4. Chapter 4 - Rion
Chapter 4
S taring at my monitor, hands clenched, watching the police swarm the nightclub like ants crawling in and out of the building, scratching their heads like idiots. Of course they were too late to make any real work happen, but eventually someone would think of checking cameras from the businesses around the building and try to get a visual of what had happened. But they won't see the man in all black with a woman over his shoulder. They will never get footage of her entering that club either. I took care of that already.
Layrin.
Just thinking her name made my whole being quake. My longing for her spanned space and time. This all-consuming need to bring her here now, to take her and lock her in the room upstairs until she came to her senses, was beating in the back of my head. She would eventually understand. She was meant for us, and she knew it. She just let a pesky little thing like time get in our way.
No. I slammed my hand onto my desk. My monitors shook violently, but they didn't fall since I’d screwed them into the table. No. I needed to play this right. We had a plan, a good plan, one that had been in the works for years. Everything would fall into place. I just needed to wait.
I’d already waited eleven years, what was a few more months? Nothing. It was nothing compared to the life-long commitment we were gearing up for.
No, she needed time. Our little Rin wasn't born yesterday. She needed to logically understand and get used to the idea of being with me and my brothers for the rest of her life. Sure, our shared past would speed up that process, but the time we had spent apart would get in our way.
I heard his steps before my door swung open, Ravi moaning as he stumbled his way onto my bed. I resisted the urge to give him any attention. That was all he wanted anyways.
“I am just fuming with jealousy right now!” His voice had a naturally light and flowy tone with a flare for dramatics. The slam of his hands on my bed grated on my nerves.
“Quit taking it out on my bed.”
He sat up immediately. “Well, are you going to tell me how it went? It was your genius idea, so I know you're watching like a little pervert.”
Snorting out a laugh, I kept my eyes on my screens, my arms crossed. “Like you're not an equal pervert when it comes to her.”
I heard the smirk in his tone from here, watching him shrug through the reflection of the monitor. “I'm not the object of discussion right now. So… Are you going to tell me anything?!” His whining made me wince. I closed my eyes and reminded myself that I needed patience to deal with my brothers. Always had and always would.
“We ran into a snag.” I sat up in my chair, watching Roux take her up her shitty apartment stairs thanks to the camera at the corner store across the street. “She didn't go to the library yesterday. Seems like she pulled a double at the diner, and she didn't go today because she was hanging out with that friend of hers. They went to a club, and it got shot up.”
“The blonde one?” he growled, letting his possessive jealousy come out hard and fast, ignoring everything else.
“Yes. Roux said she was dead before he clicked off-line.”
Ravi slid off my bed, stepping up to my desk. “Good riddance. She was taking up space that was ours anyways.”
Death, life, it meant nothing to us. Only Rin lit our dead souls on fire.
My eyes stayed on the code next to the video feed I was tapped into, making sure my uncle wouldn’t be able to catch on to what we were doing. It had taken a very long time for him to trust us enough to be left on our own, running things our way, without watching us at all times. We didn’t want him in our personal business now.
Tapping a few extra lines of code to make a backdoor for my backdoor, I answered him. “Normally, I would agree with you, but the look on her face when Roux got her out of there said she’s crushed about it. I would advise that when she gets here, don’t bring that up or how much you don’t care about her dead friend.”
He laughed before going cold, glaring at me like what he’d said was my fault. “I’m not an idiot. I wouldn't do that to her.” My happy-go-lucky brother turned away, done with me, to watch the video feed. Roux left her apartment and gave us a thumbs up, knowing I was watching him.
It wouldn't be long before he jumped on a private helicopter and rushed home before ol’ uncle dearest could figure out that he’d taken a little detour on his trip. It was one of Roux’s specialties, after all. Slipping out from under our uncle's nose wasn’t an easy thing to do, but Roux had done it a few times over the years whenever an opportunity presented itself.
“What happened with all this?” Ravi’s question brought me back.
“I had the scholarship letter already drawn up as a back-up, just in case she didn't believe the email I sent. Had Roux take it with him on his job since it was a short distance away. Didn't want to trust the postal service to do their damn jobs.”
The one time we were able to try to sneak a birthday gift off to her, the post office had lost her package. That day, Roux went to the gym and beat up five guys while Ravi spent all day ordering new Rin swag for his room. As for me, well, the damn coal mining town she’d grown up in was so podunk and remote they only had cameras on the inside of the bank. At that point, I hadn’t known how to hack into phones and laptops, so I opened my Rin drawer to bask in her perfection. That was the last time I ever did anything snail mail.
