Chapter 24 – Age 14
ISEULT
She didn’t call. She didn’t text. It’s been hours since she should’ve arrived at my aunt’s, but I haven’t heard from her. No one has.
My father’s downstairs freaking out, talking to some police officers he’s friends with. Many people have gone out searching for Mom, but all I can do is keep calling her.
Over and over and over.
But all her phone does is ring.
Aunt Shannon confirmed Mom never got to the hospital. She had the baby already. And I know Mom would never have missed that. Not for anything.
Something definitely happened to her. I know it in my gut.
My hand trembles around the cell phone in my palm as I pace around my room, completely terrified.
I can’t even imagine something bad happening to her. My brain won’t accept it.
No. Mom would want me to be positive. She would want me to believe she’s okay, so I will. I’ll pray and beg whoever is listening for my mom to be okay.
My father’s voice rises, and my heart explodes like a bomb when a heavy shattering of something like glass startles me.
I scamper toward my bedroom door and open it gently, wanting to know what happened. Maybe they found her. Maybe he was relieved and broke something on accident.
I drift down the stairs, my tight breaths rising out of me so quickly, I’m afraid my father will hear them.
He ordered me to go upstairs while he talked to everyone. But my brothers are there, right alongside him. If they’re allowed to be there, I should be too. Fionn isn’t even that much older than me. He’s eighteen, which in boy years is like eight.
As I slowly climb down, my father’s voice booms.
“Play it!” he demands harshly. “Play the fucking video!”
“It’s not a good idea,” one of the detectives says.
“Don’t feckin’ tell me what’s good for me. Play it. Now!” He bangs a fist on the counter.
I tiptoe toward the edge of the wall, peeking out from my right into the kitchen, where my father and brothers have their back to me and two detectives I recognize from earlier face my way.
“Pat, you don’t want to see this. Trust me, you don’t want to,” Fred, the taller gray-haired detective, tells him.
His brown eyes grow sympathetic, and I don’t understand why. Nothing is making sense right now. What does my father want them to play?
“She was my fucking wife! You play it, or I swear I will rip out your bloody throat!”
W-w-was?
Like…like she no longer exists.
No.
He misspoke.
She’s fine. Mom is fine.
My chest heaves and nausea curls in my gut.
He didn’t mean that. Tears burn my eyes.
“Maybe tell the boys to go, then. No child should see their mother this way, no matter how old they are.”
Instantly, my father snatches the collar of Fred’s dress shirt. “My boys are no boys. They’re men. Play the damn thing.”
“Just do it.” Roy, the other detective, presses his fingers into his eyes.
“Jesus Christ, Pat,” Fred mutters, picking up a laptop I hadn’t seen from behind him, and looks toward my direction.
I quickly snap my head back, breathing faster and faster, hoping he didn’t catch me.
Seconds later, I hear her.
“No! Please!” Mom screams, fear wedged between each word, yet I cannot see her from where I hide.
“Kak zhal', chto ya dolzhen ubit' takuyu krasivuyu zhenshchinu,” a man I’ve never heard before says in what sounds Russian.
My insides churn.
“Please,” she begs with a wilting sob. “Please, I’ll do anything. Just name your price. My husband will pay whatever you want. Just call him.”
“Your husband…” he replies in a thick Russian accent. “…is the reason you’re here.”
“What?” Mom pants.
“Nu da, moya dorogaya. He didn’t give me something I wanted, so I take something that belongs to him. I say that’s fair, yes?”
“Oh m-my God, I beg you, please. No! I have children. Don’t do this…” Her words end in another earth-shattering wail.
My gasping breaths turn faster, matching the panic fastened in her tone.
I want to come out. I want to see what’s happening, but I can’t seem to move. My legs are as heavy as lead, bolted in place.
But as soon as her blood-curdling scream hits my ears, I emerge from hiding, slowly trotting out, and what I see has me stumbling backward in sheer horror, tears throbbing behind my eyes.
I run as though that will somehow save her from the flames leaping around her body.
“Mom!” I shout with a heavy cry. “Mom!”
“Iseult! Go upstairs now!” my father shouts as he pushes to stand.
All eyes are now on me, the laptop turned away in a flash.
I whimper, almost collapsing, unable to stop hearing her voice. Seeing my poor beautiful mother burning alive, the fiery orange flames dancing to a frantic rhythm.
