Page 340 of Bad for Me

“Why do you have Fred’s kids tied up?” Dalia removes her arms from around my waist, and the happiness that she had a second ago is gone.

“Fred called me and told me to take him for insurance against his stupid ass wife. I didn’t feel like taking Jacob was enough, so I took Magnolia too.”

“Fred is the bad guy in this, you know that, right? He’s used us to make sure we were always indebted to him for favors.”

I run a hand through my hair and don’t move to untie the kids. There’s only one way to fix this. I’m going to have to tell Rosie where her children are. She will have a conniption fit. Hell, they don’t even know me or Dalia.

“Eh, so what? We are blood.”

“So are they!” I bellow, and she jumps. Her eyes squint, and I know she knows something is up.

“Where’s Fred?”

“Dead.”

The kids stop moving and look at us now. Their focus isn’t on the pain or the fear. Hell, I shouldn’t have said that out loud.

“What the fuck do you mean he’s dead. Is Rosie gone too?”

Dalia looks at me, eyes wide, but there’s not a single drop of grief in her stare. Fuck, our entire family is a big wad of issues.

“I killed him.”

Magnolia starts moving again, and I walk over to her. Taking the gag off her, she looks at me. “Did you kill our mom too?”

There’s so much pain in her voice as she thinks about her parents’ deaths. “Are you sad because your father is dead, or is that grief in there because of your precious momma?”

If she tells me it’s for Fred, I may kill her, too. Rosie deserves loyalty and love.

“Momma. Please, tell me she’s not dead. Our father hates her guts. We don’t even know who you two are, but please, we… Please, is she alive?”

Tears run down her face, and my heart breaks in two with love for this young lady. I don’t answer her as I walk over to her brother and untie him. I need to know what his grief is about.

“You son of a bitch, let me go. I’ll kill you all if our mom is dead.” The venom coming from him mimics mine, and I smile down at him.

“No need for that. She’s alive.”

Dalia gasps and tries to move, but I don’t let her. Pulling the gun from my back, I aim it at her. “Don’t make me shoot you, Dalia.”

Her hands rise, and she looks hurt. I know better. She has absolutely no remorse or fear for anything except our brother. “How could you kill him?”

“Fred set me up all those years ago to take the fall for a rape I didn’t commit. He set me up again in prison, trying to have me killed multiple times. When he didn’t succeed, he used me as an informant to get information on the gangs and what they were running. Since he was going to frame his wife’s murder on me, I thought it the perfect opportunity to get rid of him.”

“You are a monster, just like Fred said.” Dalia spits at me and reaches behind her back.

“Watch out,” Magnolia screams as Dalia throws two knives my way. I pull the trigger and duck out of the way.

The knives stick to the far side of the room’s wall. That’s not what I’m worried about. I didn’t want to kill Dalia. She’s my little sister, but the woman in front of me isn’t the sweet kid I left when I went away.

Collecting the knives, I place one next to Jacob and one to Magnolia. The only way I know their names is because Fred used to send me letters bitching about his children. What kind of man hates his own children? A few days ago, I would have said a sane one. Now, I know I’m fucked up. Because those emotions have changed.

Walking around the bed, I check on Dalia. There’s a bullet hole in her forehead, and I let the lone tear fall for her. A tear for the memories I have of us playing in the backyard and being carefree.

“First thing you are going to do is help me get her body out of this room. Once that’s done, we are going to clean this room top to bottom so that we leave no trace of us ever being here.”

Looking at both of them, I can’t help but take in their features. Magnolia is a replica of Rosie.Damn, they could pass for twins.Jacob looks a lot like Fred, but he has Rosie’s eyes. They are nodding their heads, but I want their words. “Do you understand me?”

Magnolia gulps, but she purses her lips like she’s made some kind of internal decision. “Yes.”

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