Page 79 of For The Record

“Sorry,” Skye says, blushing slightly.

I clamber off of the floor, and my girlfriend, as Raina notices the key. She picks it up, twirling it around her finger. “What’s that?”

“Nothing,” I say, reaching out for it. “Give it back.”

If Skye is tenacious, Raina can be a pit bull when it comes to getting what she wants. I realized that after telling her she couldn’t get a nose ring.

“Since it’s nothing, why can’t I keep it?” she asks innocently.

“Raina, just give it back.” I make a move to grab it, but she sidesteps me.

“Your fly is unzipped,” she says, a classic lie that I happen to fall for every time.

When I look down, she’s already tucked the key into her bra. I groan. I am not fighting anyone for the key now.

Smirking, Raina asks Skye, “What’s the key for?”

Skye’s gaze darts between me and my sister, like,should I tell her?Raina has been keeping Antonio Perez’s wedding invite in her bag. But we never spoke about it. Maybe because I never gave her a chance to. Maybe if we don’t speak the truth now, the distances between us will continue to build up, until one day we will forget what pushed us so far away.

“It’s a safe deposit box,” I say. “Antonio left it to me.”

I don’t know what to call him. Certainly not Dad, since that’s who Ricardo was to us. And I don’t want to call him my father, even if that’s what he is. Calling him a sperm donor is too clinical, too simple for all these messy emotions that are attached to his name.

“Oh.” Raina plays with her split ends. “Can we go see it?”

Skye goes into the kitchen, saying something about leaving us alone.

I stare at my little sister, the past and the future hanging between us. To be honest, I just want to put all of this behind us. If going to the safe deposit box will let us get closure about my father who was never really a father, then we should do it. “Sure.”

“When?” she asks, her eyes lighting up. I notice the tiny stud in her nose, a diamond sparkling.

“Right now,” I say, checking the opening hours for the Ultra Vault. “Get your jacket.”

“Now?” Raina’s already opening the closet and pulling out a fleece hoodie, excitement rolling off of her in waves.

“Did I stutter?” I say. “Skye, are you coming?”

I hear a splash and a mumbled curse. Peering into the kitchen, I see water spilled onto the counter and an overturned glass. Skye mops up the mess with a paper towel. “Isn’t this a family thing?”

My eyes meet hers. “You’re my family, you know that?”

She smirks, one side of her mouth lifting, but her eyes are filled with this genuine warmth that I rarely see in anyone these days. “I’ll hold you to that.”

#

Ultra Vault is open 24/7, which leads me to believe that it’s some kind of sketchy convenience store with a few safety boxes in the back and a cashier who’s constantly getting held up by ski mask-wearing robbers.

But, Antonio Perez, Oscar-winning film director and billionaire a-hole would never so much as spit in such a shady place, let alone store something there. So, of course, it’s a place with branches in London and Singapore. Armed security guards patrol the building, there are receptionists in suits and heels, gleaming marble floors, and an espresso machine sits in one corner of the room.

When I walk in, the woman behind the desk, a petite woman with a blunt, blond bob, looks up and recognizes me immediately. “Hello, Mr. Perez. We’ve been expecting you. Your father told us you would be coming. But first, I would like to see some ID.”

An uncanny feeling washes over me. We all pass over our IDs. I try to suppress my annoyance at the fact that my father is presumptuous enough to assume that I would come here. And I’m almost mad at myself for feeling that expectation. I see Skye exchange glances with Raina that remind me of how close they have become in the past few weeks. Raina quickly plasters on a sullen, bored, unimpressed teenage expression before anyone can catch her looking at the Swarovski chandeliers and dazzling decor.

“Right this way,” the receptionist says, her name tag reading Maya in capital letters. She passes back the IDs and marches down the tiled hallway toward an elevator. Maya opens the door for us to get in before entering after us.

Skye whispers to me, “I feel like I’m in Gringotts right now.”

Raina makes a befuddled expression. I don’t think she’s seen a single Harry Potter movie, let alone touched the books. Her confusion forces me to fight back a laugh. A smile plays on Skye’s lips.

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