4
Lucia
Callum’s men dragged me away while he went away to “handle” Damien and his brothers. No matter how much I protested, they turned a deaf ear to me, remaining like silent boulders of muscle whose sole intention was to follow my brother’s command.
They drove me home and left me here by myself.
An hour crawls by while I wait for Callum to return with Damien, Leon, and Mikhail. Sitting by the window, I gaze toward the gates in the distance, hoping they’ll return soon.
Anxiety grips me by the throat. I still have no information about Dad. Callum refused to give me any details about the accident. He wouldn’t even tell me where Dad was admitted.
He’s punishing me , I realize, remembering the way my brother liked enforcing emotional abuse rather than physical blows.
Callum gave me the silent treatment whenever he got mad at me. Only after I’d apologized and cried my eyes out, he’d agree to talk to me again. Back then, I’d been too young to recognize his abusive ways.
I’d almost forgotten what he was like during these past five years. His absence transformed me from a sullen, quiet child to a happy young woman who enjoyed the company of her close friends and loved hanging out in bookstores.
Mere hours passed since Callum came crashing into my life and I was already an anxious, sobbing mess.
Please let Damien and his brothers be okay , I pray, hoping Callum wouldn’t hurt them.
The purr of a car’s engine startles me out of my thoughts. Sitting up, I peer out of the window and catch sight of Callum’s silver Mercedes slowly driving closer to the house.
Wiping off the tears on my cheeks, I jump off my perch and dash down the hallway to reach the staircase. My feet fly down the steps as I hurry toward the entrance hall.
Callum is just entering through the door when I reach the room. I desperately run past him and stare all around the empty lawn. No matter which direction I look in, I can’t see Damien, Leon, or Mikhail.
“What are you doing?” Callum’s voice comes through the door. “It’s cold out there. Come inside already.”
Marching back inside the house, I find him sprawled on the couch. “Where are they?” I demand in a loud voice.
“Who?”
“You know who! Where’s Damien and his brothers?”
“Forget about them, sweetie,” he says with a satisfied grin. “They’ll never bother you again.”
“What do you mean, Callum?” I ask, feeling a surge of fear chilling the blood in my veins. “This is their home. They don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“They’re dead, Lucia,” Callum says in a calm tone. “Stop with your tantrums already.”
“How can they be dead?” I ask, refusing to believe a thing my brother is saying.
“They’re dead, Lucy. They’re never coming back.”
An ache goes through my chest. “You’re lying,” I shout in a broken voice.
He fixes me with an exasperated look. “I’m not lying. They’re dead and rotting away in a pile of garbage. I threw them away in the same place you picked them up from.”
Rage flares in my chest, wiping out my fear and sadness. Raising my fist, I run toward my brother. “Tell me where they are!” I shout, hitting his chest viciously. “Bring them to me right now!”
“Stop it!” Callum roars, grabbing my wrists and throwing me onto the couch. With a deft move, he straddles my legs with his thighs and uses his weight to pin me to the sofa.
“Let go of me!”
“I don’t like insubordination,” he says, his eyes glowing with rage. “Especially from you, Lucy. Don’t take advantage of my love, Sister.”
“Love,” the word falls from my lips like a curse.
Your brother loves you, honey, but it’s a festered, rotting kind of love , my mother’s voice whispers in my mind. If you’re not careful, his obsession will trap you forever.
These were the words of warning my mother told me when I was ten years old. She’d been dying at the time and these were her last words to me.
Gazing into my brother’s eyes, I wonder if Mom was in full awareness when she said those words to me.
Shortly after she died, Dad sent Callum to Europe to look after his businesses there.
We missed Mom over these past five years but our household was a peaceful one. No one was mistreated or abused. It’s barely been a day since Callum returned and my world is already burning in an inferno.
“Tell me the truth, Callum,” I say in a low, grim voice. “What did you do to them?”
“I didn’t lie to you. They’re truly dead, sweetheart.” His hand reaches out to brush the tears rolling down my cheeks. “You don’t need them or anyone else. I’m here now. You’ll always have me by your side.”
My heart shrivels up with shock and grief at those words. Callum had always been intense with his emotions but I never thought he could be a murderer.
“Our old man’s dying too,” he says with a smug grin. “From now on, it’ll be just us.”
“What happened to Dad?” I ask, pushing him off me and sitting up straighter. “Where have you taken him? I want to go see him right now.”
