TWENTY-THREE
We lock up, pack up Dax’s car, and get out of the driveway in less than ten minutes. Except, instead of getting the hell out of dodge, Dax draws up to a dingy-looking house at the end of the street and pulls us into the driveway before killing the engine. We can see Carlo’s house from where we sit, and we wait in silence for what happens next.
Three cars round the corner only five minutes after we park. Hulking, great off-roaders with black-on-black styling, tinted windows, and undoubtedly bullet-proof everything. I held a slim hope that we’d got it wrong, but the men pouring into Carlo’s house confirm Eric knew all about Carlo and that he’d ratted him out, too. No great surprise, but still a massive disappointment. This means coming back home isn’t a possibility. Not until we’ve somehow cleared Eric’s debt with Franz or broken his deal.
We watch until the cars pack up and leave, black smoke billowing out of every window on the front side of the house. I feel sick.
“We should have taken his Harley. Had someone drive it to storage or something. He’s just lost everything he owns.”
“Carlo signed everything over to Trevainne this evening. House, bar, and bike included.”
“Why?”
“Because it gave him the money he needs to start again, and it means the losses are Trevainne’s, not his.”
“But you didn’t know this would happen.”
“No, but the second Diverprop’s lawyers showed up for Eric, we suspected it might come to this. We gave Carlo a choice. He could stay and front it out with our help, or he could get his family safe. He chose to go if it came to the crunch, and he knew that meant leaving any traces of himself behind…bike included.” Dax pulls out his phone and dials the emergency services. Tipping the Fire Brigade off to the blaze now lighting up the sky. He gives them the address and hangs up without giving them his name.
“They’d trace the registration…” I mumble, realising why Carlo would give up his precious bike. Dax nods. I find my voice and say words I suspect I’ll be saying again and again. “Thank you.”
“It’s our job. We actually do this sort of thing all the time. There are people who want out and we help them do it. We buy up their property here in Harrison, even the unsellable Vale properties and we rebuild and renew. I’d have offered this kind of deal if Carlo was a client, so no need to thank me.”
“Still, you’ve saved my family without even batting an eye. You’ve known us mere days and you’ve done more for us than anyone.” I think about how stuck we were only days ago…hell, hours ago. Eric had us trapped and within a day, Dax and his people have cut us all free. I still can’t believe Eric knew about everything going on behind his back. “I mean, if Eric knew about Mum and Carlo, why hadn’t he done something about the affair before?”
“Are you asking me or talking out loud?” Dax asks.
“It’s a really bad habit I’m noticing about myself,” I respond. To my relief, he pumps the pedal and pulls away from the curb. “I’m thinking about Eric and why he only did something about Carlo now? Plus, there’s still something else he’s offered to Franz. Even selling out Carlo doesn’t quite cover it. You know?”
“I know. We’ll figure it out and there are lots of reasons Eric might have kept his mouth shut until now. For a start, he had your mother terrorised. She knew any of you were at risk of a beating at any time. He kept her without cash to live on, no matter enough to leave him. He kept tabs on the boys and your mother told me he’d never let her leave him alive. He threatened to kill you all. She believed him, and I think she was right to.”
“You think he would have? He loves those boys. He’s bargained with Franz for the boys.”
“No. Eric knows possession, not love. Having custody of the twins is about hurting your mum and keeping her by his side.” I have to admit, for only meeting Eric once, he had him figured out.
“So why do this?” I lean back into my seat and stare out of the window at the buildings whizzing by. It seems strange to think of all the people going about their lives when mine is rupturing at the seams.
“We forced his hand. You walked out of there with the kids and took away his control over your mother. Eric is a coward, but he is also an opportunist. Franz is one way to get what he wants. What I don’t get is how Franz found out about you in the first place.” Dax quietens.
“Could Franz have questioned the paramedics?”
“Yes, but none of them even spoke to you, and they’d mostly left by the time I got your name out of you. Reba Johnson, the head paramedic who hung around after, is one of our people. But she and everyone else had left when I eventually asked for your name.”
“You’re sure?”
“One hundred percent. I remember every second of that night. From what we have uncovered, all Franz had was your first name, and that you lived in the Tower. Not enough to pinpoint you as Eric’s daughter, unless he worked it out via voting register? That’s possible, I guess, but I’m more inclined to think the blame lies with a mole in my organisation.”
I guess that would make sense. That’s public information, after all. And it wouldn’t be hard to trace me back to the university from there, either.
“Gresh seems to have a lot to do with Eric’s involvement. It’s likely Hanson’s men put the word out, and that little shit overheard while perving on the dancers. He’s the sneakiest piece of crap I know.”
“We’ll discuss this more when we get to the compound. There’s no point trying to work things out without more information.”
I suspect Dax knows more than he’s telling me. When Aiden took charge back at Carlo’s house, Dax hadn’t questioned it. Not the decision to take my family away or whether I went with them. Both men just seemed to go along with an unspoken plan. I guess he already warned me they’d planned for everything. Seeing it in action, though, is both terrifying and impressive.
“We have one stop to make on the way, but you don’t have to come up. I’ll only be a moment.”
I don’t ask for details. I’m too consumed by the day. No, the last three days that have somehow blended into one. I have a kaleidoscope in my head, rolling flashbacks around and around. It feels like the last seventy-two hours have been nothing but beatings and running away. It’s hard to see the golden moments buried in the mire of all the shitty ones. But I have to remind myself of them or none of this was worth it.
