“Mel, I’m so glad you’re up!” Baffled I turn my head to see Luke’s face leaning on my shoulder. That sweet cookie smell all kids seem to have displaces the moldy one from the room.
“Luke? What the hell is going on?” I try to find Kiara’s hands and then I clutch onto them, trying to combine our strengths.
“I think Harry drugged and kidnapped us. It’s the only thing that makes sense,” she says softly. I think back and I remember the car … there was an accident.
“Drugged?” I repeat, trying to get my mind into place.
“You think it could harm the bean?” Kiara sounds worried and now I’m thinking the same thing. My hands move over my tummy protectively.
“Let’s hope it’s okay.”
“What bean?” Luke asks scrunching his nose.
“A magic one,” I answer quickly, to which he rolls his eyes saying “Whatever.”
“Are you hurt?” I ask. A dim pain throbs in my left wrist and after I do a quick recall, I’m pretty sure it’s broken or at least badly bruised. And I lost my watch.
“Nothing life-threatening on my side and Luke is fine.” I scan over them, just to reassure myself, but even though Kiara has some blood and bruises on her face and arms, she seems to be alright.
I can see through the window that day is turning to night. Even if nobody realizes that Kiara and I are missing, they’ll definitely be looking for Luke.
“They’ll come for us, don’t worry,” I say and Luke puts his arms around me and leans against my chest.
“I’m not worried. Damion and Alejandro will kick their buts!” I smile at his total trust in his big brothers and the way he’s trying to comfort me.
“Let’s see if we can find a way out.” I get off the bed and take small steps forward, trying to navigate in the dark room.
“I think I found a light!” I softly mumble to my co-captures, trying to sound enthusiastic and brave. I feel around with my fingers and find something that might be a switch. I flick it and a not-so-very-bright light fills up the room and relief spools over me. At least we can see a bit better now.
Suddenly an ear-piercing gut-wrenching scream sounds up just outside the door to our left and we all cover our ears for a few seconds.
“What the fu … frick?” I change the word just in time, not wanting to swear in front of Luke, but he’s way too observant. Guess it runs in the family too.
“Don’t worry, I’m not a kid anymore … I’ve heard the word loads of times.” He smirks at me and I mess up his hair even more. A key turns in the the door, where the scream just came from, and instinctively I move a few steps back, getting between the door and the bed.
I try to hide Luke behind me but the dude is at that stage where boys are more brave than bright. And if I have to ponder about it … they seem to get stuck there. Men never grow up – at least not the ones I have in my life.
I anxiously watch the door open – slowly with a creaking sound from years of neglect. Grandpa on Mom’s side has the same noise in his knees.
A big ugly beast steps in, bold with a beard, and moves to the side, making space for none other than Harry to enter, his dark eyes piercing right through me, sending chill after chill down my spine.
“Ah, you’re awake. At last, my son got the dosage right … I think he might have slightly overdosed you at the club last time. He said you had some horrible hallucinations.”
“You think.” I was seeing worms. And clowns. Ugly frickin clowns.
“It happens. Sorry about that.” He shrugs his shoulders. “No harm done.”
“You are one ugly son-of-a-bitch,” Luke reports as he grabs my arm in a tight clutch.
Harry moves those dark eyes to the boy. I’m trying to cover him, but the lad is not cooperating, and he wiggles his way off the bed to stand beside me.
“You know,” Harry declares with a gruff voice, “I’ve never believed in punishing the child for the sins of his father.” It hits me solidly – he knows about Luke. That Garcia is his real dad. Icy fingers grab around my throat and my breath hitches, waiting for that ‘but’ to call our fate.
“But -” and there it is. “Your daddies taught me that there are no moral codes in war.” I start to hyperventilate. Is he going to do something to Luke?
“They scarred my children, broke them. And now I’m going to do the same. One son of each monster will suffer.” So Luke … and one of my brothers. But which one?
“My father is a doctor,” Luke replies proudly, “He doesn’t sin. He helps people.” Poor boy knows nothing.
“If only he was your real daddy … you would not be here. But unfortunately, we can’t choose our fathers -” Harry steps forward and eyeballs me. “Can we, Melaena?”
Luke looks up at me with questions in his hazel eyes – that he got from his real dad. Questions I’m not sure I can answer right now.
“Who?” I bravely look Harry in the eyes. I have to know which one of us is taking the rap for our father.
“It wasn’t a hard choice,” his eyes glaze with hate. I know that look. It’s the same one Jackson gets when you mention Alexander. “Your actor brother raped my little girl. Took her virginity and threw her out like trash.” Enrique? He would never do that. I know my brothers are man-whores at best … but they won’t rape anyone.
“Enrique won’t do that,” Kiara says coldly. Harry just snorts out an abhorred laugh that leaves me cold. “And yet he did.” We won’t convince him, I realize that. His crazy daughter must have lied to him. Spin him a sop story.
“Are you going to kidnap Enrique too?” I ask, but he gives a dismissive hand gesture and glares at the egghead at the door. The man seems self-condemnatory, unmistakably avoiding Harry’s eyes.
“My S. T. U. P. I. D men,” he growls harshly, “Grabbed the wrong fucking twin! Again.” The hairless brute twitches slightly and shuffles his feet. “But they will fix their mistake,” he sneers, still eyeballing the red-faced jittery imbecile. If they grabbed the wrong twin … it means Jackson is here.
Jackson, he has Jackson! I put my hands in my hair, pulling it while I let out a helpless grunt. Kiara pumps me in the ribs and I look at her face. She wiggles her eyes at me and says, “Mel, they have J. a. c. k. s. o. n,” pulling out my brother’s name.
Yeah, I know. She bumps me again and gestures with her eyes. And then I get it … Jackson … my crazy psycho brother … who will definitely do something unexpected. He might just be the miracle we need.
“Yeah,” Harry pipes. “I don’t know what to do with that one.” He lifts his chin and tries to smile, but the scars on his face contract, keeping his mouth in a straight line. It looks off.
“He is a loose canon … and my son wants him dead too. But the kids will have to choose … one corpse each.” I’m not even sure what that means.
“Oh, how noble of you,” I flap. His eyes are hazed as if he’s seeing a vision. He blinks a few times and then looks at me.
“I told you before, my kids have their own agendas …” He sighs deeply. “I can’t withhold them from taking a little revenge. They need it as much as I do.”
My heart falls into my shoes. This kidnapping … us … it is not looking good. They can … and will … use us as leverage to get what they want. We need to figure something out. To start, knowing more about Harry’s plan is key.
“So you do all this for revenge?” Throwing a person off guard is the best way to get information … a hint from Jackson. “Hurting innocent people. You’re acting exactly the same as Alexander.” It hits a nerve.