Page 5 of The Spare
Donna takes a deep breath, rocking in her seat in a self-soothing motion reminiscent of Melody and Isobel's anxious mannerisms.
"Claudio hunted us down and found us before I could tell Maximus that I was expecting Melody."
My father's posture visibly tightens, and the energy shifts once more. My eyes flit, seeing Father look sharply at Uncle William whose lips tighten, but he doesn't tear his eyes from Donna. Donna continues speaking, effectively bringing my attention back to her.
"He broke into our home one night, and attacked Maximus while we were asleep. And, while I was fleeing with Isobel-again-I heard a gunshot. I didn't turn back. I was too scared, and Max was yelling forus to run." Donna blinks, rolling her lips as an embarrassed expression graces her features.
She squeezes her eyes shut, and though I find myself sympathizing with her pain, my mind races, winding through the hallways of my parent's home to where I know Melody's bedroom is. The fact she's been alone for this long doesn't sit right with me, but Donna begins speaking again, bringing my attention back to her.
"The years crawled by, and I didn't hear from Max. Not one time. I'd assumed he'd died, until a couple weeks before Isobel's eighteenth birthday. A note showed up at my door instructing us to move to New York into the Balducci territory. It wasn't signed, but I could tell from the handwriting it was Maximus…" she goes silent as she brings the tissue up to wipe at her face. "But he never came back."
"It was probably a good thing you did, and got under the protection of the Balducci territory. It bought you a few years until you had the resources to fight back." Uncle William's voice rings out, drawing everyone's attention. "You were smart to come here."
My eyes go past Donna to the leather sitting area where my Uncle sits half in shadow on the opposite side of the wall from me.
He'd been silent this entire time, unsure of how his presence would be tolerated. But his gaze remains hard on Donna, where it's been since he first laid eyes on her.
Donna shakes her head rapidly. "You don't understand!" she says, turning in her seat to throw half-crazed, red-rimmed eyes at Father. "He will steal Melody just to get back at Maximus! I'd always told her he was dead. It was easier than trying to explain all of this to her. How could I explain she had a father that I couldn't find and wasn't even for sure that he was alive?" She takes a deep breath, bowing her head. "I couldn't even wrap myownhead around it, much less find a way to tell her." Her eyes flick back up to Father's, who continues to listen with aquiet, reserved expression on his face. "But these people are dangerous, Richard. I don't think it's going to stop with Isobel."
Father sits back in his seat, scrubbing his hand across furrowed brows. Mine lower as well. King stays unmoving.
I speak up from the other side of the room. "Donna, you need to tell Melody."
Hendrix turns to face me now, the lines in his face etched deep with grief, his blue eyes are narrowed, causing my heart to skip a beat, freezing me in place.
"You. Will. Be. Quiet." The threatening growl in his dangerously quiet tone sends chills through my body, and I dig that paperclip just a bit deeper. Pain explodes through my finger, but I keep my expression impassive. "You have no fucking right to an opinion about any of this.Wewill decide what is shared and what is not.Iwill decide when you can have a goddamn say in anythingfrom now on."
An uncomfortable hush falls over the room as Hendrix and I keep our eyes locked. Father doesn't stand up for me, not that I really expect him to, but his emotional abandonment of me is highlighted even more in this moment. I continue to stare into Hendrix's eyes as pain fills me, because though we've had our differences, in the back of my mind Hendrix was always my protector, even if I didn't like how he went about it.
The man in front of me now isn't Hendrix. This isn't my brother.
This is a man who despises me.
I avert my gaze, ashamed of myself. Knowing that unless a miracle is granted to us, if Isobel never comes back to this family, then neither will I. Everything hinges on if we get her back. My chest tightens as a different type of terror fills my heart now to live alongside the grief that cripples me to the point I don't feel like I have anything worthwhile to give.
Useless, just like they've been calling me for years.
Madre turns in her seat to meet my eyes, but even she quickly averts her face to wipe her eyes, making me feel truly alone.
Overwhelmed, I push off the wall and pivot on my heel, pushing through the door and heading to the staircase which I know leads to Melody. I just need to check on her. Keeping my eyes pinned to the rug in front of me, I ignore the family portraits mounted on the walls as it's too painful to look at, not knowing if I'll ever be sitting for another one.
Somewhere along the way, before I was born, Uncle William stopped appearing in our family pictures, so I know it's not far-fetched that it could also be my future. The last one he'd sat for was when Madre was pregnant with Hendrix, almost thirty-eight years ago.
I nod at Stephen, Melody's security who is stationed outside the tall walnut door, and turn the knob. Letting myself in, I shrug off my jacket, hanging it up on the discrete hook and kick off my shoes in the tiny foyer that leads to the apartment sized guest wing of her suite.
Squinting my eyes against the dark, I walk deeper into the space and pause at the slight lump of her body in the king sized four-poster bed.
Gauzy white curtains hang down from the posts, partially obscuring her view from me as I walk further into the room. My steps hesitate when I hear a sniffle, and the closer I get to her, the tighter she curls in on herself. I feel a crack start in my heart, one I know might be permanent.
I pause just at the end, taking a deep steadying breath.
"Melody?" I call quietly. She doesn't answer. I bend forward, feeling along the covers until my hand grasps her foot and I squeeze, but she still doesn't respond. "Come on, butterfly. It's Masey." My breath hitches, but I don't have the pride anymore to care I'm emasculating myself. She needs me.
I need her.
At her continued silence, I glance behind me at the dark foyer and the heavy door that leads to the hallway, knowing at any moment one of our family members might come through. But I take a chance anyways and say fuck it. What are they going to do if they catch me alone with her? Kick me out of the family?
If Isobel dies, I'm as good as gone anyways.
