Chapter 14 #2
“No, none of them. I hate them all. I don’t want to take them with me.
Macy and Grandpa made me wear them, but they are itchy and uncomfortable.
” She grabs my hand and tugs me over to the chest of drawers.
“These are the clothes my mommy bought me, and I want to take all of them.” She pulls out drawers, and I see they are full of shirts, shorts, leggings, and pajamas, all suitable for a four-year-old.
“Okay, I’ll grab all of these. Do you want to show Sage your favorite toys so he can grab them for you?”
Again, she wrinkles her nose and looks around the room before going over to a small child’s table and chairs.
She picks up the books and coloring pencils and then goes back over to the bed, searching around under the covers before pulling out a small stuffed penguin.
“This is Peaky. My daddy gave him to me.”
“Okay, squirt. Anything else you want to take?” Sage asks, and she rolls her eyes at him, and he chuckles.
“They didn’t let me have toys or watch TV or read books.”
“Yikes, so what did you do?” he asks, and she shrugs.
“Did schoolwork and stared out the window and watched the people next door, but they haven’t been there for a while now.”
Sage and I exchange a glance. I’m guessing Mario encouraged them to leave.
“Okay then, Sage can buy anything you need. There’s a small town near the cabin.
He can take you shopping for some books and things, and I’m pretty sure there is a game console at the cabin.
He can get you age appropriate games for that too.
” I look at him for confirmation, and her eyes light up with hope as she turns her attention to him.
“There definitely is, and first thing tomorrow…” He pauses and looks at the time on his phone. “After we wake up, I’ll take you into town. We can have cake at the little cafe there too. They make the best coffee crunch cake, and their hot chocolates come with tiny, little bitty marshmallows.”
Addi’s eyes widen as she listens to Sage, and she dances on the spot. “I’ve never had hot chocolate with little marshmallows. Can we go now?” she pleads, pressing her hands together and batting her eyelashes at him. I see him melt and open his mouth to agree to anything she asks.
“No, nothing is open at this time of night. The drive to the cabin will be long, so you can sleep in the back of the car, and when you wake up, it will be morning. You’ll be somewhere safe, and then Sage can take you shopping. Okay?” I interrupt before he can promise her the world.
Her bottom lip drops, and her eyes well with tears.
“Shit, Tori, do something. She’s going to start leaking,” Sage pleads, and I scoff.
“She’s playing you.” I cross my arms and stare down the tiny terror.
It doesn’t take long for her to drop the pout and huff with annoyance. “Not fair.”
“Let me tell you this now, Addi. None of us will ever lay a hand on you in anger, but we also aren’t going to fall for any of that manipulative crap.”
“What’s manipulative?” she asks, sounding confused.
“When you use tears and sad faces to get what you want. That isn’t fair. Sometimes you just have to accept the answer is no,” I explain, and I see her thinking it over, but she doesn’t respond.
“Remember this—you will go further if you learn to compromise. We didn’t say you couldn’t do any of those things, just that you couldn’t do them immediately. You give a little, and we give a little, and we come to a place we are all happy with. Understand?”
She nods slowly. “I think so.”
“Okay, good. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or tell us what you want, but be prepared that the answer won’t always be yes.
” Before she responds, I wave a hand at the door.
“Come on, let’s go. I’ll carry the bag, but can you let Sage carry you?
We can move faster that way,” I tell her, and she holds her arms out to Sage, who lifts her and secures her against his body so we can move swiftly through the house.
We’ve been here long enough, and even though I think we would have been interrupted by now if the others sounded the alarm, I still don’t want to risk being discovered.
The three of us move through the house and out the front door.
There, we find Mickey leaning against the side of the house, shrouded in shadows.
As soon as he sees us, he pushes away from the wall.
There’s a strong smell of accelerant in the air, and I grin wickedly at him as he waves a bottle filled with liquid and a cloth stuffed into the top.
“It seems that it might be getting a little hot around here. We should get moving,” I remark.
“I would say that’s a good guess.” He returns my wicked grin before holding the object out.
“Would you like to do the honors?” he asks, and I grin before passing him the bag in exchange for the Molotov cocktail.
Sage hands me his ever-present lighter, and I flick it open, the flame burning nicely.
Holding it to the end of the cloth, I make sure it’s well and truly lit before passing it back to him.
I turn to face the building and examine suitable entry points.
There’s the window, but to be honest, I’m not sure if I have the strength to put it through the pane, and I would hazard a guess they probably will have some kind of security film over them, if not for anything other than to cut down on glare.
Knowing Mario, there’s a good chance they are bulletproof since it’s one of his safe houses.
Heading back to the open door, I look around, searching for the best place for the accelerant to do its job.
“Lob it anywhere. I doused everything in the foyer with anything flammable I could find, except for the stairs and the path leading out so you wouldn’t slip. It should go up without any problems and keep burning until the firefighters can get here,” Mickey whispers.
I toss it at the small sideboard leaning against one wall.
It’s wood, so that should help the flames grab.
I hear the bottle explode and hurry away in case there is any kind of explosion.
Not waiting to watch, the four of us hurry across the courtyard and back through the gate.
I pull it closed behind us and hear the digital lock engage.
It will take a little longer to get through it, giving us more time to escape.
I need to be back in the house and in bed before the fire department advises Mario of what happened.
“I have to go. I need to be home before Mario is informed,” I tell them, and Mickey gives me a nod.
“Go. I’ll give it ten minutes to really get going before I call it in.
I don’t want anyone innocent getting caught up in this, even though I don’t think any of the immediate surrounding houses are occupied.
” He gives me a quick hug before taking Addi from Sage.
“Come on, poppet. I’m Uncle Mickey, and you and I are going to be best friends,” he tells her, gently smoothing down her curls.
“I can tell you all the stories about Tori when she was your age.”
“Tori was little like me?” Addi asks with wide-eyed amazement.
Sage and Mickey chuckle, but I wrinkle my nose.
“She sure was, and you should have seen some of the things she got up to. She wanted to be just like her big brother, Gio, and she followed him everywhere. They were the best of friends.”
I close my eyes and flinch internally at his words.
He isn’t wrong, Gio and I were always inseparable.
I just don’t know where things went wrong.
Was I not observant enough to see how much he wanted something different from this life?
Or was he a selfish prick who took more than he should have?
I guess I’ll never know. What happened is done, and I’m not sure there is any returning from it.
I’ll just have to live with the guilt and regrets and try to move forward.
“I don’t have a big brother,” she tells him solemnly.
“No, but who knows, maybe one day you’ll be a big sister,” he offers, and I watch her mull it over as they walk away, her bag hung over one arm, her body tucked safely against his.
She won’t find anyone more loving and protective than Uncle Mickey.
There’s a reason he is trusted and love by the Russos.