Page 26 of Played By the Fool

“NO! HE TAKES EVERYTHING FROM ME. WEREN’T YOU LISTENING?” Paul yells as he slaps me again. “You’re dumber than I thought you’d be. When I get Kali here, I’m sure she’ll understand what I’m saying. I only need you to keep me company till I get her. She’s the one we love most.”

Yeah. He’s crazy and I don’t know how to get myself out of this. Suddenly, I remember that Ciarán was on his way back here. But he won’t know where I am. And Frank, I hope he’s okay. I watch Paul stomp up the stairs like a child throwing a tantrum. I spend some time wriggling my hands, trying to get the rope looser. It feels like it might be working, but then again, my hands are going a little numb. So that might be why it feels that way.

I need to find a way to get to Ciarán. That’s when I realize there’s something in my pocket. I think it’s my phone. But I need to get my damn hands free so I can use it.

It takes me a while, but I finally get my hands free and pull my phone out. I don’t want to make any noise. So I decide to text him.

Emilia: Ciarán, I hope you get this. Please don’t text me back. It’s not John. He has a twin, Paul. I don’t think John knows about him. Paul took me and I don’t know where I am. I’m scared

Chapter Thirteen

Ciarán

I frown as I feel my phone buzzing in my pocket. When I see Emilia’s name, I yell for everyone and show them the text.

“Fuck! Why didn’t we think of tracing her phone earlier?” Salvatore snaps as he starts a trace on her phone.

“I didn’t think she had it on her. Whoever this Paul is? He’s an idiot for not taking it from her,” Sebastiano adds, sounding exasperated but relieved..

“Celestino, take Keegan, Carmelo and Lorenzo. Go to John’s house and bring him back here. Now,” Zio Giacomo says.

“Sì, Papá.” Celestino nods as they all leave.

“Tell me what I can do. I can’t just sit here and watch you guys do all the work.” I frown at everyone.

“You can help me search for Paul and whatever information we can find on him,” Sebastiano says.

He shows me how to use specific words to search for information. Between Sebastiano, Francesco, Salvatore and me, we finally find some information on John and Paul. They are identical twins born to Roland and Kathleen Mulberry. Theydivorced when the boys were a year old. Roland’s brother is a judge and he ruled that one boy would live with Kathleen and the other would live with Roland. That there would be no visitation between the two. How they got away with that is beyond me. The records show that when Paul was two, his mother took him to the ER for a broken arm. She said he fell off the swings at the park. They were assigned a social worker and that social worker made a few home visits. She deemed Kathleen a fit mother and closed the case. There are no other records of Paul going to the doctor—or to school. He seems to have slipped into the abyss of neglect.

I want to feel sorry for Paul, but can’t let myself, because he has Emilia. And even though she was able to text me, I don’t know if she’s really okay. She asked me not to text her back and it’s taking every ounce of will power I have not to.

“I found her. Her phone is pinging off this cell tower. I’m working on getting an exact location,” Salvatore tells us.

“Did you know about his brother?” I ask Kali.

She shakes her head no. “John must have heard wrong about being adopted. Cause you’re saying Roland is his biological father, right?”

“Yes. Maybe Roland was talking about Paul? It doesn’t look like he ever tried to contact Kathleen or Paul.”

“That’s really sad. Who walks away from their child? And on top of that, who splits up identical twins?” I blurt out.

“It looks like Kathleen was diagnosed with schizophrenia about ten years ago. Paul would’ve been fifteen at the time. I still can’t find anything on Paul. It’s like she hid him away.”

“We’re fucking morons. Does Kathleen own or rent a house?” Enea asks.

Sebastiano looks at his papá, then turns back to his computer again, muttering something about why didn’t he think of that.

The others come back with John. His hands are tied and he has a bloody nose. Celestino has a bruise forming on his cheek.

“Dumbass thought he could take Celestino.” Lorenzo laughs. “You can see how well that worked out for him.”

“Fuck you. Now tell me why you broke into my house and assaulted me.”

“No one assaulted you, shithead. You swung at me before I could even tell you why we were there.”

“Sit the fuck down and shut up,” Enea snaps at John.

John’s eyes get bigger as he finally takes a good look at everyone around him. Each of them have at least three inches and fifty pounds on him. He’s stupid to think he can take any of them. He finally sits down and shuts up.

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