“I let him know when she left her apartment, giving him time to slip it in her mailbox. Then he decided to make sure she got home okay. Some guys in big coats burst into the club, and the rats started to scatter, which made me nervous. I told him to go find her.” I didn't tell Ravi that I was barking at Roux the entire time, threatening to burn his little trophy collection if he didn't get to her on time.
Ravi stood up, crossing his arms and glaring at the screen. His brows pinched just as Roux called, and I put our brother on speaker.
“She’s sleeping. Had to give her something to knock her out.” His gruff voice came out clipped and short, telling me just how much this job had affected him.
Ravi bumped into me, practically shoving me out of the way. “How did she look? What did she smell like? Did you grab a memento? Please tell me you snagged something! Her toothbrush, her comb… maybe a piece of clothing? Please, please, please tell me you have some bit of a brain in that large, thick head of yours and grabbed one of her panties? It would be even better if you grabbed a couple, but beggars can't be choosers, you know?”
Tired of his awkward yet very serious request, I kicked at his legs, causing him to go down with a yelp. I rolled my way back to my desk in time to hear Roux curse under his breath. “Fucking hell! Something is wrong with that fucker.”
“Agreed. Was she hurt?” My skin crawled at the thought of something hurting her. If those fuckers hurt even a cell on her body, I would do a deep dive and find out who they were. I could ruin their lives with just a few clicks of my keyboard. It was one of the best and worst things people had done, putting their lives and faith into the internet and machines.
“She’s shook up. Had to yank her away from the dead body, but she was fine otherwise. She’s strong.”
“And the letter?” The whole reason for him going there was that damn letter, and now more than ever I felt like this was our moment. She was going to feel alone, lost, and in pain. She was going to want a fresh start, something to erase her past and help her build a better future for herself. Vivian Rodgers was always going to be a problem—a tie to her life without us. It was better this happened now, versus having to take care of this ourselves down the road.
Even though the line was silent, I could envision him clutching the phone, the plastic cracking from his too-tight grip. His teeth ground together as he swallowed down what he really wanted to say. “Yes. It's in her mailbox, but she won't be getting to it until tomorrow or the next day.”
I took a deep breath, reminding myself that this was fine. That still worked for my plan even though I wished she were opening it now, getting into her car, and driving out here as we spoke. Some people just weren’t that lucky. “Still works. Even if she doesn't make it this week, she still has late admissions next week.”
Maybe I should’ve just had Roux kidnap her? My mind went back into that rabbit hole, but I knew where it ended, where it always ended. If we did that, we would lose the chance to woo her and convince her to stay here with us. It was a better, longer-lasting move to have her decide that on her own.
“Rion.” The hesitancy in Roux’s voice had my dreaming mind crashing back to reality. “Are you sure this is the right time to do this?” What the hell? Why is he backing down now?
Ravi popped up from the floor, grabbing the desk as he called out, “I don't care if it's a good idea or not. I’m dying to have her by our side! I can’t wait any longer!”
His desperation made my lips quiver, the sides of my mouth threatening to tip up. “While Ravi is usually the rash one, I think he’s correct this time. The benefits outweigh the risks of bringing her now.”
Ravi shoved his face next to mine. “We passed Foedus’ first test and uncle's special test. We got the safe house we’ve always wanted, one that was pimped out by Rion, and we're finally in a place where he doesn't have us under his thumb. All we need to do is keep the lie up, then we’re golden. We’ll have plenty of time to keep Rin safe and have fun with her.”
He made it sound so easy, like tricking the whole Foedus organization into thinking the three of us were one person, R. Ambros, was a walk in the park. Did he think we wouldn't be caught up in Foedus business while trying to forge this relationship with Layrin?
While this was an exclusive private university for the extremely wealthy, it was really a very large and elaborate cover-up to allow the vita messores , life reapers, of Foedus to mingle before becoming heads of their families and mastering the last tests before the changing ceremony. That had me thinking… Did I jump the gun here?
“Yeah, sure. And do you think she could keep her mouth shut about our secret? We’ve been living this way for most of our lives, but she only knows us as individuals!” His simmering anger came through the phone while the sound of propellers started up in the background.
He had a point. Layrin had known us as Ravi, Roux, and Rion, the Ambros triplets that were her best friends. She didn't know the persona the three of us had had to play for the past eleven years—R. Ambros, the next head of the Ambros family, the unkillable prince of Foedus.
