Chapter twelve
Connor's Apartment, The Level
Connor
“Russ!” I scream, leaning as far over the barrier as I can. My terrified fingers grasp the freezing metal rail. “Russ! Fuck! Answer me.” Samantha appears at my side and places a soft hand on my shoulder. “Russ!”
“He fell, Connor, we need to alert the authorities,” she says, her voice frighteningly calm. “We need to call an ambulance.”
“No, he’ll be fine. I’ll call the reception desk, speak to Matthew. I can’t have killed my brother. I can’t have.” The plead spills from me, desperation taking hold for it to be true. My brother…I pushed my brother off my balcony. I murdered him.
No, he has to be alive.
“It was an accident,” she calls to my back as I spin and run into my apartment. I grab my phone and hit the direct dial to Matthew, the head of security for the building.
“Mr. Chase,” he answers formally. “How can I—”
“It’s my brother,” I blurt out, the shock of what happened moments ago developing into sheer terror.
I’ve murdered my brother. The longer the fact runs through my head, the more real it becomes.
I’ve killed a member of my family in rage.
The man I love most in this world. “He fell from my balcony. He’s…”
“Understood, Mr. Chase,” Matthew replies, maintaining his professionalism even though I’ve just told him my brother has fallen from over fifty stories to his death.
“Please, you need to go outside, you need to find him. Help him.”
“Mr. Chase, I’m walking outside the building now. Please stay on the line.” I listen as Matthew’s heavy boots sound off the pavement as he walks the perimeter of the building. Time passes but he doesn’t speak.
“What’s happening? Do you have a flashlight?” I finally demand.
“Yes, I have a flashlight and the street is well lit. There’s no sign of him, sir,” he says. “Your brother hasn’t fallen to ground level.”
“Well, where the fuck is he then?” My mind whirls with every bizarre possibility, but how many options are there when you fall from a skyscraper in the middle of the night?
“Check again and any neighboring areas that he could have fallen into. We need to find him. I need my brother.”
Any thread of sanity has disappeared; my voice is booming and deranged as I shout.
“I need my brother,” I repeat, anger breaking into emotion.
When I lift my hand to my face, my fingers meet wet skin.
I swipe at the fucking tears streaming from my eyes.
“Mr. Chase, please remain calm. We’ll find him. I’ll come to your apartment now, and we’ll organize a search of the building.”
“Thank you, Matthew.” My horror at the thought of Russell being splattered across the cold dark streets eases a fraction, but it’s quickly replaced by the fear of the unknown. Just because he never fell the full distance, doesn’t mean he is alive.
As I stand in the center of my apartment, I drop my head into my hands. I’m at a complete loss as to how to handle this insane situation. The chances of Russell surviving are zero.
Just then, Samantha walks in through the door followed by Harrison and Violet. I never even heard her leave. In my sister’s arms is her young daughter swaddled in a blanket. She passes Evie to her husband and runs to me, wrapping her arms around my waist.
“It will be okay,” she says fiercely, her face buried into my chest. I hold my little sister and allow myself to sob for a moment. “Sam says it was an accident. This isn’t your fault, Connor. We’ll find him.”
“He’s dead,” I reply, broken. The hope that this isn’t the case has utterly disappeared. “No one could survive a fall like that, no one. Not even our bonehead brother.”
Another knock at the door announces Matthew and two further security staff arriving.
Sam appears at my side and links her fingers through mine.
Her hand feels strong under my touch. She maintains an aura of stillness, which I’m not sure is due to fear or shock.
She squeezes my hand softly. I flex my fingers, a silent thank you for her support as I try to pull myself together.
My first venture into love could end with me going to prison and losing my brother.
Love is the gateway to life going wrong.
“Good evening, Mr. Chase, Miss Coleman,” Matthew says, acknowledging us, then he turns to my sister and Harrison. “Mr. and Mrs. Waite.”
“Good evening, Matthew,” Harrison says, stepping forward in a clear indication that he’s taking control of the situation.
Violet clings to him as their daughter sleeps soundly in his arms.
Tears run down my sister’s cheeks as she tries to control the wail behind her lips.
“There’s been an incident this evening, and we’re unsure of the outcome.”
Matthew listens intently, his two men standing silently behind.
“Russell was climbing on the exterior ladder back to his apartment and fell.”
“He didn’t hit ground level, sir,” Matthew advises. “I checked myself.” Harrison mutters something I can’t hear. It strikes me as odd how methodically the whole situation is being handled. Nothing feels out of control except for me. “We’ll start a sweep of the whole building immediately.”
