Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
brINLEY
TWENTY-ONE YEARS OLD
Brinley sat at the small island in the kitchen. A bleary light hung from overhead, and her temples throbbed as she sorted through the pile of bills that had grown so high they were going to bury her.
Her stomach was in knots as she tried to figure out how the hell she was going to make a dent in them.
She’d been close.
Close to finally catching up.
Paying off the debts that had hung over her head like an anvil.
She and Dereck had lived with their aunt for a year after their mother had passed, but when Dereck had started getting into trouble at school, she’d kicked them out.
Brinley had been seventeen.
Lost.
Grieving.
The hole inside her so big she didn’t know how she hadn’t bled out.
But she’d had to figure it out. Take care of Dereck because there was no one else to do it. Their father had only gone so far as to say they were living with him on paper since she’d literally gotten onto her knees and begged him.
She made it simple enough for him that the paperwork was already filled out so he didn’t have to put in the effort that he couldn’t seem to find the energy for.
She’d scrounged and saved and worked three jobs.
It was never enough. Food in short supply, and the hungrier Dereck got, the further he’d seemed to spiral.
Stealing, fights, and God knew what else.
Brinley had finally found a decent bookkeeping job at an attorney’s office, and it brought in enough to cover rent for a two-bedroom apartment, utilities, and food, that and nursing her mom’s old car along and praying it wouldn’t finally go kaput.
Then Dereck had been arrested, and she’d had to take out a loan to get him out, bartering with one of the attorneys at her office to help them, selling her soul once again to keep the promise she’d made to her mother.
Pain pressed against the underside of her flesh, and she looked up at the microwave clock.
Five past midnight.
Unease churned in her guts.
Dereck promised. He promised he’d be home by eleven. Told her not to worry. That he was keeping his nose clean. That he’d never make a mistake like that again.
Brinley tried to steady herself. To find the hope of this life. Something good in it.
But she wasn’t sure how that would happen when she thought the loneliness might swallow her.
The ache consumed.
She missed her mother so much.
Missed her belief. Her faith. Her praise and her hugs and the soft way in which she looked at her.
“I’m trying, Mom. I’m trying so hard, and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”
Her phone vibrated on the imitation granite countertop beside her.
Dereck.
Freaking finally.
Only her stomach dropped when she read what the text said.
Dereck
I’m in trouble. I need you to come and get me.
There was an address beneath it.
Sickness crawled through her like a dose of venom. She wavered, gaze rushing around the tiny kitchen like it might give her an answer. Take this away.
She quickly tapped across the screen.
Brinley
What’s going on?
Dereck
I’ll explain once you get here.
God, why did he continually do this to her?
“Mom, please help me.”
She waffled, then pushed from the stool and stomped to the door where she grabbed her purse and keys, then hurried down the steps to the parking lot below.
Her mother’s old car chugged and moaned before it finally sputtered to life.
She threw it into reverse and blew out of the lot, following the directions on her phone, winding her way into the scummiest part of town.
It wasn’t like they were living at the Ritz, but there was something about the darkened house that sent chills crawling through her being as she came to idle at the curb.
Dread twisted her stomach.
Trepidation and fear.
She fumbled through a text.
Brinley
I’m here.
Nothing. No response.
She itched, her knee bouncing a million miles a minute while she waited. Trepidation dragged across her skin like sharp, jagged talons.
Brinley
Hello?
Her phone remained silent.
Her head swiveled back and forth as she peered through the night, irritation lighting her up as the stilled darkness echoed back.
She should leave. Put the car into drive and get the hell out of there.
Every molecule in her body knew it.
But those words spun through her mind.
I promise.
They were the last ones she’d ever spoken to her mother. She’d been gone when she got back from work that night.
Trembling as hard as an off-balance washer, she clicked open the door and climbed from the car, sucking down steadying breaths as she crept up the cracked, pitted walkway to the dilapidated house.
The wooden boards creaked as she edged up the two steps, and her heart hammered as she moved to the door.
Her knock was slow and unsure.
Somehow, she knew to run. Could feel the evil seeping through the thin walls.
But when she turned to do it, it was too late.
The door opened, and she was being hauled inside.
A hand over her mouth as she was dragged into the darkness.
Her eyes wide in the pitch of the room. But she guessed she didn’t need to see them to know there were three of them.
She could taste the vileness coming from two other men who invaded from the corners of the room.
The one behind her murmured filth at her ear, a severing of her broken heart, knowing a part of her was going to die there even if they spared her life. “Seems your brother thinks he’s going to get away with not paying what’s owed to me. I think it’s time we taught him a lesson.”