Chapter 47
FORTY-SEVEN
JULIET
I hear the front door close, and Gino’s voice faintly reaches my ears quickly after. Then, he walks into the kitchen with a young blonde woman who looks oddly familiar. Gino walks to me and places a kiss on the side of my head.
“Hey, bella,” he says, giving me a soft smile.
“Hey,” I reply and look behind him.
The young woman is wearing a light blue sundress and is looking around the kitchen in awe.
“This is Sophie,” Gino says.
Sophie turns and looks at me, a little surprised. “Oh. Um, hi,” she extends a hand to me to shake.
“Hi, I’m Juliet.”
“I know.” I look at her, confused, and Gino snorts. “That sounded bad. I’m so sorry, uhh, I just know a lot about you from my brother and my dad.” She averts her gaze.
Before I say anything, Ryan walks through the doorway.
“Hey Juliet, I see you met my sister, Sophie,” he says.
I look at him, trying to hide the questions I want to ask.
“Soph,” he says.
“Yeah?” She replies.
“Dad’s on his way. Stay with Juliet; I don’t want him knowing you’re here,” he says to her.
“Yeah, okay,” Sophie whispers.
Then he leaves the room, and she turns to me. “I really hope my dad isn’t a complete asshole. I know he is one, but I hope he didn’t do something horrible,” Sophie says.
“It’ll be okay,” I reply. “Vanessa is in the family room. I'm going to grab something to drink. Do you want something?”
“I’m okay,” she answers.
She follows me quietly into the family room.
“Hi,” Vanessa says with a bright smile as she looks past me at Sophie.
“Hi,” Sophie replies. “I’m Sophie, Ryan’s sister.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Vanessa replies.
“You too.”
One of the babies starts to cry over the baby monitor, and Vanessa gets up to check on them.
“Umm, do you know what they’re going to do to my dad when he gets here? Or my mom, she's probably with him?” Sophie asks us both.
“I’m not sure, but I’m guessing they’ll want to talk to him and ask him about his involvement in the messages I was getting,” I say.
“You were getting messages?” she asks.
“Yeah, someone from an unknown number was sending me text messages for months, some threatening, some non-threatening. We didn’t have a lead until Gino was looking over the footage when you dropped the flowers off,” I tell her.
She gapes at me. “Is this my fault?” She asks.
“Oh no, it’s not. You did what you thought you should,” I tell her honestly.
“It feels like it is,” she swallows.
Ryan walks in and crouches down next to her. I can barely hear what they’re saying, but I don’t move.
“Dad’s going to put up some sort of fight. Your mom will probably be dropped off at home and find out you’re not there. Dad will be pissed, but he needs to answer for all this bullshit. If you don’t want to go home with him, you don’t have to. You can stay with me,” Ryan tells her.
She doesn’t say anything.
“Just think about it, okay, and no matter what Dad says, you don’t engage with him or talk to him,” he says.
He kisses the top of her head and leaves.
She turns and looks at me.
“Did my brother just offer to kidnap me from my parents?” she asks me.
I snort in response, as I hear Ryan yell, “I heard that.”
“You’re an adult, right?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she replies.
“Then you can make your own choices, and you don’t have to go home with him. But it’s up to you, not Ryan or you dad.”
“Thanks,” she says, giving me a small smile.
Marco walks in and stops in the doorway. His broad frame takes up most of the doorway, and his light brown hair is slightly disheveled from running his hand through it.
“Hey Juliet, is Gino here?” he says.
“Yeah, he’s upstairs,” I say.
Then he walks out of the room.
“Who’s that?” Sophie asks.
“Marco,” I reply.
“He’s cute.”
I don’t reply because I don’t know how to tell her he’s almost fifteen years older than her.
After a few minutes, we hear the front door slam.
“Sophia,” I hear a man’s voice yell.
“Shit,” I hear Sophie say.
“Sophia, come here; we’re leaving,” her father yells, walking towards us. He has a murderous look in his eyes.
Before either of us can respond or move, Marco steps in front of us.
“Don’t you dare,” Marco growls.
He pushes him back, and Ryan is now behind his father.
“We’re going upstairs to talk,” Ryan says and pulls his father out of the room.