“Keep me informed, Matthew. We’ll go to the penthouse and check he isn’t there. If he has managed to gain entry via another balcony, he may just have gone home.”
Matthew nods, but the look that passes between them is one of complete disillusion.
“Violet, take Samantha to our apartment,” Harrison says as Matthew and his team leave.
“No, I want to help,” Samantha counters, and Harrison scowls. “This is my fault.”
I take her in my arms and kiss her forehead.
I hold her to me, willing her not to feel any guilt about what has happened.
Of all the people in my apartment this evening, Sam is the least to blame.
“Of course it isn’t. Russell shouldn’t have been on the ladder. I shouldn’t have pushed him. This isn’t your fault,” I tell her firmly.
“Connor,” she whispers, blinking up at me. “You have no idea how wrong you are.” I stare back at her, perplexed by the comment. Before I can ask more, Violet comes over and encourages her to follow.
“Come with me,” Violet says, tugging on Sam’s hand which is frozen on my back. I feel Violet begin to prize her fingers from my skin. “Sam, we can’t do anything to help. Come with Evie and me; we’ll put her to bed, and by then the boys will have an update.”
“No,” she snarls. “I’m going to look as well. Take Evie home, Violet.” Sam releases me, then storms toward the door wearing only her tank and shorts.
“You’ve no shoes on,” Violet calls behind her.
“I don’t care.” She slams the door as she disappears.
Harrison walks over to his wife and passes her their daughter. “You go home, Vi.” He kisses her softly on the lips, and she begins to cry again. “Evie needs her bed. We’ll find him. I’ll send Sam to you once she calms down. I love you.”
I watch the interaction between my best friend and my little sister with what can only be described as gratitude. If today turns out as bad as I think it will, tonight Violet could lose both her brothers.
“You ready?” Harrison says, his astute eyes landing on me.
“You better put some clothes on.” I glance at myself in the large mirror that hangs on the wall.
I’m still dressed in only my gray jogging bottoms.
A dirty t-shirt lies over a chair in the corner where I dumped it earlier. I quickly grab it and pull it on.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I tell him.
“Go home, Vi,” he reminds his wife. “I’ll let you know as soon as there is any news.” I follow him out of my apartment and toward the penthouse.
Our trip to Russell’s home is made in silence. There’s no front door as such; the elevator opens directly into his living space. The only means of access is with a specific entry card, of which I have a spare on my keys.
“I’m not sure what to do,” I say to Harrison as we step out into the apartment. Everything is in it’s position as it normally is. Russell likes his home orderly, even though he’s a nightmare in the office with leaving crap around.
“Me neither,” he replies, his eyes moving around the open plan space. “Russ, are you here?” No one responds. The apartment is deathly silent. “Check all the rooms. If he somehow came back here injured, then he may have passed out.”
“Should we not call the police?” I ask, looking to my friend for advice.
“And say what? That you pushed your brother off a building? All that would happen is you’ll get locked up and my wife will lose her family.” My normally calm friend loses control a fraction. “What the fuck happened?”
“He was watching.”
Harrison focuses on me, clearly confused. “What do you mean he was watching?”
I take a breath, trying to steel myself to tell my friend about what transpired tonight. “Connor! Fucking tell me what’s going on. I can’t help you otherwise.”
I am about to start speaking again when the sound of footsteps distracts me. I turn to see Hunter and Damon walking across the room. I look from Harrison to them and back.
“I called them,” he says, inviting no argument. “We all need to be here.”
“Have you called your boys in blue?” I snap at Damon as he comes to my side.
“Fuck off, Chase,” he mutters. “I’m no longer a member of that team. You fucking know it. We’re here to help.”
“Is someone going to tell us what happened?” Hunter asks, for once an expression of fear on his features. His question is simple and to the point, no familiar asshole comments in sight. “Waite said Russell fell from your balcony. What was he doing?”
“Connor was just about to tell me,” Harrison interrupts. “Tell us all.”
“He was watching,” I begin, the anger that my brother was spying on us mixed with misery at the outcome.
“Watching what?” Damon asks.
“Samantha and me on the sofa having sex.”
My three friends stare at me dumbfounded.
“We were…” I pause, unsure of how much information to divulge.
Figuring this may be my last night as a free man, I decide to be open and honest with the men I trust most in this world.
The only man missing is my brother. “She was on her knees sucking my dick when I looked up and saw him standing there watching her. It was like he was transfixed.”
“What the actual fuck…” Hunter mutters. “He was a peeping tom?”