Page 22 of Roxanne

I made him the bad guy in the story where he should have been the hero.

My heart skips, because he followed me. He caught me, just like he always does. Just like he promised. Because even though everyone else abandoned me for years, Storm always came back. Maybe it’s time I stop running.

I said I was his. I think I meant it. I shouldn’t have run, but that's all I know how to do. It’s all I’ve ever done, but part of me knows that Storm will always catch me.

I head to the door and peek through the peephole. Maybe one of the guards needs something? I know Storm has a key since he told me how he discovered my phone…

“William?” I yelp. I open the door an inch and look through the crack, but my brother shoves it open, and steps inside. After the kidnapping, he helped Storm get me home, but he had to leave right away. Father had called him for a job, I assume, and I was too busy trying to climb inside Storm’s rib cage to notice.

“Rocks,” my brother greets, smiling like he didn’t just barge in completely unannounced. I check behind him, the guards, the ones I said were overkill, all nod their heads and look away. No sign of Storm though…

“What are you doing here?” I ask, eyes wide.

“I can’t come visit my baby sis?” he asks, and I shrug.

“Odd timing just for a visit. Weren’t you doing a job for Papa?” I look around, but even if my apartment wasn’t clean, Will wouldn’t care.

“I was. Came back to handle some things here and to check on you.” He smiles, but whenever my brother smiles, there's always a little bit of this void in his eyes.

“Well, you checked. I’m fine.” I grin, standing in front of the door and keeping it open. My brother lifts a brow, smirks, and just waits. I sigh heavily, letting it fall closed.

“Father has asked me to stick around. He wants me to keep my eye on you,” my brother sniffs, looking down at me. I frown.

My brother is an excellent liar. He’s an excellent actor and could be a star if he didn’t have void eyes. But when he lies to me, he has a tell. Because he doesn’t often lie - not to me anyway. With me, he’s always been more the type to bluntly deliver the truth, even if it hurts. He saves the fake sugary shit for people he doesn’t care about. For people he’d rather manipulate. He’s never needed to manipulate me to get what he wants though, so he never bothered to try.

I narrow my eyes on him, as he looks around the room some more.

“I know you’re lying,” I say, cutting right to it. Will curses.

“I’m getting better at deceiving you.” Will shrugs, and I roll my eyes.

“As if. I might be the only person you can’t lie to, big brother.”

“Correct. It’s highly aggravating,” my brother pauses. “Fine, but if Father asks, you don’t know shit.” Will flops down on my couch and lets out a huff. “Uncle Eli is back. He escaped, and we assume he’s going to be coming after you. Father is tying up loose ends and will be following me here shortly. Until then, Storm and I will be your ever-present shadows.”

“That's not funny…” I say, stepping away from him.

“It wasn’t a joke. We assumed Eli had been the one to take you. When we discovered he wasn’t, I spent the next two days elbows deep…uh, searching for information.” He clears his throat, and I try not to think about whatever he was going to say at first. “The people who took you may have been working for someone else, but more likely they were operating on shitty intel.”

“I don’t see what this has to do with a dead man…” I shake my head, refusing to say his name as if the whispered words might conjure him. “Father wouldn’t have let him live, but not only that, I watched Storm cut his throat…” Technically, I didn’t watch it, but I know he did.

“I told Father you deserved to know the truth. I could have delivered the news more gently, I suppose.” Will leans forward, watching me as the floor falls from under my feet, and I free-fall straight to hell. I lean against the wall for support as my mind goes foggy with blood, pain, and fear.

“He’s dead,” I insist, staring at my brother, watching him closely. He wouldn’t lie to me like this. Why does he think Eli is alive? I slide down the wall, landing hard on my ass.

“Storm didn’t cut deep enough. After Storm slit his throat, he called me. You went into shock, so I told him to get you out of there. When I arrived, Uncle Eli was still alive but was fading. Father instructed me to perform life-saving measures to keep him alive. So I did. Father has had him locked in a prison of sorts for the last few years. He recently managed to escape with the help of a now-dead guard,” Will says somewhat casually. His tone is so…unserious. This is the problem with my brother. He’s not great at picking up on the emotions of other people.

He’s a great big brother…sometimes.

“Alive?”

“Yes, Rocks. Alive.” Will stands and makes his way to me. He holds his hand out to me, and I take it, letting him pull me back up to my feet.

“I didn’t know.”

“As we’ve already established,” he grumbles, and I glare at him.

“Why?” I ask, scared to hear the answer.

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