They all stared at him, silent. The lack of talk really emphasized the force with which Jericho’s couch was hitting his office wall…
Again
And again.
It was awkward. The only highlight was watching Felix’s face when the noise finally registered.
He wrinkled his nose, head turning to stare towards his brother’s office. “Seriously? It’s like he’s trying to get him pregnant.”
“That’s what I said!” Ever cried.
Arsen shook his head. “Aren’t they a little old for this? Someone is going to break a hip.”
“I can’t listen to this anymore,” Felix said with a full-body shudder. He moved deeper into the garage where their beat-up sofa lived. He sat down on it, then crossed his legs, leaving the others no choice but to follow.
So, they did.
Mal sat on the opposite side of the couch from Felix, snagging Nico around the waist and dragging him into his lap. Arsen and Ever exchanged smug glances that Nico tried pointedly to ignore. It wasn’t like they didn’t do this before they slept together.
Nico finally handed over the journal. “Can you read it?”
Felix took it and thumbed it open, then fanned through the pages. “You can’t possibly want me to translate all of this?”
“Not all of it,” Mal assured him. “But maybe the last couple of months? Is there anything that stands out? A time jump, maybe? Anything that looks out of place?”
Felix sighed, scanning the first few pages quietly. “Most of this is just your standard Dear Diary stuff. She feels guilty about their money situation, wishes she could afford for her kid to take more dance classes. Stuff like that.”
Nico began to gnaw at his lower lip while Felix flipped through page after page, looking for anything that stood out. “Anything?”
Felix gave him a withering look. “Don’t be so impatient.”
Nico fell silent again, his fingers playing at the nape of Mal’s neck, kneading him like a cat.
“This is weird,” Felix said. “Her usual entries are at least a page or so long, then, starting a few months ago, they get really short and sporadic. Less like journal entries and more like she’s documenting something.”
Nico shifted in Mal’s lap. “Read them.” When Felix arched a brow, Nico rolled his eyes. “Pretty please?”
Felix seemed to accept this. “The first one is from a few months ago. ‘The pig was at my booth again today. He couldn’t keep his hands to himself. He kept telling me how beautiful I am. I told him I was busy, but he just stood there, staring at me. He grabbed me from behind and rubbed himself all over me. Does he think I’m going to fall for him just because he’s the rat’s pet? I hope he gets bored soon and leaves me alone.’”
“The pig? The rat?” Ever asked.
“She obviously didn’t want to use their real names,” Nico said.
“A week later, she wrote,” Felix began, “‘He came back. Again. He didn’t even pretend to have an excuse this time. He just leaned against the counter, watching me with that creepy smile. It’s like he thinks he owns me. He tried to joke about how I’m ‘too independent’ and need someone to ‘take care of me.’ I laughed it off, but it didn’t feel funny. When I told him I wasn’t interested, he smiled. There’s something not right about him. He said, ‘We’ll see.’ What does that mean? Why won’t he leave me alone?’”
“So, Lisa was right. Someone was definitely harassing her,” Mal said.
“The next entry is about a month later,” Felix said. “‘I went to the rat today. He’s the pig’s boss, right? He should be able to stop him. At first, he just blinked at me, like I was speaking a foreign language. When I didn’t let it go, he said he’d look into it. He’slying. I told him the pig was threatening me, threatening my child. He sighed and mumbled something about the pig being difficult to control. Isn’t controlling his men his job? He looked nervous, like he was afraid someone would overhear us. I hate this. I just want to take Casey and run away where they can’t find us.”
“So, is the rat Leo or Jason or Frankie? How far down the food chain was her harasser?” Nico asked.
Felix was scanning the page. “Two weeks after that she writes, ‘I overheard something today. The pig and the ox were talking. He was talking about some illegal clubs he runs. It sounds like the dragon has no idea they exist. I’m going to talk to the rat again tomorrow. Maybe I can use it to get him to help me? I don’t know how much more of this I can take.’”
“How much more of what? Was he just harassing her or had things progressed to something worse?” Ever asked, no longer eating but staring at them with worried eyes.
They all looked at Felix expectantly. Even he looked uneasy. “The next entry doesn’t have a date so I don’t know how much time has passed since the previous entry. ‘I did it. I went to the rat and told him I knew his secret. He went pale. He stammered something about how he didn’t know what I was talking about, but I know what I heard. I told him I don’t care what he’s doing, I just want him to get the pig to leave me alone.’”
“The dragon has to be the Dai Lo, no?” Mal asked.
