Chapter ThirtyWest
Chapter Thirty
West
I can hear her screams from outside. She sounds completely unstable but utterly perfect. This is her way of healing. Of processing and accepting what happened to her.
I waited for almost an hour on the front steps of Katie's house with Captain- yes, I renamed my dog. Not that I changed it for her. Well, kind of for her. But also for me. Chaos was my younger self's way of making myself strong. I didn't need that anymore. Not with my father locked away. I am the man of the house now. My sister is free. I am free. I mean, there was no fucking way in hell I would be taking the 'Floof' part onto his name at any point in my life, but Captain, I could live with.
I smile. The moment Roe came into our lives, Captain was no longer my dog. He was ours. He knew it before either of us did. Hell, does she even realize it yet?
Captain trots over, tail wagging, from his exploration of the yard. He hadn't gone far. Kept turning to make sure I was still here every now and then before exploring under a new shrub, pissing on the roses, and drinking from the fountain.
"Good boy," I croon, grasping his face between my hands and giving it a good smoosh.
The door creaks open behind me, and I try not to freeze. Or turn to look at her. This is her moment. She will decide how this goes.
Captain's jaw drops lazily, and he pants happily as Roe sits on the steps. She is about a meter away, so she isn't close. But she didn't choose the position furthest from me either.
I side-eye her as she basks in the mid-morning sun. Her eyes are puffy and pink and her cheeks are pale. Captain rises with a lazy groan and collapses in a puddle at Roe's feet. She smiles down at him.
"You called him Captain," she says softly without looking up.
"I did," I say, my lips kicking up at the side without my consent. "It suits him. Besides, he stopped responding to Chaos the day he met you."
Roe glances at me shyly, her smile growing.
"Of course he did.”
We fall into a silence that's not uncomfortable but not quite natural either .
I clear my throat. "How… How are you?"
Roe's smile disappears, and she stiffens. "I'm… ok. I mean, it's shit. Everything that happened…" her lips tremble, "it was a horrible nightmare that I may never fully recover from. But I am going to do everything in my power to live my life as full and complete as possible. Not just to spite him but to prove him wrong. I'm not making sense…"
"No," I say. "You are. You’re making perfect sense."
She gives me another smile.
"I'm not ready to talk about what happened to me," she continues, her smile fading. His brow creases into a frown. "But I do want to know your side of the story. My memory of how we got out of there is fuzzy and loud." Her breathing stutters for a moment. "Will you gather the others? I need to know what happened.”
Barely half an hour later, we are gathered around the lounge in my house. The same lounge we had sat in to plan the whole foiled Den project. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
Roe is curled up with Captain on a single recliner. No idea how the giant brute managed to get himself up there with her, but they have it managed, smooshed together as they are.
Law, Brett, and I have explained everything up to the moment we entered The Den's main floor when Roe cuts in.
"First off," she says, a tiny bit of her usual sass back in her voice, "that woman… gross. Secondly, Trent didn't get searched?"
Law throws his arms up in the air in surrender as Brett and I blink in surprise.
Trent just smirks. "I knew someone had to be smart enough to realize that. Not like these clowns," he gestures to us.
"Come now, it was a stressful moment!" Law exclaims defensively.
I find myself grinning and quickly wipe it off my face before Trent can see it. He can't know I am softening towards him. But fuck him and his attraction to my sister.
I catch Roe looking at me, a secret smile on her own face. Damn, she caught me.
"Anyway," I say quickly, embarrassed that Roe had seen my moment of weakness. "We walked through those doors and… "
I wince, cutting myself off as I am instantly sickened at the images running rampant in my head. How do I explain what we saw to someone who was so recently abused?
I clear my throat and glance uncomfortably at Roe.
"I saw you all," East says suddenly, and we all look at her in surprise. She picks at her blanket nervously, eyes down. "Our fath- Vincent , took me to his office after he had taken me away from the room Roe and I had been held in."
We stare intently at her. This is the first we have heard anything about Roe's and East's side of the story. Trent had told us how he had found her, of course. Curled in a tiny ball in an office that overlooked the entire floor of The Den, completely hysterical after being forced to witness everything that had played out that night.
"You were all so lost. Disgusted, yes. But lost too. Like you didn't know what to do. Vincent laughed when he saw you all. He gave me a kiss on the cheek and told me to enjoy the show before he left me there. Alone.”
East bursts into hopeless tears. Trent rises so quickly that I don't have time to punch him in the dick before he picks East up and sits with her in his lap. He coos softly in her ear while he holds her tightly.
My blood simmers, and I am about to yell at the fucker to get his hands off my sister when I notice something about her. She is curled into him, not away. She clutches his shirt like a lifeline. Like she needs him.
I sit back, frowning. My sister likes Trent. Like, really likes him. I blink at the realization that East wants to be with Trent just as much as Trent wants to be with her. There is no coercing, no manipulation. Just love. No, attraction . The L word can fuck right off.
I glance up and catch Roe once again smiling at me. She knew . I mean, of course, she did. This is Roe I am talking about.
I smirk and shrug a shoulder. I will let it slide. For now.
"So, then Vincent found you?" Roe asks, a gentle reminder to get on with the story and get the spotlight off East.
My teeth grind together as I recall my father's grand entrance.
"Yes. Vincent arrived. We yelled at each other. I told him how disgusting a man he was. He chastised me for being weak." I take a deep breath. "And then he told us he had a special show planned for us.”
