As we were boarding the elevator, I turned and looked at Avion and almost managed to say it. “Avion,” I started, but when she looked at me, my whole body felt that fear again and all I could do was back out. “You know, your room key… It works in the elevator as well. If you ever want to come up here again, you can.”
She smiled, like the thought alone made her happy, but then the smile faded. “Can we come together again?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
The doors closed and we took the short ride down one floor where our bedrooms were. The doors dinged before opening signifying our arrival, which wouldn’t have been such an irritating thing if it didn’t mean that the second the doors opened, we were bum rushed by people. The handful of staff members who were allowed on that floor, Milli, and Tamryn all came running from separate directions and stopped in front of the elevator, all staring at us with haggard expressions.
“Where the hell have you been?” Milli barked.
I side-eyed Avion, and then looked at Milli. “Downstairs in the kitchen.”
“We checked every room in this goddamn house and you weren’t in it,” he said.
“Will you relax?” I pulled Avion off the elevator a little behind me, and kept her defensively there just in case. It wasn’t like I thought Milli would hurt her, but he could get a little chaotic when he was angry, which he clearly was. “We’re on the elevator, so we had to be here. Security can tell you we didn’t leave. Why does it matter?”
“Tamryn,” Avion said gently, “is everything okay?”
My eyes drifted to my mom for the first time and she was sheet white. I hadn’t noticed it before, but she was looking at me like she’d seen a ghost. “Mom?” She ran up and threw her arms around me, squeezing me tightly, and even crying a little into my ear. “Mom, what’s wrong?”
“I thought you were dead,” she whimpered, then released me to grab Avion. “I thought you were both dead.”
“We’re okay,” Avion said, turning her hand over in front of Tamryn as if to prove it. “See? We’re okay.”
“He’s here.” My eyes shot back to Milli and he had his phone up to his ear. His forehead was also covered in sweat in spite of how relieved he looked. “Yeah. We’ll see you soon.”
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Is this just because you couldn’t find us?”
“I’m sorry.” I looked down at Avion and she looked guilt-ridden. “I was keeping Giovanni to myself. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No Avion, it’s okay.” I wrapped an arm around her and looked back at Milli. “Tell her it’s okay.”
“Actually it’s not,” Milli said. “About two hours ago, there was a raid on your parents’ compound. Your father was shot.”
A soft gasp came out of Avion as I registered the look on my mom’s face. “Merrick’s…?”
She shook her head quickly. “He’s not dead, but he won’t leave the house. Not until he sees you. You know how he is.”
For as tough a guy as Merrick was, he lived with one unbridled fear: going to the hospital and never leaving. He always tried to keep himself outof fatal situations, because he’d seen far too many people go into the hospital with all the hope in the world that they’d be okay, and suddenly die and that was it. All it took was one tiny complication to turn hope into a gravestone, and it was something that haunted Merrick from way back when he was a little boy burying his parents. Whenever situations arose that required him to go to the hospital, it was always the same.
He wouldn’t go until he could say goodbye to Tamryn and me.
“He’s not dead yet, but he’s in bad shape.” Milli grabbed me by the arm. “We gotta go.”
I started to unwrap from Avion, but when I realized that Milli and Tamryn were going to want to go to Merrick too. I swore I would never leave Avion alone without one of us or my father nearby just in case, and that could be the exact purpose of this raid, to try and get us all to leave her side. That said, it could also be a trap to lure us out with Avion in tow. She would be much easier to snatch if we were outside the confines of my new estate.
“Giovanni!” Tamryn screeched.
“Okay, just…” I looked down at Avion. “I don’t know what to do.”
“I’m coming with you,” Avion replied matter-of-factly. “I know that you’re thinking it could be a trap to lure you away from me or lure me out of the house, but there’s no way to tell which, and it easily could be either. I’m safer with you than not.” She then scanned between Milli and Tamryn. “Safer with all of you.”
Though bringing Avion with me just felt like a bad idea, especially given the fact that her and my father were not one another’s biggest fan, I couldn’t help but think she was right. If the Narzands were rolling the dice and planning to snatch Avion whether she stayed or went, if she was with me, I could do more than if she wasn’t.
“Okay,” I said. “Yeah. I think you’re right.”
“Well let’s hurry.” Milli hit the button to the elevator, opening it back up. “He could be bleeding out as we speak.”
Apart from the staff members who had been standing there, we all piled onto the elevator. Milli hit the button for the ground floor, but I reached out and hit the button for one floor down--the office floor.
