Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Bella
I have been on edge since I got the text message this morning.
I knew he would make good on his threat.
He did last time, and it haunts me not knowing what’s happened to him.
I am hoping he’s just left, but I know deep down something’s happened to him.
I knew the moment my brother handed me my car keys, and his hands were drenched in blood. The police are still searching for him.
“Secrets only stay secrets if only those with everything to lose know about them,” my brother said to me, dumping the keys in my hand.
I should have known better. I knew my brother wouldn’t take it well. He was immediately worried when I told him we were moving in together. My brother said no, but I refused, saying I wanted to be with him and that I loved him.
I never saw him again after that day. Clayton went to work and never returned.
I hoped my brother just hurt and didn’t kill him, but the smell of bleach stained my seats.
I knew I was destined to be alone; he wouldn’t let anyone in.
I tried to date before Clayton when Brian was in prison.
Each time he got out, he would scare them off until Clayton.
Clayton didn’t get scared easily; he stayed, so I knew he wouldn’t just up and leave.
I knew the blood on my brother's hands was his.
After Clayton, though, I just gave up. Brian burned my car out and returned with my current car, handing me the keys and saying he would take care of everything.
That made the picture message of me asleep in bed with Xavier all the more disturbing.
How did he get the picture? How did he get into my apartment while we slept?
I never gave him a key. Yet the photo was taken from the foot of the bed.
The camera pointed directly at us. If I hadn't known who took it, I might have actually liked the photo of me snuggling up with Xavier.
Now I am afraid. They have no idea what my brother is capable of. The threat is very real, and the picture message is just a warning. A warning to stop seeing them or something would happen to them.
I caught a cab to work, sneaking off as soon as I heard Xavier leave. I needed to put some distance between us all. I didn’t want anyone else caught up in the drama of my life, and that is what would happen if I let them in.
I have managed to avoid them for most of the day, taking my work to the conference room that isn’t in use.
I fear going home now that I know he could get in.
I am no longer sure what my brother is capable of.
His demands get worse each time. Both our pasts are slowly catching up with us, and we know we can’t keep the secret for too long; it is boiling over.
Someone will find out, and it is making him desperate to regain control.
If they dig deep enough, they will know what I, what Brian sacrificed, and everything would unravel.
I should never have run from the consequences; I should never have let him do what he did.
Maybe we wouldn’t be in this predicament if I had told someone. What kind of sister was I?
“Did we do something wrong, or did I?” Xavier asks, and I look up to see him standing in the doorway.
He walks over, taking a seat across from me. I am glad he doesn’t come closer. The three of them make me cloudy, make me forget what is at stake. Putting me in a false sense of normalcy, but my life is anything but normal.
“No, I just needed to get to work early,” I lie.
I wait for him to leave, but he doesn’t. Instead, he reaches over to grab my hand. I pull mine back, placing it on my lap, and I feel guilty for the look he gives me.
“If I overstepped last night, Bella, tell me,” Xavier says, sitting back.
“No, I just had to get to work early,” I repeat, needing him to leave before I burst at the seams and tell them everything.
They would hate me if they knew what I did. Knew what I did to my brother and the position I’d put him in. I was a coward, my own fear ruining everything and those around me.
Xavier watches me, his intense gaze making me squirm in my seat, the questions in his eyes. They are so observant, and sometimes I get this weird sense that they are peering into my soul and trying to figure me out.
My phone buzzes, vibrating on the table, and I reach for it, except Xavier grabs it first. I get to my feet, trying to snatch it off him.
“Is it because of him? Did he do something?” Xavier asks.
“Give it back,” I snap at him, not liking how he’s just snatched my phone, interfering when he answers it.
My stomach drops, and I shove my chair back to get to the other side of the table to retrieve it. Only the chair tips over, and my leg gets caught in my haste, sending me sprawling onto the floor.
“Bella’s phone,” Xavier says, his voice hard.
I scramble to my feet. They have no idea the shit storm that will come for me if they meddle with my brother.
“Xavier!” I shriek.
“Stay away from your sister! She doesn’t want you in her life, and you have no right to torment her the way you do!”
I hear my brother yelling at him as I reach for my phone, but Xavier pulls it away.
“Bella, enough!” Xavier snaps when I try to snatch my phone from his grip.
“If we catch you near her apartment again, there will be hell to pay,” Xavier snaps at him before hanging up.
I snatch my phone from his grip, my fingers fumbling as I try to unlock it and ring my brother back. Xavier grips my arms, and I jerk away from him.
“You had no right!” I scream at him, my entire body trembling with anger and fear.
“Bella, calm down. We will handle it,” Xavier says.
My hand connects with the side of his face. Xavier looks at me, shocked; his jaw clenches, and my handprint burns into his cheek.