“Why bother?” he says, fixing his shirt. “Your presence isn’t going to make any difference.”
I stare at my brother and find myself staring at a stranger.
Callum was older than me by a gap of twelve years. He doted on me since I was a toddler. He didn’t even like our parents chiding me for my naughtiness.
There was a time when I loved him more than Mom or Dad.
I noticed something strange about him only after I’d grown up a little. He looked at me differently. He treated me differently. There was something weird about the way he touched me too.
I don’t even want to think about it but my brother’s love for me has truly festered into something dark and obnoxious. Tonight’s events are proof of that.
I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that Callum killed Damien, Leon, and Mikhail. He had to be kidding. Maybe he was simply saying that to punish me. Maybe they’ll all return home tomorrow.
If he wants me to regret retaliating against him, I’m willing to play along. “I want to see Dad,” I say through a choked throat.
He lets out an exasperated sigh and to my horror, an indulgent smile comes over his lips. “You can’t let your brother rest after a long day, can you? You always need me.”
For the first time in my life, I’m beginning to realize the cold, stark fact that my brother is a psychopath. He doesn’t care about me or our father at all.
“I must see him,” I say, getting to my feet. “If you’re tired, just tell me which hospital he’s been admitted to. I can go on my own.”
Grabbing my wrist, he tugs hard, making me stumble and fall onto his chest. His arms go around me, tightening their hold on me until I’m suffocating.
“You always care too much about others,” he says in a strangely husky voice. His hands caress my back in a way that sends cold shivers through me. It’s hard to explain why but my brother’s touch disgusts me.
“I know it’s late,” I say, hoping to distract him. “But if you tell me where Dad is, I can get there on my own.”
“Were you this insistent on seeing me when the old bastard sent me away?” he whispers against my ear. “Did you kick up a fuss like this back then?”
Dad never talked about the reason he sent Callum to oversee his business in Europe. He never came to visit us but made occasional phone calls to talk to me. No matter how much I invited him for Thanksgiving and Christmas, he always refused.
Dad rarely mentioned him all these years. I never recognized the strange aloofness between them until now. Had Dad been trying to keep Callum away from me?
Callum loosens his hold, allowing me to get away from him. Coming to stand next to me, he takes my hand in his.
The contact between our skins revolts me but I stay quiet. I need to see Dad as soon as possible.
“My car’s outside,” he says. “Come on.”
His Mercedes is waiting for us on the front lawn. Leading the way forward, he allows me to climb into the passenger seat.
I take a deep breath as he settles behind the wheels and drives out of the grounds.
Since it’s close to eleven P.M., there’s barely any traffic on the streets at this hour, allowing us to speed along the familiar route to St. Nicholas’s ER unit.
Reaching the parking lot, Callum gets out of the car and opens the door to my side. He guides me inside the hospital and without any help, navigates to the fourth floor where intensive care patients are kept.
I glance up at him, taking note of his confident gait.
Callum was aware of Dad’s accident and even knew where they were keeping him. Only a psychopath can carry on with his day as if nothing happened.
“He’s in there,” he says, stopping me in my tracks outside one of the rooms.
“You can’t go inside without a doctor’s permission,” a female nurse tells us as she walks past us.
“Wait! Hold up!” I call after her.
The middle-aged woman stops and turns around to look at me.
“I know it’s late but I just got to know about my Dad,” I explain breathlessly. “Is there any way you can tell how he’s doing? I don’t want all the details, I just want to know if he’s going to be okay.”
“What’s the patient’s name?”
“Leander Baldwin.”
Recognition flashes through her eyes, followed by a pitying expression. “Are you his family?” she asks.
“Yeah. I’m his daughter.”
“I’m so sorry,” she says, looking truly apologetic. “The doctors are still trying to revive him. You’ve got to hold tight and wait until the morning. I’m sorry I can’t give you any other helpful information about your dad.”
“It’s okay,” I say through the painful choke in my throat. “I’ll wait for the doctors to come around.”
When the nurse walks away, Callum pulls me into a hug. “Don’t worry, Lucia,” he says in a sweet voice while his hands caress the top of my head. “Even if Dad’s not around, you’ll never be alone. You’ll always have me.”
His words are meant to soothe me but they leave me feeling hopeless.
All I can do is hope Dad would pull through the night and that Damien, Leon, and Mikhail would come back in the morning. There’s no way I can live a day without them with only Callum for company.