“Help her!” I roar tearfully at my father, tears streaking down my cheeks. “Help her! Do something!”
His fists tighten until his knuckles go white. And I realize he’s hurting too.
Tynan rushes over to me and puts his arms around me, holding my crumbling body against him.
“I’ve got you,” he tells me as I grip his shirt and cry.
My mother is dead. No one can save her.
How do I tell Eriu? How do I tell a five-year-old girl her mother will never come back?
And it’s then I realize she’ll probably never remember her when she’s older.
Never recall how much she loved us. But I promise to myself right here and now to always remind her every moment of every day how special our mother was.
How loving and kind and beautiful she was.
Even as I think these thoughts, I can’t process the fact that she’s dead. It’s not possible.
She was just here!
But now she’s gone.
Someone took her from us. I’m never going to see her again. I’m never going to talk to her. Feel her arms around me.
And I cry even harder, wailing against my brother, wanting to die too.
“Who—who hurt her?” I ask Tynan, choking on a sob. “Who d-d-did that?”
My words collapse out of me with shattering torment.
“You don’t have to worry about that.” Tynan kisses the top of my head, ever the big brother at nine years older.
But not even he can keep me safe from the sheer agony.
“Take her upstairs!” Dad bellows. “She can’t be here.”
“She can’t be gone,” I snivel. “She can’t leave us.”
Tynan shushes me as he takes me up while I’m huddled to his side.
“I know,” he says as we walk into my bedroom.
“Who was that man? Tell me!” I plead. “What if he comes for us too?”
My body jerks with my shallow breaths as I clutch his shirt in both palms, staring up wildly at him.
“He won’t, I promise. No one will hurt you or Eriu.”
My, how wrong he was.
GIO
Now back at the Quinns’ estate, I realize I hadn’t even thought about how I’d get through the damn security gate. What reason would I give for my return? I wait a few feet away while the armed guards stare at me.
Gonna have to figure it out, or I’ll shoot my way through just to see if she’s okay. But six against one seems like a sure way to get myself killed before I’d even get a chance to see her for myself.
So I do something I may regret. I get out my phone and dial Tynan’s number. He’s the only one here who knows there’s something between her and me, and maybe if he understands how frantic she sounded on the phone, how terrified she seemed, he’ll let me go see her.
He groans as he answers. “What?”
“I need you to call the security booth and let them know I’m allowed in.”
He mutters a curse. “You’re back again? You’re like a damn leech we can’t get rid of. What the hell are you doing back?”
“In any other instance, I’d tell you to fuck off, but she needs me right now.”
“Who?”
“Re—Iseult.”
“My sister doesn’t need anyone. Why are you really coming back? And don’t fucking lie, or I’ll order one of the snipers to shoot you before you even reach the gate.”
I chuckle, shaking my head. Fucking crazy Quinns.
“I was on the phone with her, talking about the gun I got her for her birthday, and she was about to tell me her favorite gift. But instead, she went silent, and then I heard a bang and her crying.”
“Fuck,” he mutters. “Hold on.”
The sound of him fumbling with something takes over for a few seconds.
“Okay, they know you’re allowed to pass.”
“So, you know why she was upset?”
“I do.”
My pulse pounds. “Are you going to tell me?”
“No. Not my story to tell.”
“Fucking hell.”
“She’s my sister. I’m not about to violate her trust.” He pauses. “I just didn’t realize she was still having—” He cuts himself off.
“Having what, man? Just tell me so I can help her.”
“You can’t help her. She has to help herself,” he says. “But I’ll let you in anyway so you can be there for her just in case. Because Lord knows if I tried, she’d chew my bloody head off.”
I let out a small laugh, but worry etches into my bones.
“Okay, I’m here,” I tell him, popping my head out from the window for the guys at the booth. “Giovanni Marino.”
One of them nods, and the iron gate parts for me.
“Let me know how she is. And don’t tell her I asked,” Tynan says.
“Will do. I’ve gotta go.” I drop the call and place the phone in my pocket.
Rushing out of the car, I jump up the four stone steps and knock loudly on her door.
“Red, open up.” I place my ear against it, not hearing a sound.
Fuck. What if she’s hurt?
“Red, I need you to open the door.”
Waiting an additional thirty seconds, I try again, afraid if I knock any louder, someone will notice and find me here. When I start banging again, the lock on the door clicks and the door starts to part.
And when I take in her bloodshot eyes, her wet cheeks, my heart shatters.
