“Yeah. I’m coming right now. Just calm down.” It was Gio’s voice on the elevator and he sounded panicked.
Did something happen?
Skipping the elevator, I took the stairs down a floor, just in time for the elevator doors to open. I ducked to the side so that Gio wouldn’t see me, then followed at a safe distance when he walked off. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt like being stealthy in the moment was important, and I’d gotten much better at it with Milli’s help.
“Is it bad?” Gio said.
I peeked around the corner towards his office and saw both Milli and Merrick standing there waiting. “Worse,” Milli said.
Gio unlocked his office and led the three of them in, then promptly shut the doors behind them. I tiptoed down the hallway until I could get close enough to the door, then I pressed my ear against it and listened in.
“The Narzand brothers have made a move finally,” Milli said. “They’ve had Curtis Narzand killed.”
I clasped my hand over my face to keep from gasping out loud.
My dad was dead?
“When?” Gio asked.
“I’m not exactly sure,” Milli said. “Only that I got a call just now from our guy keeping an eye on him and he told me that he hadn’t seen anyone come or go from the house in a few days. He finally thought to ask someone who cleans the house when he saw her going in, she said Curtis was shot and killed by masked men.”
“Just like who came into my house,” Merrick said.
“Fuck,” Gio said. “And youknowit was the Narzand’s this time?”
“Security footage has them entering Curtis’ place with him a few days ago, and coming out without him. That would have been the last time Curtis was seen,” Milli said. “If it wasn’t them, they know he’s dead and they know who did it.”
“Does the public know yet?” Gio asked.
“No,” Milli said, “but he has a very public conference scheduled for next Tuesday, so I assume something will be released by then. We’re on a rapidly ticking clock.”
“Well what do you want from me?” Gio said. “Them choosing to kill their own father isn’t exactly the coin flip for revenge I was hoping for.”
“They did it to hurt Avion,” Milli said. “Her relationship with the man aside, he’s still her father. You’ve been locked in here and so have all of us. They’re calling you out.”
“I agree,” Merrick said. “This is a declaration, and we need to respond.”
I backed away from the door with a flurry of emotions running through my body at top speed. I was sad, angry, shocked, confused, and anxious, but more than all of that, I felt powerless. How would Gio have dealt with my brothers if it wasn’t for me? Would he even have to deal with my brothers if it wasn’t for me? From my dad to my brothers, my family had caused the Raines so much trouble, and maybe it was my leftover fury from my conversation with Lorie, but I wanted to do something about it. All of this shit had been happeningtome. My whole life everything had just been happeningtome.
For once, I wanted to be the one to happen to someone else.
As quickly and quietly as I could, I made my way back upstairs, changed into jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes, then I grabbed the gun that Tamryn gave me for training and slipped it into my purse along with my cell phone and walked out of my bedroom, locking it behind me. I took the stairs all the way down to the main floor and then took the door that connected the house to the attached garage.
The car attendant was standing there and he looked over at me before jumping up out of his chair. “Miss Narzand.”
I’d never done this before -- made any attempt to leave the house on my own. I was technically a prisoner, right? So it shouldn’t work. “I’d like to go out for a little bit,” I said, trying to keep my tone even and my confidence high.
“Of course, ma’am,” he replied. “Which car would you like?”
“Wait… I can go?” I said.
“Of course. Mr. Raines made it very clear you are not a prisoner. You can come and go as you like?”
I stood up a little straighter and looked at him with shock. “He said that?”
“Yes ma’am.” He motioned to the wall of keys behind him. “Which car would you like?”
I felt like I wished I had more time to process that revelation, but I didn’t. I had to get to my brothers and figure out what exactly happened with my father. “Whichever one is quietest.”
