“We’ll have lunch as soon as we get to the house,” I said. “How’s a turkey sandwich sound?”
Ruthie seemed to be debating whether or not that sounded alright when Benji grabbed my arm, “Sammich?”
I nodded. Well, maybe he does know English. “Yeah. You like turkey sandwiches?”
“Sammich!” He said, bouncing on his toes, his grip on my arm tightening as he kept his balance. “Want sammich!”
Seb joined us holding up a set of keys. “All set.”
I nodded and pulled out my phone. “I’ll text you the address. It’s not too far. Only about a twentyish minute drive once you get out of the airport.”
Seb nodded and I helped Benji down to the floor. “Do you want help getting everything into the car?”
“No, we’re good,” Eden said, grasping Benji’s hand. “Go meet up with Mom and Dad. We’ll see you at the house.”
I nodded and gave a final wave before turning on my heel and towards the short-term parking garage where the rest of the family was waiting.
???
My hands were fidgeting with the can of soda in front of me on the island. We’d just finished lunch, and I was alone withSebastian at the island counter. The tension was palpable and I couldn’t stop myself from breaking the silence.
“Hey, I have kind of a random question.”
“Yeah, what’s up?” Sebastian asked with an interested gaze.
“Um, so, it’s about Shiloh and her brother.”
Sebastian swallowed, blinking in surprise. “Okay,” he said slowly. “What about them?”
I sighed, my stomach flipping with nervousness. “Did you know that he abused her?”
Sebastian looked like I had slapped him as he flinched at the question. “Wh-what? Where the hell did you get that idea?”
I licked my lips and cleared my throat. “Shiloh told me…before she died.”
Sebastian adjusted his position in his chair, brows furrowed in disbelief and confusion. “What exactly did she say?”
“It was more like what I saw. She had cigarette burns on her, and she tried explaining it to me, justifying her brother’s actions, but he was the one who did it to her. Said it was supposed to make her stronger and learn not to cry.”
Sebastian frowned, his eyes dropping to the counter as he stared in thought.
“I had no idea,” he said with a sigh. “I mean, he was intense. Acted more like her father than her brother, and I guess you could call it sparring or wrestling or whatever, he wanted to make sure she could defend herself when she was home alone. But…he burned her, on purpose?”
“Among other things,” I said with a solemn nod. “She said he used to give her lessons in how to not cry when she was in pain, that it started when she was eight, that she was the one to initially ask him to do it—to burn her, but it sounded like it escalated from there as she got older.”
“Jesus, eight? That would’ve made us twelve or thirteen.” He shook his head. “Yeah, man, I had no clue.”
“You never suspected that he was, I don’t know, a little off in the head maybe?”
“No,” Sebastian said adamantly. “He loved Shiloh. I mean, like, he practically raised her. Their dad,” he scoffed, “their dad was a real piece of shit.”
He winced glancing around the room to make sure none of the littles heard him, and I followed his gaze, both of us relaxing when we realized they were ingulfed in a particularly loud game of Jenga with Baba and Esty.
“Yeah, I gathered as much. I, um…sorry if this is intrusive, but I heard from Jae about your family’s involvement with this gang in the area. Los Siete?”
Sebastian’s face scrunched with regret.
“I’m sorry about that. My mom told me Jae had called and was asking questions about the gang. Is everything alright?”