Saving Tom. Protecting my siblings. Having people who listen and care like Charlie and Koko and now Aiden and Dax. Finding people who can help. Realising that I’m not destined to become just like Eric. I’m not a Feelan and now I never will be. I have a father who one day might give a damn. The trip to the zoo. The kiss with Dax. The kiss with Aiden.
Shit. Those last two are going to come back to bite me on the butt. What must they think of me? Two guys—friends for god’s sake—in less than twenty-four hours. And sure, I can call it stress related stupidity, but let’s be honest. I like both. I want both.
I deserve neither.
The car shudders to a stop. “Okay, we’re here. I’ll be ten minutes. Lock the doors.”
I look around at the concrete pillars and grey. For a second, I can’t quite figure out where we are, and then I spot a sign next to the silver elevator doors.
“The hospital? Are you checking on Tom?”
“Yes, but I know you’ve had an exhausting day—”
Exhausting or not, I don’t want to be alone. I can’t.
“Can I come up? I’d like to see him. I have something for him.” I pull out my final remaining sticker and hold it tight in my fist. It’s a split-second decision, but it’s a good one. I might have screamed out my pain, but I also screamed out my hopes, too, and his recovery is one of those hopes. Tom may be the catalyst that set my life adrift, but when I finally find my place, it’ll be because of him and what I did that night, too.
“Sure.”
We ride the elevator in silence. The weight of the day is too much to shrug off in pursuit of polite conversation. At Tom’s room, Dax hovers at the door to debrief with the guards on duty, so I step inside and sit beside Tom’s still sleeping form.
“Hi, handsome. Your best buddy is here again.” I laugh at my own idiocy. “So, your brother is a bit of an arsehole. You never mentioned that. He kind of thinks he knows everything and makes sure I’m watched all the time. He gave me a phone too. It’s gorgeous.” I remember where I left it and frown. “It was gorgeous. It might even have been better than yours, so ask him for a better one when you wake up. He’s been so worried about you, I bet he’ll get you one without even thinking about it. Only, remind him not to put a tracker on yours…or maybe that would be a good thing? You seem to attract just as much trouble as I do.”
I look over to Dax, currently chatting with the doctors and Tom’s personal nurse. His eyes gravitate to mine repeatedly, so I turn back to Tom to keep myself from getting distracted.
“I shouldn’t complain too much, though. He kind of saved me this morning. No big deal. Some guys on bikes showed up with bats and wanted me to go for a joyride. But I could tell it would be all ride and no joy, so I politely declined. Like most guys in the Vale, they didn’t want to take no for an answer. Dax and Aiden stepped in and put them to sleep. I wish I could tell you he lectured them on the necessity of understanding the meaning of the word ‘no’, but he actually took the old-fashioned route instead. Poisoned darts and blow pipes.”
Dax chuckles behind me. His feet shuffle and I feel the warmth of his nearness as he takes the chair to my right.
“After the excitement, we went to the zoo. We ate ass cream. My brothers bounced my sister into a wall, and she loved it. My bodyguard—I have one of those now—pulled off an amazing getaway in a mummy-mobile. Oh, and I screamed for you. They gave me a sticker for it, but I think you should have it.”
I open my fist and look at the last sticker, turning it over in my hands. The image shows a cartoon styled doe. Somehow it fits. I’ve never heard a real deer scream before. I likely never will, but it sums me up neatly. Hunted. Prey.
I place it on the cabinet beside his bed and stand up.
“I’ll speak to you again soon, Tom. Try to get better, though. One-way conversations are a little boring.” Dax stands and exits, telling me my time is up. I find it strange that he doesn’t spend any time with Tom or try talking with him. Or am I the strange one for having a one-sided conversation with an unconscious man?
I place my hand over Tom’s and squeeze. Tom’s fingers move. Just a flicker of movement where he catches his nail against my palm. I could be wrong, of course, but the radiating sting from my burns is all too real for me to have imagined it. I smile and say nothing.
I keep it just for myself.
*
We keep an anxious silence for the rest of the journey. Dax navigates roads I’ve never seen before, through the Vale, through the city district, beyond the ‘burbs, and out into the countryside, or purgatory as we call it in the Vale because it marks the boundary between the rest of the world and the hell we call home.
I never would have dreamed I’d get to see Harrison Heights no matter live there, even if only for a brief time. Where most people would relax and feel safe in the only part of the city untouched by crime, I’m even more on edge. Crime might be the currency of the Vale, but the bankers lived in the Heights. Dax might have hidden me from the lowlifes sent to find me, but he was hiding me in plain sight of Franz and the rich scum like him who lived out here.
There is a saying my grandmother would sprinkle into conversations like she was dusting us in wisdom. Life may take your things, but no one can take your moments.
It was a reminder to place value on the people you loved and the moments you shared over anything you might own. Sitting in a car with a man I barely knew, brings those words to the forefront. I’m living her lesson. I have nothing except the memories of my moments to hold onto, but the lesson leaves a bitter taste on my tongue. My moments are filled with pain. Lies. Beatings. Starvation. Punishments. Responsibilities. Being a mother to children that aren’t mine. Being hunted by men I’ve never wronged.
In the end, aside from the love I have for my siblings, I have nothing at all.