She forces a trembling smile. “I’m fine.”
Yeah, she’s fine, alright. She looks like a damn ghost.
“You’re not fine.”
Walking in, I lock up before I’m taking a few steps closer until I’m right in front of her. My palm latches around the side of her throat, my gaze cutting into hers.
“I promise I’m okay now. You didn’t need to come.” She blinks back the quiet moisture building in her tattered stare.
“I didn’t need to,” I tell her, stroking her cheek with the back of my hand. “But I wanted to, Red. There’s a difference.”
Fresh tears coat her lower lashes.
“There’s nothing you can do,” she whispers, staring right at me, pain seeping through. “And it’s over now. I’m fine.”
“You keep saying you’re fine, baby, but nothing about you looks fine right now.”
“Are you saying I look like shit?” A small laugh trickles from her lips.
My thumb brushes over her jaw. “Like a damn tornado.”
She scoffs playfully, but her pain is still there, blinding me, and I want more than anything to make it all disappear.
“How about I run you a bath?” I cradle her cheek in my palm, her skin warm and soft.
Her eyes shutter and she sighs, burrowing into my touch. But seconds later, she exhales roughly and her demeanor shifts.
“Look, Gio—”
She attempts to remove my hand off of her, clutching my wrist, but I squeeze my fingers around her.
“Here we go,” I say through a strained breath, searching the eyes of the woman I’ve come to care deeply for.
“Here we go, what?”
“Here comes the part where you push me away.” I snicker. “I was ready for it.”
She rolls her eyes and fights another smile.
“All I want to do is run you a bath. That’s all.” I drop my lips to her cheek and kiss her. “So shut up and let me take care of you, bambina.”
Goosebumps thread over her arms when I draw back, my eyes locked with hers.
She sucks in a long inhale. “You don’t get it.” She shakes her head. “I’ve never depended on a man for anything before.”
“I don’t need you to depend on me, Red. I want you to want to.
” An arm loops around the small of her back, and I mold her to me.
“I know you’re strong enough to do it all.
” I cup her face with my free hand. “But let me hold your crown just once so you can breathe without suffocating from the weight of it.”
She stares with awe, her brows knitting as I continue.
“I just want you to trust me a little bit. Trust that I’d never do a thing to hurt you.
Trust that you’re not alone anymore. I will fight by your side.
I will kill by your side, and I’ll do it with a damn smile on my face.
” My lips jerk while her nostrils flare, fighting the emotions filling her features.
When she doesn’t say anything, I go on.
“So how about I go start on that bath and let you know when it’s ready?”
“How do you even know how I like my bath, let alone if I even do?” She swipes under her nose with the back of her finger.
“If I remember correctly, water calms you.” I slant my mouth across her forehead, breathing her in just once as I kiss her before I pull back. “And as far as how you like it, probably as hot as hell.”
She laughs. “Yes, you’d be right.” Her brow arches. “And maybe add some bubbles. They’re on the corner of my tub.”
She pinches her lips while I chuckle at the thought of her liking a bubble bath.
“Don’t judge.” She swats my shoulder as I angle back, heading for her master bath.
“Coming right up, Your Highness. Try not to run.”
And as I walk away, I hear her say, “Couldn’t if I tried.”
I run my hand through the water, making sure it’s warm enough for her. Picking up the bottle of bubble bath from the jacuzzi tub in her spacious bathroom, I pour a few drops and let the suds fill up the tub. Seconds pass, and I close off the faucet when the water is almost to the top.
“You can come in now,” I call, and her footsteps trudge closer.
She slinks inside, her eyes on me, a smile tipping up her mouth.
“Thank you,” she says, leaning a hip against the doorframe, and somehow, coming from her, it means more than it maybe should.
Her eyes are still bloodshot, and I’d do anything to erase the reasons why.
“I’ll be right outside.” I approach her, taking her hand in mine and bringing her palm to my lips.
When she nods and doesn’t say anything, I let go of her and give her privacy. As I start back toward the den, I hear her soft voice.
“Gio?”
I turn back. “Yes, bambina?”
There are a few inches between us, and all I want is to kill all the distance, take off her clothes, and bury myself inside her like I’m worthy enough to be there.
“If I were the marrying type, you’re the kind of man I’d marry.”
Before I can process what she just said, she rushes into the bathroom and shuts the door behind her.
Think my Red just admitted she wants to be my wife.