I had absolutely no plans to try and be some big hero or do anything other than get myself out of their house. Even though I felt like it would be useful to get some information about what they originally believed was the reason Gio snatched me, I was in no position to do that. My first priority was getting out and my second was meeting up with Gio.
Finally, Anton’s phone buzzed in my hand and I recognized the number as Lorie’s. It had been almost a full hour since my brothers’ last check and I knew one of them would be by soon, so I was quick and quiet when I answered the phone.
“Hey. I’m just about to go to sleep, what’s up?” It was a code we had pre-determined the last time we spoke, just in case.
“I talked to Gio,” Lorie responded. “He’s on his way. He said he’ll meet you on the interstate.”
“That’s awesome,” I said in a light tone. “I can’t wait to talk about it more. Thanks for letting me know.”
“Avion… Please be so safe. This all freaks me out so much and I’m worried about you.”
I forced a laugh, mostly to fight back the tears that wanted to come up. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m gonna get some rest. Trust me, I’ll be okay.”
“Call me as soon as you can, okay? I love you.”
“Love you too,” I responded. “Bye.”
Just as I was hanging up the phone, I saw the shadows of footsteps under the door come by. They were walking with vigor, almost like whoever it was heard me talking from down the hallway. The footsteps stopped in front of the door and waited, and I decided to take a calculated risk.
I lifted the phone back to my ear as if I were still talking to Lorie and said, “Oh my god, he finally asked you out? Geez, I’m missing for only a month and this is what happens?” I waited a few seconds, imagining Lorie droning on about some guy she was dating, and then said, “Yes. Tell me everything, and start from the beginning. I don’t care how long it takes. It’ll help me relax.”
The feet immediately moved on from the doorway and I let out a sigh of relief. Just to really sell the story, I continued to engage in a fake conversation with Lorie for the next ten or so minutes, not really having the time to throw away, but also not wanting to raise any red flags. Eventually, though, I felt like I was relatively safe to move. I climbed out of bed and tiptoed over to the door.
Opening it quietly, I peeked my head out first and looked down the hallway. My brothers’ place wasn’t nearly as large or convoluted as Gio’s, and they didn’t have it staffed the same way either. Not that they needed to, they were just politicians, albeit shady ones. There were a few staff members around probably, but not anything like the dozens that were around Gio’s place. As long as I could avoid those few people and my brothers, I should be able to get out easily enough.
The guest room I was in was on the second floor of the two-story building, and the door that I wanted to exit through, the back door, was on the first floor. There were two ways down to the first floor—the front, grand staircase, and a back, staff staircase. The front staircase was more conspicuous, but the back staircase exited out right near my brothers’ office but was also closest to the back door. It was a difficult call to determine which was the best way to go, but I figured I was most likely to be seen on the main staircase so I walked down the hallway towards the back one.
At the top of the stairs, I hesitated and listened for any signs of people around. I could hear my brothers’ voices, but they were relatively muffled like they were behind a closed door. That would work to my benefit, and though my heart was pounding so fast I thought I would die any second, I took a deep breath in and held it as I slowly crouched my way down the stairs. Fortunately, they were new stairs, and Vincent hated anything old or old-sounding, including the creaks and moans of an old home, so the stairs were silent as I descended.
When I hit the landing at the bottom, I cupped my hands over my mouth and let out the breath I was holding and then took another one in and held it. My brothers’ office wasdirectlyto my left, with the door cracked open and a little bit of light spilling out. All I had to do was get away from that door, cross through the kitchen, get out the back door, and rush into the woods. The property wasn’t fenced in the back and should be relatively easy to traverse. Once I was outside, I would feel better, it was getting out there without making any noise that was the issue.
“That feels unnecessary,” I heard Anton say. “So long as we can get rid of the other two, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“No. She’s too much of a risk now. You can see it in her eyes, he got to her. She’s been lying to us since the moment she got here,” Vincent replied.
I knew I was supposed to be making my escape, but it sounded like my brothers were talking about me. The fact that they were also talking aboutgetting ridof someone was what gave me pause.
It didn’t sound like ‘get rid of’ in the ‘disappear from the media’ sense.
“Listen, we have to draw the line somewhere. She’s our sister,” Anton said. “Even if he got to her, we can still sway her back in our direction. It won’t be difficult to convince her that he’s dangerous and whatever he told her is a lie. I don’t want to kill her. She’s innocent in all of this.”
The wordkillnearly brought a scream out of me. I clasped my hands on my mouth and tried to keep myself together. I knew it, I wasn’t safe with my brothers. They were planning to kill me, or at least Vincent was, and he was the one calling the shots.
“She’s not innocent anymore,” Vincent said. “It’s unfortunate that she got mixed up in all of this, but she never liked us much, to begin with. If it comes down to a choice between him and us, she’ll choose him. Who knows what she’s already told him about us. We need to cut this wound off at the infection. It can’t be saved.”
Anton let out a dark sigh. “If you hadn’t been so shitty to her all the time, it wouldn’t even have been an issue. I keep telling you that if you were just a little more willing to play nice, you’d get further in life.”
“I don’t like playing nice,” Vincent spat back. “I do fine playing mean.”
“So, what? We’ll kill herandCurtis. There’s no way the cops won’t link it back to us,” Anton said.
They were planning on killing my dad too?! “You heard her. That old idiot took out a loan from Gio. We’ll kill them both and pin the entire thing on the Raines’. Once Gio is behind bars, we won’t have any trouble getting him killed, then we’ll just be down to dealing with Merrick, and that should be easy enough with help.”
“I don’t like this plan,” Anton said.
“Do you have an alternative?” Vincent asked. There was silence and Vincent said, “Exactly. Go check on her again.”
“I just did it,” Anton hissed.
