43. Killian
Raven’s words cut me open. She knows. He told her.
“Alec gave me his phone. He has Maricela and Lila, too. You know what he’s capable of. Tell Kai he’s alive,” Raven shouts, and everyone hears her.
I may have pressed the speakerphone button when the phone fell from my hands.
“Ugly Bird, where are you?” Liam asks in a monotone voice, but the grip he has on my phone tells me everything.
“If I knew, my dear future husband, then I would tell you. It’s Alec, and you know very well who he is. Where are you?” Raven sasses Liam.
“Taking care of an important matter, Dear Future Wife.”
“Then we can fucking wait. Do what you need to do. Alec hasn’t changed. He’ll wait before he starts his games. You and Kai are his main goals. Oh, and by the way, he’s with the Irish. I’m almost sure I heard Shondra. The woman is a beast.”
How the fuck does Raven know about Shondra?
What is going on?
Everyone thought Alec died on the same plane that exploded with his parents. We mourned him only so that he would do what? Kidnap my fucking twin sister? His ex-fiancée?
I take the phone from Liam and hold it out to make sure everyone can hear.
“Where’s Maricela, Rav?”
“So, we aren’t going to speak about the elephant in the room? I know you’re my twin, mother fucker. I can stay here or die.”
Isabella gasps. I lift my hands to see Dario by her side, holding her. Maddox goes to her as well, taking her hand in his.
“Yes, you’re my sister. You are my Rav, my ray of sunshine.”
“I’m older by fourteen minutes, fucker.”
“How do you know that?”
“That’s not the point now. Keep telling me how important I am to you.”
“You are. Fuck, if you only knew.”
“I know, Kill. I do know, and I wish I had been strong enough to tell, but I was afraid of Franco.”
“For how long?”
“Since I was fourteen. I heard Isabella speaking to my dad on the phone. She was crying and begging him not to harm me. I think Franco did something to you. I’m sorry, Little Brother. I saw your bruises, and I said nothing.”
My gaze falls upon the man who single-handedly ruined everything good in my life, and all I want to do is kick him. I can, so I do just that. He shows no reaction.
“That’s not on you, do you hear me? Not growing up with Franco was the best thing that could have happened to you.”
“I needed you to know in case Alec kills me himself.”
“You will not die. No one is going to die. Is Maricela okay? It’s important.” Because if something happens to any of you, I don’t think I’ll have the strength to survive. Fuck!
“I’m here, and we’re fine,” Maricela says.
“I’m confused as fuck, cabron, but we’re okay. This Russian doll-like man was looking at Raven as if she hung the moon. Liam, I think you should start to worry about your place with Raven, if you even have one. I don’t condone kidnapping, but fuck.”
“Rotten One, don’t you worry.”
“Weirdly, I’m not. Death threat notwithstanding, has Marlina picked up the kids?”
“I’ll make sure of it. Raven, I’m so sorry—”
“Don’t,” she says.
“Not now. I was fine all those years, and I know you were not.” A solo tear rolls down my mother’s cheek.
“Mama Cara, I won’t let anything happen to them, I promise.” Isabella puts her hand on my shoulder.
“One thing,” Kai says, stepping next to me.
“If it’s really Alec, don’t let him know how important you are to us. Any of you.”
“Mudak, it really is Alec, and he already knows,” the fucker himself says with a chuckle.
“He knows that you’re holding Franco in a bed at this moment, and he knows you’re making his last hours as painful as possible. I know the reason for that as well. I know a lot of things. I had time to learn things about you that even you don’t know.”
“You, git,” Liam calls out. “You broke the one promise we made.”
“But I didn’t hurt no woman, Li boy. Not yet,” Alec says in a voice that sounds just like his father, without the rough accent. The Russian lilt is still there, but not like it used to be. It’s different now.
“Do you have Franco?” Maricela asks.
“They do,” Alec interrupts, “and knowing Killian, he’s in a great amount of pain. But let’s stop the chit-chat. Killian knows about your rape, and Raven knows about her origin. This game is starting to bore me, and I don’t like to be bored. I know! Let’s play a game of our own. I will let you finish what you started with Franco. God knows he wasn’t as useful as I needed him to be, and then you will have seventy-two hours to find us, or I will start sending body parts to your kids. Now, I will leave you all with this phone, as I’m more than certain that she wants to hear Franco’s demise.”
“Alec. Don’t touch them, I beg you.” A silent tear falls from Isabella’s eye. I haven’t seen my mother cry in years. Her daughter knows. My twin knows the truth.
“Isabella, my beautiful woman, I can’t promise you that.”
“You loved Raven,” she argues.
“Maybe I did, and maybe I didn’t. Seventy-two hours Kill.”
There’s a shuffling on the other end, followed by the sound of a heavy door closing, then Maricela says, “The fucker left the body here.”
“What body?” I demand.
“One of them wanted to rape us, so Alec killed him. Franco—” My strong little girl chokes on the name of the man that did have the opportunity to rape her. “Killian—”
“I know. I will make it hurt. We already have, and we’re not done yet.”
“I want to hear that. I need to know he’s dead.”
That’s a promise I will uphold.