Page 53 of Chasing Danger

If she expected that to calm me down, it failed. In fact, it only made me angrier. I clenched my hand so hard around the cup that the porcelain cracked.

“I could believe that, but what about Rowan? He was only a baby. There’s no way Dad didn’t realize he was in the house.”

My mother startled so badly she spilled her tea over the table. Brown liquid slowly seeped into the tablecloth, creating a stain that looked vaguely like a heart.

Nana stood and grabbed a wet towel from the sink to start cleaning up the stain. “It was probably meant to be one last gift for the family.”

I watched her hands rubbing back and forth at the stain, and my stomach seemed to roll with the same rhythm.

“What do you mean gift? How could anything about this be considered a gift?”

The stain was better, but still present when Nana returned to the sink and rinsed out the rag.

“My son didn’t always make good choices, but he did care about his family in his own way. Rowan’s condition is expensive. He probably wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be burdened with that expense after he was gone.”

It took me a moment to realize what she was saying, but when I did, fury boiled my blood in my veins. My own father had intentionally tried to kill my brother, all in order to “save” us from having to deal with his condition. The coward stole from the Mafia and ran away for his own selfish reasons, then decided he could kill two birds with one house fire, securing his escape and getting rid of my brother at the same time.

“What the hell?”

The words echoed what I was thinking, but I wasn’t the one who said them.

Off to the side, the door to the kitchen swung open to reveal Rowan, who must have been eavesdropping from the other room.

“Dad didn’t... he didn’t really... he couldn’t have...”

Although he was a teenager, the tears that welled up in his eyes at that moment made him look like the same helpless child I’d carried out of the fire.

I jumped up from my chair to comfort him, but the moment my feet hit the floor the whole room spun. Desperately clutching at the table to try and stay upright, I looked over to see my mother slumped in her seat. The heart shaped stain, still only half cleaned, lay under her unconscious cheek.

Weakness hit me like a wave, making my whole body go numb. I collapsed, but just before I hit the ground, oddly, soft hands grabbed me and guided me down gently. My vision had already failed, and everything blurred together, so I couldn’t see who held me, but I felt someone tugging at the button on my shirt with the hidden camera.

I tried to protest, but I didn’t manage anything more than a useless croaking sound before my voice failed as well.

Then, like sinking into the depths of the ocean, everything faded to black.

CHAPTER 22

Oliver

The floor was moving.

When I opened my eyes, everything around me seemed to be shifting back and forth. I felt dizzy, and nauseous, and my head was pounding so badly that I was surprised it wasn’t leaking out of my eyes.

I was also sitting up. It was a strange position to wake up in, and I blinked dumbly at the sight of my own hands for several moments before I realized what I was seeing. I was tied to a chair, with my wrists bound to the armrests and my ankles bound to the metal legs.

The light around me kept shifting. My head lolled on my neck, so I was staring at the floor, and I watched as my own shadow stretched and shrunk. At first, I thought it was due to the dizziness I felt, maybe I was hallucinating, until I mustered up enough strength to look up.

A light hung from the ceiling above me, and it was swaying back and forth.

I felt even more nauseous just looking at it.

“Finally awake.”

The unexpected voice startled me, but I didn’t have enough energy to flinch. A woman I’d never met before stepped into my view. She had a barely noticeable Russian accent, and in some ways reminded me of Eva, but even more intense.

I didn’t bother to respond. Her words hadn’t actually been a question, so she wasn’t looking for an answer. Plus, my mouth was so dry, I doubted I could speak anyway.

Grabbing the back of the chair I was tied to, she spun me around to face the rest of the room.

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