Page 19 of The Broken Queen
I watched as my father surveyed the mess in front of him. A reddish pink flare filled his cheeks and neck. I cleared my throat and pressed on the gaping wound that had seemed to split open at the memory of this man apparently stalking our mother.
“If he’s dead and you put the bullet in his brain, then great. Let’s burn all this shit,” I warned.
Gio stepped closer, adding, “But if he’s not and there’s even a chance that he could be alive, then we need to find him, Dad. He needs to pay.”
I watched my father carefully as he scanned the things in front of him. The muscle in his jaw flexed, and he looked as though he were about to say something, but then his gaze snagged on a photo in the pile of our family laughing while at the beach. In the image, Dad was holding Gio while Alex was struggling to hold me.She was five or six, and we were just toddlers. The beach behind everyone was white sand with turquoise water.
“This was after…” Dad’s voice trailed off as he plucked the image from the pile of other photos.
“After what?” Gio asked.
Dad slowly stood while staring down at the picture before digging in the pile once more. I glanced at my brother to see if he was piecing anything together, but his brows were furrowed as if he were just as lost.
Clasping another image, Dad sank back into his seat and stared at it. The picture was of our mother, in college, from what it looked like. She was out at a shooting range, or somewhere similar…she was all alone, and had a white BMW that wasn’t meant for off-roading.
“Son of a bitch,” Dad rasped, scowling so hard at the image I thought he might begin to cry.
A door clicked shut from inside the house somewhere, and Dad’s head snapped up.
“Shut the door. I don’t want your mother to see any of this.”
Gio covered the space quickly and quietly slid the door closed, then locked it.
“Dad, what is all of this? After what?”
“Markos was injured, badly, by Kyle. He scared him enough that we honestly assumed he’d slip out of the life and disappear. Any images that he might have collected, I assumed, might be prior to that specific day. The beach image was years after, which means it’s possible that he’s been keeping tabs on our family ever since.”
By the looks of it, he was particularly interested in Alex.
Anger spurred me into action. I began gathering all the images and putting them back into the cardboard box. “No shit, he’s been keeping tabs on us. Gio and I told you that he and his little demon godchildren are hell bent on destroying us. All of us. He has an especially dark interest in ruining Kyle. But no one fucking listened to us.”
Dad’s jaw flexed while he helped put all the pictures away. The second the box was back together, he walked over to the fireplaceand pulled the zippo lighter out from his pocket, then lit the box on fire.
Peering over his shoulder, he warned both Gio and me, “I don’t want your mother to know how badly her privacy was invaded. She had no idea…and this would frankly scare her. This is why I just want to fucking get out of here. Get you kids and just leave.”
Something tugged at my gut, worry or concern. I wasn’t sure, but it seemed strange that I hadn’t seen Alex in as long as I had.
“Dad, where is Alex?”
His somber gaze traveled from us back to the fire before he jumped up and ran out the office door.
He tore down the hall in a light jog while calling for our big sister. The way his voice pitched with fear had my own stomach tensing and flipping. Gio had his phone up to his ear, likely calling her. I decided to help Dad look by running out of the wing and checking all the other family wings.
Aunt Mallory and Uncle Decker hadn’t been back in months, and this time, Carter had decided to join them. She was here four months ago when Dad’s sister had come, but after that she decided to stay with her parents. Deep down, I knew it had something to do with what Gio and I had done and how unhinged we’d become after Presley left.
Still, I rummaged through their family wing, consisting of three massive suites, the kitchen, bathrooms, and then I took the door that would lead up to the fourth floor. Taking each narrow step one at a time, my stomach tensed for an entirely different reason. Seeing the space in the daylight did nothing to dim the memory of what I’d experienced in the room all those months ago.
There was still a blanket on the floor from when we’d slept there. No one had been up here since that night.
I glanced at the chaise lounge in the corner and swallowed past the thick lump in my throat. We’d taken her virginity here and given her ours. We’d ruined her here.
There was nothing left in the room, and yet I lingered, evenknowing our sister might be missing. I stayed rooted in that spot, staring down at the blanket on the floor, feeling fresh tears gather along my lashes.
What the fuck was wrong with me? Why was I so petty that I ruined the best part of my life?
“Kingston?” someone yelled from below. It shook me loose of my dark thoughts and had me leaving the room and the memories behind.
I sat nextto Gio as our father paced in front of us. Our mother was on the couch across from us, her face was tear-stained and utterly broken.
