If he’d had to predict their responses to the news, he would have been correct.Lennon got up and kicked the stool across the studio.Jordan didn’t move.Nikan cursed and paced.Elliott looked him straight in the eye.
“We need to think about what we’ve told him over the years.Like what does he actually know?”Dred explained.“We have to assume he knows everything about the last decade, but before that?”
They spent the next couple of hours going through what Sam knew.It was a helpful exercise.And while Sam didn’t know as much as they feared, he still knew enough to lay them wide open and bleeding to their fans.But Dred was more concerned with the personal cost.It sickened him that people might find out their personal histories.The effects could be destructive.
Dred’s phone pinged.
Easy to find.Four minutes past midnight.Let me know if you need anything else.
The head of security had attached a short video clip.There in the shadows of the arena, pointing his phone directly toward where Pixie and Dred were kissing, was Sam.
While they geared up for the one o’clock conference call with John, Dred excused himself to call Pix.She needed to know what was going on.As much as he hated dumping more shit on her, they’d promised to always share the good and the bad.He stepped outside the studio for some privacy and fresh air.He considered quickly running over to the condo.The studio they’d rented was only a block away, but he wasn’t sure if she was out for one of her walks with Petal.There was a message on his phone from her.
Hey Daddy, it’s Pixie and Petal.Can you say hi to Daddy?
He smiled as Petal started to join in on the call with her favorite ooh-ooh sound.She’d found her voice over the last week.
We miss you, Daddy.Have fun making songs for us to dance to.Pixie is making me a new dress.
Petal joined in again, as if motivated by Pixie.It was exactly what he needed to hear after everything he’d learned that morning.He made a decision to keep the news to himself until he got home that evening when he could tell Pixie in person.While he couldn’t think of a reason that Sam would include anything about Pixie in a tell-all, there would be blowback on them as a family.He heard a knock at the apartment door through the phone.
Okay, Daddy, we’re getting the door.We’ll speak to you tonight.
He heard her undo the locks.
Bye Daddy.Say bye-bye Petal.Let’s look and see who it is.
Then the door opened....
Look, Petal, Sam came to see ...Oh my God, Arnie.
Chapter Seventeen
Pixie tried to slam the door, but with a baby in her arms it was impossible to stop the two men from forcing their way into her home.She pulled Petal tightly against her chest.Obviously Arnie was there for her, but she couldn’t understand why Sam was.How did the two men even know each other?Was he really so concerned by her ability to distract Dred that he would go to these kind of lengths to get her out of the way?
Arnie stared at her, aggression seeping from him like a dense fog.He lurked in the entrance hall to the condo, never straying more than a foot or two away from the door, blocking her exit.Pixie tried to think of the best place to go.There was no way she could make it to the bathroom where she could lock herself in.Getting too close to the balcony doors didn’t seem like a smart idea either.She stepped toward the kitchen, hoping the marble island would put some space between them.
“Why are you here?”she asked, suddenly aware that she’d never hung up the phone on Dred’s voice mail.She placed the phone on the counter, hoping it would capture more of the conversation.
“I offered you a chance to pay up, Sarah-Jane,” Arnie said, taking a few steps toward her.
Petal started to whimper, and Pixie tried to relax her grip a little.She took a moment to look toward Sam, who was watching the exchange curiously.
“I gave you all I had,” she lied, praying desperately that her decision to call Arnie’s bluff wasn’t going to cause Dred’s daughter to come to any harm.
Arnie looked around the living room.“Maybe.But then I look around this place and I see youdidn’tgive me everything.So I decided to get my money another way.”
Pixie shook her head in disbelief.She needed to focus on keeping Petal safe and getting them both out of there.Arnie either didn’t know Brewster was alive, or he didn’t knowsheknew Brewster was alive.There would be no need to keep up the pretense otherwise.For now, she’d keep that information to herself.“Take the photograph to the police.I don’t care anymore.I’m not going to steal money from my friends, and I won’t let you extort them.”
“None of that matters now,” Arnie growled.“Sam and I came to a new arrangement.”
“What kind of arrangement?”Her entire body shook, and her heart raced so badly she feared she’d pass out.
“Arnie,” Sam warned, stepping around the other side of her.They were caging her in.“That’s enough.”
“No.It’s not enough.What’s happening?How do you know each other?”Pixie asked, hating the way her voice trembled with fear.“You have an arrangement?”She looked quickly between the two of them.
“Yes,” Sam admitted.“You’re going with Arnie, and I’m staying here with Petal.Give her to me.”
