Page 4 of The Silence of Monsters

Winnie started sobbing in earnest, and Channing rushed around the ugly couch to wrap her in a tight hug.

I frowned and exchanged a confused look with Rocco. “Boarding school in Switzerland?” This was the first time I’d heard anything about it.

Channing glared at me over the top of our niece’s head and mouthed, “Your mother.”

Of course it was my mother.

I was her primary guardian. I had full legal custody of Winnie, but my mother often acted like she was in charge of dictating the direction of Winnie’s life. I was all too familiar with the way Colette Halliday micromanaged and steamrolled through every situation.

Winnie was right. I’d been working far more than normal lately because I shared her hatred of being at our house. I’d chosen to run away, too. It was hypocritical to blame my niece for doing the same thing.

I sighed and reached up to loosen my tie. I rushed to Channing’s apartment as soon as I hung up from her call. I still had a meeting tonight that I’d moved to a video conference after I decided to get Winnie myself. I hadn’t had time to eat anything or think about this entire situation rationally yet. It was easiest to blame Winnie and Channing. It was much harder to look at the history of prejudice and judgment between our families and realize that the fault was related to a much bigger, lingering issue.

“No one is sending you to boarding school.” Winnie currently attended one of the best private schools in the country. My mother threatening to send her away was nothing more than her being petty and mean. She ruled through intimidation. I often wondered if she was so stern because she married into the Halliday empire. It wasn’t one she conquered with her own prowess. My mother’s family was well-off but came nowhere near the prestige and power the Hallidays held in the palms of their hands. It always seemed like she had more to prove since she didn’t start out with the same legacy Winnie and I had, even if we were all part of the same family. “I’m sorry that I’ve been so busy at work. I’ll do better. I promise I will listen to whatever you have to say.”

My niece sniffled, but she didn’t stop crying. Channing gave me a pointed look as she continued to soothe her.

“Your aunt and I will discuss things on another day. We’ll see what we can do about seeing her more often. Right now, you need to focus on school. If you don’t want to do all the activities your grandmother signed you up for, we can figure that out. But you can’t just do nothing. You’re more ambitious than that. Those activities not only give you skills that might be useful in the future, they teach you about time management and how to stick to something challenging. When you get older, you can’t just quit something because you don’t enjoy it.”

Channing scoffed loudly. “That’s bullshit. One of the best parts of being an adult is quitting things that don’t bring you joy. Why should you force yourself to stick with something that sucks when there are a million other options out there to explore?”

I wanted to roll my eyes at the naïve comment. “Maybe in your world people can jump from one thing to the next with no thought to the consequences. That isn’t an applicable mindset for normal adults.”

I’d never wanted to take over the family business. I had no interest in real estate development or land management. I despised towering skyscrapers that felt like glass and steel coffins. I loathed that I was so busy running the company, I missed everything happening with my family. My commitments were skewed from the minute I was thrust into society. I had different ambitions for myself before I even understood that what I wanted to do with my life was never my choice.

Though my mother forced me to learn to play the violin as a child, I loved it. I was better than good at it. I foolishly aspired to be a classically trained musician and play with a renowned orchestra. My future, never being my own, was the hardest part of being a Halliday.

Shortly after the fire and death of my brother, my father, who had a chronic heart condition, passed away. The old man’s health had been on the decline ever since Archie returned home, which was something my mother happily blamed on my brother’s young bride. If I’d refused to take over the role of CEO when my mother started pressuring me, it wasn’t only my immediate family who would have suffered. Thousands of employees and shareholders would lose everything. There wasn’t a single point in my forty-three years of life where I’d ever had the option to walk away from something I didn’t enjoy. I had to stick with it for the greater good. Like it or not, so would Winnie. She was next in line to take over everything.

“If being a normal adult means being miserable every single day, I’ll pass. Just agree to let Winnie see me once a month, and we can resolve this situation without further issue. Stop being so uptight, Chester.”

I gritted my teeth when Channing used my most hated nickname. I refused to react, because that’s what she wanted. “This is far from resolved. Winnie ran away from home. She put herself in danger. She came to the city without permission and lost her phone. If something happened, she wouldn’t have a way to contact me or call for help. She hasn’t been making good decisions lately. I expect more from her.”

“Your expectations are exactly why she’s making dangerous choices to have a taste of freedom. You and your mother need to lighten up. She’s just a kid.”

I opened my mouth to continue arguing. Channing was the one person who snapped my patience in half without trying. The words never made it out because Rocco tapped my shoulder and reminded me that we still had to drive back to the Cove, where I had another video conference scheduled. If we didn’t leave now, we wouldn’t get home until dawn.

“Kids need to know they can’t always get what they want, especially when their last name is Halliday. A lesson that’s much easier to learn when you’re young. We have to go. Come with me, Winnie. Don’t make me haul you out of here in an uncouth manner. We’re both better than that.”

I could tell Winnie didn’t want to leave. She was still crying. Channing whispered something into the girl’s ear, and she decisively pulled herself together enough to move next to me. She waved to her aunt and followed me out of the apartment like a prisoner who was walking toward her execution. I wanted to offer a hug or some gesture of solace, but it was obvious my niece was angry at me and wouldn’t appreciate me touching her.

On the way to the blacked-out SUV, my phone rang. I glanced at the screen, and when I saw it was my mother calling, I wanted to throw the phone into the nearest gutter and forget about it.

Rocco helped Winnie into the car, and I motioned for him to give me a minute while I answered the call. If I ignored her, she would keep calling me, and the people around me, until she got the information she was looking for. The woman was exhausting.

“Did you find the girl?” My mother’s accent was similar to Winnie’s, but her tone was sharp enough to cut through skin and bones.

“Of course I found her. We’re on the way back to the Cove now.”

“She was with that horrid woman, wasn’t she? That family has always been a problem for us.” I could hear the scorn dripping from every word she spoke.

I rubbed my forehead and tried to ignore the tension pulling at the back of my neck. “Winnie is part of that family regardless of how you feel about it, Mother. The more you try to erase Channing’s existence, the more curious Winnie’s going to be. The more you disparage her mother and her mother’s family in front of her, the more she’s going to seek someone who has a different opinion.”

“They destroyed your brother. I will not let them ruin that little girl as well. They’re all crazy.”

I swore under my breath and reached deep for the last scraps of my patience. It was hard to fight back against those claims when my mother knew that Channing’s mom had been institutionalized, and her sister had shown obvious signs of mental instability throughout her relationship with my brother.

I pushed back with something that couldn’t be disputed. “You don’t get to decide who is allowed in Winnie’s life; I do.” And while I didn’t have high expectations for Channing Harvey, I knew she would never harm my niece. Anyone with eyes could see she loved the young woman with her whole heart. I couldn’t say the same thing about my mother. She looked at Winnie like she was a chore that needed to be checked off a lengthy list.

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