There wasn’t an answer, so I walked over to the steps and looked up. “M.J?”
Malik hurried down the stairs and framed my face. He arched a brow, while lifting one eyelid then another. “Grim told me you were hurt.”
“Calm down. I’m okay.” I told him. “You should see the other girl.”
Malik didn’t get the joke. Instead he hurried off and soon returned with his medical kit. He brought me into the kitchen, sat in a chair and pulled me close. When he was settled, he lifted my shirt and carefully removed the wrapping Ellie had added. The cool air on my damaged skin was perfection. I turned my head away and groaned.
“Okay.” Malik used a finger to press around the wound.
I hissed.
“It’s not infected.” Malik told us thoughtfully. “There’s going to be a scar, but it’s better than what it could have been.”
“I remember when I was twelve,” I said, trying to take my mind off the rawness of the wound. “I fell and the school nurse thought I was faking the pain, so I didn’t have to go to classes.”
“Seriously?” Ellie asked.
“Oh yes. Because the fact there was a bulge in my arm didn’t tell her anything.” I glanced down at Malik using a tweezer to test the stitches. “Everyone believed her but Malik—Malik was insistent they took me to the hospital, or he’d call my mother. And trust me, they didn’t want Malik to tell mom and explain to her they refused to take me to see a doctor. Malik, you knew it was broken.”
“Well, in all fairness, the nurse was an idiot.” Malik muttered as he lathered the wound with anti-septic foam.
I smiled. “All I’m saying is, you’ve always taken care of me and I don’t think I’ve ever really told you how much I appreciate it.”
“Of course, I take care of you.” Malik stopped working to look up at me. “You’re my brother.”
It was that simple for him.
Malik finished with the wound and removed his gloves. He dumped it into the bag with the soiled cotton balls and tied the mouth of it to be destroyed at the hospital.
“It’s only a matter of time before Otis comes knocking.” I pulled on a shirt, my teeth gritted. “We don’t want him anywhere near Lilo or my family. We’re going to have to bring the fight to him.”
“I hate that plan.” Both Malik and Ellie chorused.
“Me too.” I kissed Malik’s head in a way of saying thanks. “But with me hurt, we couldn’t have stuck around Butte to see if he would come back to check out the scene. Now the house is crawling with cops and forensics, he’s not going to go anywhere near it. He’s not going to risk capture.”
“True.” Malik pulled a bottle of juice from the fridge. “I hate to say it, but there’s a reason that boy isn’t dead.”
“I agree.” I glanced over to Ellie. “Why keep Lilo alive if everyone else who knows of his existence is dead?”
“Maybe they’re using him as bait?” Ellie asked.
Malik nodded. “I was thinking that too, Ellie. Maybe they’re using him to try and get Jeffrey to talk.”
“If that’s the case…” I glanced over at Ellie again and she looked as if her world had just imploded. “What’s the matter?”
“If that’s the case, these people have no reason to keep my father alive.” Ellie exhaled. “I mean, they have no leverage.”
“Not necessarily.” I walked over to her. “That’s if he knows we have Lilo. There’s no reason they would tell him. As long as he doesn’t know, Otis and his assholes have something to hold over him.”
Still, I grabbed my phone. “Swede, I need a solid.”
“Name it.” Swede told me.
“I need a list of all the properties Otis Valentina has access to or owns.” I told him. “And I need it like two years ago.”
Swede made an irritated sound in his throat. “Do you have any idea how long that list will be? Otis has money and he cleans it all through real estate transactions.”
I rubbed my eyes. “Send it anyways. We’ll have to narrow it down somehow.”