I feel sick. I run my hands over my face as I try and fail to not think about his show .
"Me," Roe whispers hoarsely. I look back up and see her trembling lips. She blinks rapidly as tears well in her eyes .
Captain whines, moving his head from her lap to rest it on her chest, his nose almost touching her chin. Roe accepts his comfort, giving herself a shake before she starts petting Captain's giant boof head.
"How did the police know to come?" she looks to Trent with her question, already deducing it must have been his doing, as he was the only one of us not to receive a pat down.
Trent nods, his hand still soothingly running up and down East's back, though she no longer hides her face, and her tears have mostly stopped.
"I had a dozen tiny microphones and cameras attached to me," he starts. "My grandfather is a smart man. When I told him where I was spending the weekend, he drilled me until I admitted the truth. He worked with the police, who weren't corrupted by Vincent Mazzuchelli, and a man from the inside who wanted out. The plan was good but not flawless. But it worked."
Roe sends Trent a soft smile.
"Thank you," she whispers. Two simple words with so much depth to them. "So, what happens now? With The Den? The boys and girls…"
"The franchise is up for sale," I say, and Roe looks at me with wide eyes. "I know, the hotels are a huge source of income for our family, well, I guess for me now, seeing as Vincent’s out of the picture. But I have no interest in keeping a business that turned so toxic under my own name. I will be losing money, of course, what with all the bad media about it, but money has never been an issue for us.
"As for the boys and girls my father had abducted, I have purchased land on the outskirts of each major city and have turned them into rehabilitation centers for those affected by not just my father and his businesses but for anyone who has experienced rape, sexual abuse, degradation, domestic abuse; the list goes on. They will have 5-star accommodation at zero cost to them or their families, access to the best doctors and psychologists in Australia, and access to anything they need to set them up in the real world after they have recovered. If they wish to leave, of course. There is no expiration date on their stay."
Roe is crying softly, but her face is alight with hope. My heart swells uncomfortably in my chest.
I clear my throat and continue. "I have also sold a bunch of my father's other businesses that have little interest to me. I have used that money and a whole lot from our savings to purchase shares in a large mining company and a large percentage of shares in a new Australian airline company." I shrug at the raised brows of my friends around me. "Have to keep the money coming in somehow."
"They are both very smart investments," Trent says.
"Fuck yeah," Law adds.
East is nodding along with the others, but I can see the small amount of disappointment in her eyes.
"I also dumped a lot of money into a separate business account under your name, East," I grin at her shocked expression. "You know I never believed in our father's plans for you. You are your own woman, East, and I want you to have the opportunity to build your own empire. A final big fuck you to the old guy, huh?"
"West, I-" East stumbles over her words in her excitement. "I can't thank you enough!"
"No need," I smile. "I am your big brother. It's my job to look out for you."
She jumps up from her seat on Trent's lap and jumps onto mine. She wraps her arms around me, and after a moment of hesitation, I do the same. I can't remember the last time I hugged my sister. It feels… good.
"Alright," she says, pushing herself off me and brushing her hands down her front. "That was awkward as fuck."
"Language," I say, but I am smiling and really don’t give a fuck .
She returns to her seat, but sits beside Trent rather than on his lap, which I am silently grateful for.
"Um," Roe croaks from her chair, looking serious again. "The live export…"
She trails off, but I cut in before she can continue.
"I have severed ties with them," I say gently, not that I cared so much about cows being transported by ships to other countries. I mean, we all needed to eat. I supposed there could be nicer ways to go about it all, but I had no interest in pursuing it. "The contract had not been finalized, so I tore it to shreds and told them we had no interest in doing business with them after all."
"No, that's not-" Roe stutters, "-I mean, that is great and all, but there is more to the export than what you are thinking. Mr. Foster…" she pauses, the color in her face draining before she takes a deep breath and continues, "he told me about the export plans. It was a cover-up. Vincent and him were expanding their sex trafficking to international waters."
My blood boils, and I stand quickly. I clench my fists and begin pacing. Brett surges from his seat, too, and leaves the room. His anger, like mine, is a rapid-fire of hot lava and stupid decisions. He will deal with this news in his own way .
"Oh God," East whispers, clutching her stomach.
"What the actual fuck is wrong with that piece of shit?" Law screams, outraged.
"Jesus, fuck," Trent says in a hushed tone. He leans his elbows on his knees and stares at the ground as if he is going to be sick.
My mind is running a million miles a second as I process this new information about the man who raised me. My stomach is in knots, and my chest is tight. How could I have lived under the same roof as this man my entire life and not know what a terrible monster he was?
"Ok," Roe says suddenly, standing. "I think we need to pause this little get-together. Everyone is spiraling. West, take me home, please?”
I mentally shake off my bitter thoughts and nod. Roe gives East a firm hug but skirts away as Law opens his arm for her too. She smiles apologetically at him, but he waves it off with a shit-eating grin.
"Baby girl, soon enough, you will be running into my arms and pleading for me to never let you go," he says, leaping out of the way with a yelp as I reach for him. Asshole .
Roe rolls her eyes, but she is smiling and seems so light and carefree in this moment that I am secretly grateful for Law's shitty remark and sense of humor.
"Let's get out of here," I say, smacking Captain on the rump as he trots past us all and takes the lead.