Ravi tsked, shaking his finger at the phone like Roux could see him. “No. Nope. Nada. I’ve been waiting for this moment for too long. I’m not going to let your negative Nancy ways get between me and my Rin.” He ran his hand through his hair before turning to me with eyes sparkling with hope. “Plus, she's a smart cookie. Once we tell her why—”
Roux’s voice boomed, “Yes! Let’s have her come here, randomly show up in her life, then tell her our deepest, darkest secrets so she can keep those secrets. Smart. Super smart!” Ravi had his hand up like a puppet the entire time Roux was talking. “Not to mention that as soon as they find out about her—”
“Then we won’t let them find out about her. That's the whole ‘protecting her’ part.” He turned to me, leaning on my desk, and flicked his eyes to the phone. “And he thinks I’m the dumb one.”
Before they could get into another fight, I cut in. “Look, I know why you’re hesitating, Roux, but I agree with Ravi.” Ravi’s fists went up to the sky as he did a happy dance, making me regret my words even though they were true.
Clutching the phone, I tried to convince Roux, needing him on board. “She’s not going to hold out forever, Roux, and I don’t think we can either.” His silence told me he was listening. “Everyone knows us as R. Ambros. We just need to make sure that only one of us is around her at a time so she won’t pick up on it.”
Ravi gave me a thumbs up, and I got the urge to strangle him. One sibling at a time.
Roux made a sound like he was going to interrupt, so I kept going. “Then, when she fully starts to trust us and is ready to take that next step with us, we can tell her about what's going on.”
“Yeah, yeah!” Ravi bounced on his toes. “And once she's in love with us and can’t turn away from us, we’ll tell her that she can never leave us because they’ll kill her so we’re her only way to be safe. Indebting her to us like the dark knights we are and forcing her to live a happily ever after.”
I would never phrase it like that to her, but yes. I was planning to have her fully attach herself to us emotionally before learning too much. It was the only way she would be ours, and that was more important than anything.
Roux sighed. “Fine, but I want it on record that I didn't like this from the beginning. She’s just going to… get in the way and be a distraction for you two. A distraction that we don’t need right now.”
My left eye twitched at his little declaration, one I knew was a lie, but he was determined to lie to himself. I was about to smack him down with some cold hard facts when Ravi burst forward.
“Are. You. Kidding me?!”
“Ravi.” I kept my tone low so he knew I didn't want him to go too far. If he pushed Roux hard enough, he might turn his hesitant yes into a hard no, and we didn't want that.
In complete Ravi fashion, he threw his head up to the ceiling before grabbing the phone off my desk. “She’s going to be a distraction for us?! We’re the ones that openly admit that she’s our obsession, our world, our everything. Rion and I have no problem with that. In fact, we even lean into it, but you? You’re the only one who’s fought it, who’s still fighting it, even though you feel the damn same as us.” His tone turned nasty with his sneer. “Did you forget, brother? We’re the same, the three of us, the exact fucking same.”
He dropped the phone on the desk then retreated, on his way out my door. Before he left, he spat out, “If you give a shit about us, you won’t ruin this.” Then he was gone. I was mildly surprised he didn't slam the door on his way out. Maybe he’s growing up?
Even if we were identical triplets, our insides were polar opposites. Ravi had big feelings, always riding on those when he made choices, which made him charming and good with people, something that Roux and I drastically lacked. Unfortunately, it also made him prone to outbursts.
Roux’s voice came out in a low grumble. “I'm not trying to ruin anything for you guys.”
I nodded like he could see me, but I was just running on autopilot. “Then get on board.” I didn't have time for infighting and bullshit. I needed results.
My chest tightened, and I looked down, catching myself absently playing with the ring on my thumb. Inlaid with a silver A, it was made of onyx and tungsten. The three of us had each gotten a ring when our uncle came up with the whole scheme. It was supposed to be a one-of-a-kind symbol, only for the head of the Ambros family. That was before our uncle found the three of us in that orphanage.
My eyes snagged on my special locked drawer, my fingers twitching to open it and run my hands over each item. To feel that calming balance to my anxiety. It was the only thing that could set my mind at ease, feeling so close to perfection I could salivate.
“I'm fucking on board. Just don't come crying to me if this busts a nut in our faces.”
Cold fury took over, curling my hands into fists. I knew what he was talking about, what made him hesitant to bring her into our world, but I wasn't about to let them take her from me. I wasn't going to let him rule our lives forever.
“Get home so we can prepare.” I clicked the end button, done with the conversation now that I knew where he stood.
This was the next step for us. I could feel it in my bones. We needed her by our side to make us whole. We’d all been filling her void with other things, distractions to keep this gnawing pain at bay, and I was done with it. I wanted more. We deserved more.
I wasn't going to take no for an answer, and I wasn't going to let anyone take her from us. We were going to get what was ours, what we had laid claim to all those years ago.