last encounter was rather enjoyable." Lacey winked.
Rich stiffened slightly as he moved, and I caught the sneer of jealous outrage that momentarily painted Victoria's face.
"Back the fuck off, Lacey." I bit out.
"What, worried your little toy there will get jealous?" She whispered back low enough that only I could hear, never dropping her smile.
"I doubt it, Lacey," Rich said slowly. "I'm in good hands."
I kept my gaze pinned on Victoria as she moved closer to the porch. Her body seemed to relax, and an easy smile painted her face with Rich's words.
"Wait," She spoke, recognition flashing across her features. "You're not Lacey Laurent? Of the Laurent's?"
"I am, and you are?" Lacey replied, raising a brow. I knew damned good and well my sister knew who she was.
"Victoria Bristol. We've met a few times at charity functions."
"Ah, yes. I remember now. Lovely to see you again." Lacey's fake smile never wavered.
Victoria turned to me and slapped me on the chest. "You didn't tell me you were one of the Laurents. I can't believe you didn't tell me, you ass."
"I haven't exactly been in high society for a while and my family doesn't claim me, so why should I claim them?" I shrugged.
"Don't be modest, Leighton. According to our parents you're doing such lovely work on your mission trip. Last I heard, you'd even proposed to a local." Lacey laughed. "Mother and Father are just so excited for their trip to visit."
I couldn't help the derisive snort that left me. "Is that what they're telling people these days?"
"I thought he was working with Greenpeace. That was what your mother said at the last charity event we were both at." Victoria piped in.
"Oh, darling, that was ages ago." Lacey said before shifting her pitch higher to mimic our mother. "He did such wonderful work with Greenpeace, but then he got the calling, you know. When one is called to act by God, one must answer."
"You sound just like her." Victoria laughed, causing Lacey to give her a genuine smile. "I'm sure my father was all," she dropped her voice as low as it could go, "I can only imagine how proud you are of his good work, even if his loss at the business is felt."
"Spot on, darling. Hugo always loved to rub it in my father's face that his only remaining heir was a woman. As if you weren't his only child." Lacey said, rolling her eyes before returning her amused grin to me. "And Lele, you'll be pleased to know, the girl you're engaged to now is just the prettiest girl in the village." She clasped her hands together in mock glee before reaching into her purse and retrieving a photograph.
"They did not!" Victoria squealed in delight as Lacey handed her a photograph of what appeared to be me, minus the tattoos, and a woman that looked suspiciously similar to Bitch Barbie. "Is she supposed to look so much like Tiffany Humphreys?" Victoria continued to laugh, noticing the same similarity I had.
"If you ask my mother, they look nothing alike. But if you ask the guy they paid to make these, that is absolutely Humphreys, just a bit darker in skin tone and hair." Lacey cackled.
"If you two are just gonna continue with this weird bro-ship you've built on mocking me, I'm gonna head inside." I huffed.
"Oh, Lele, don't be like that!" Victoria called after me as I stomped across the porch toward the door. I couldn't help the smile that lit my face. "You can't leave until you've given me an invitation to the wedding!"
Shaking my head to hide my amusement, I continued into the cabin. Lacey and Victoria's laughter echoed behind me.
I stood in the den for a moment, taking in the cabin we spent our summers in as children before I started poking around the rooms to see what Lacey had set up for us. Her movers had set up most of what was needed in the common rooms and were pulling furniture into the bedrooms as I looked around.
I saw Lacey heading for me with a slightly frustrated look before she looped her arm in mine and pulled me back toward the door. Victoria had turned her attention back to Rich and was fussing over Joey and Craig, situating him on the pull-out.
"Lele, let me show you where I've had the motion-sensitive lights installed so you can show Craig when you have a moment," she said by way of excuse. I doubted anyone else could hear the edge to her voice that I did. When we were a little away from the door, she let go of my arm and whirled to face me directly.
I sighed and crossed my arms, having seen this look enough to know that a lecture was coming. "What Lacey?"
"Really? The Bristol girl?! The daughter of the most powerful prosecutor in the area. That's who you've dragged into your underground shenanigans?" She clipped, poking me in the chest with some force.
"Lacey–"
"Leighton. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, when you play, play smart. This is not smart. It's decidedly one of the worst people you could have pulled into your shit."
"Are you done?" I drawled.
"Are you about to tell me that there's a really good reason that you've got a direct line to prison following you five around?" She sneered.
"She was in the shit whether or not we were involved, like I said on the phone. Someone's after her in a rough way, and we were hired to protect her. Shit just… went sideways."
"You expect me to believe that Hugo Bristol hired five mafia men to protect his precious darling? Get real, Leighton. You may be able to convince others of whatever you want them to believe, but we are the same, you and I. You can't lie to me."
"And what, exactly, do you think I'd gain from lying to you?"
"That's what I've yet to figure out. But this has the whole Angelica situation written all over it. You're not telling me something and I will find out what it is. I'm not going to help you cover up another obsession gone wrong when this goes sideways on you lot. I have more to lose this time."
I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily. "Lace, the only thing I didn't bring up before is that everyone in that house is in love with her."
We both stiffened as soon as the 'L' word was out of my mouth. My hand moved to my chest, and I rubbed it with my knuckles to ease the strange sensations I'd felt there lately. I wondered briefly if that's what they were. Love. But it couldn't be. I wasn't capable of it.
"Your brand of love is deadly, Leighton." Lacey said, her words dripping with venom. "Because it doesn't exist for you. There is only obsession and obsessing over the Bristol girl will lead to no good."
"Is that why you decided to marry Harry, Henry, Hank, or whatever his boring ass name is?" I scoffed. "Because you didn't want to risk obsessing? "
"We're not discussing me. We are discussing you and the fact that your obsessions tend to die, leaving me to clean up your mess. Don't let playing house with this girl make you forget what you are, Leighton."
Before Lacey could continue her lecture, the slight squeak of the front door alerted us to someone coming outside. I turned to see Victoria standing by the door.
"Everything okay out here, guys?" she asked casually.
"Of course, darling. Are you all set?" Lacey said, her entire being switching back into a friendly and social air in the blink of an eye.
"Oh yes, and we can't thank you enough. Are you going to be able to stay for dinner? Craig can whip up just about anything, and it's the least we could do."
"That sounds lovely! It's been too long since I was able to catch up with my brother, and I'm sure you could do with a break from being surrounded by these Neanderthals." Lacey remarked with a laugh, moving back toward the door with a discreet warning look toward me before the topic was officially closed.
"Are you coming, Lele ?" Victoria asked smugly, enjoying the nickname she'd been gifted from my sister.
"Yeah… just a minute," I said absently, causing Victoria to frown slightly. She said nothing; just nodded and moved inside with Lacey.
I leaned against the wall and stared into the distance without focusing on anything particular. I rubbed my knuckles against the strange feeling in my chest again. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't that . Lacey was right. Our whole family was all monsters just playing at being people.