No, I don’t miss him. He was hateful toward Mom, and I have no proof, but I know he’s cheated. The most exhausting part of his disappearance is looking after my mom.
She’s old fashioned—cleans and cooks—and makes sure the man is happy no matter what—that kind of old fashioned. Needless to say, she’s lost without my father and someone to look after.
Now that I think about it, that’s one of the reasons I was drawn to Cas. She’s the exact opposite of my mom. I'm not saying that it's wrong to love your husband, but he's awful and so many times she should have spoken up for herself instead of just lowering her head and saying sorry.
I look down at the spot where whoever the poor girl was, once laid with a beaten-in face. Sure, it’s still creepy, but it wasn’t Cas, and I know that sounds heartless, but it makes being here tolerable.
Hanging my head, I shake it at what I’m about to do. He’s going to love this too much and the thought of his big Drac—Dracula—head wearing his dumb jerky grin makes me want to do this even less. But I can’t be alone for another second.
Me: you up
Ash: you know it, need a place to be miserable?
I stare at his text in shock for a moment. Wow, he must really love Cas. He can’t stand me on a good day.
Me: On my way
Emery
I n the silence, I lean my head back, still clutching the bottle Ash gave me. The guys are on their way, AJ won’t be here until tomorrow. Last night was supposed to be our first night away from each other, but everything is worse alone.
I remember not long ago that’s the way I wanted it to be, but it’s different now. And after discovering that body in the cemetery, its triggered my PTSD. I haven’t talked to anyone about what I’ve been through or that I’m struggling now more than ever.
When I blink, I’m back in that room, standing in the shadows. I’m that seven-year-old boy again, the one that’s helpless. I can hear the twins crying and begging for help, asking for someone to save them.
“You all right, man?” Ash taps my leg. It isn’t until then that I realize that I’m breathing heavily. I nod, trying to rid that hopeless feeling and the images of my bloodied siblings’ faces.
I’ve been taking my medicine faithfully, but it isn’t helping.
Ash gives me a wary look. There’s a knock on the door, thankfully, taking the attention away from me. Ash gets up and answers it. It’s Edward. Man, he looks terrible—like the rest of us. Only he seems worse. It’s probably extra hard on him since his father is also missing.
They greet each other and Ash grabs him a beer. We sit in the front room, communicating through text. There’s no sleeping as we watch the sunrise through Ash’s floor-to-ceiling windows.
Ash grabs the door when there’s another knock. AJ is finally here. We are all beyond exhausted. So after we talk to AJ for a bit. We decide it’s time to lie down. Ash invites us to sleep in his bed, that would be nice but I haven’t slept next to someone since I was a child. I’m not sure if I could do it or how I might react if I wake up in the middle of the night. Edward and I take the couch. It’s a huge sectional with separate sides. AJ follows Ash into his bedroom.
Cas’ face is the last thing on my mind as my eyes drift close and I welcome the darkness to swallow me whole.
Ash
“M mm,” I groan. There’s a hand running along my dick. It’s still a little sore after the tattoo, but it’s mostly healed now. Wait, there’s a hand on my dick.
I fling my eyes open; Beatrice is straddling my legs. AJ is still sound asleep next to me. My hard-jerking cock turns flaccid as soon as I see her face. She bites her bottom lip and tugs at my gray sweats. “Your friends can join us.” She tries sounding seductive but fails. She sounds whiny instead, and it scrapes along my nerves.
There’s no use in batting her away. A grin stretches across my face when she stares down at my limp dick. “Is that a tattoo?” She bends to get a closer look. “You’re such a bad boy, A.” It takes everything inside me not to murder her. Knowing what I do makes it ten times harder to tolerate her than before, and I could barely tolerate her before.
“Are you kidding me?” Ah, there it is. I try to fight the grin spreading across my face, but I can’t. “You tattooed that slut’s name on your dick.” She screeches. AJ looks at her and then at me.
“I knew you’d figure it out.” He laughs, recalling the time he told me I’d figure out how to keep myself from having to have sex with Beatrice.
“Tell me you got this before she was murdered.” Red flashes across my vision just as she’s pulled off of me. Emery gets in her face and I can see the rage radiating from him as he walks face-to-face with her, making her walk backwards, until she’s standing on the other side of the doorway. He slams the door in her face.
When he looks at AJ and me, we can’t help but laugh. Tucking myself away, I stand up and stretch. We stare at one another as Beatrice continues to shout and bang on my closed door. “Shut the fuck up.” Edward’s muffled words come through the other side of the door.
“Shit, open it. We can’t leave Eddie out there with her.” I could actually, and if it was a month ago, I probably would. But not now.
Emery unlocks the door. Beatrice tumbles to the floor as a grunt leaves her body on impact. I shouldn’t laugh. I’m trying to make her believe everything is fine, but one escapes me, anyway. “That’s what you get, you fucking nightmare,” Edward says as he steps over her. We all exchange a look as we realize this is going to be harder than we thought.
Which I already knew it was going to be impossible. “Cas is gone, and she isn’t coming back,” she growls through gritted teeth, standing back up and brushing herself off.
We stare at her, the hair on my body rises pulling tightly at the follicles. If that isn’t a fucking admission. Gone. Not dead, gone. AJ stalks up to her, “What do you mean, gone? She’s dead.” He plays dumb well. Grabbing a handful of her shirt, he stares her down.
She blinks a few times as we all crowd her. With our faces coated in rage. Sure, this is dangerous. We could all end up dead if word gets back to her father Tommaso or Francesco. But I think we are beyond the point of caring.
She grabs AJ’s hand to unlatch his grip. He instantly lets go, grimacing at her touch. “I’ll get in trouble for doing this, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. You need to know who you’re messing with.” Ice skates up my veins as unease coils in my stomach.
When she pulls out her phone, we huddle closer. “You can access these videos on the dark web.” She shrugs. I stare at her caramel hair and blue-green eyes. Wondering how someone so pretty became so ugly.
“But I had one of daddy’s men record this one for me, just in case you needed reminding. I find it kind of perfect since you’re all here.” She smiles sweetly, but we aren’t fooled. It’s sour and we can see the demon dancing behind her eyes.
She presses play and we all crowd even closer. My stomach drops out as the air escapes my lungs. It’s Cas. She’s chained up and lying on a cement slab. Completely naked. There are cuts, scrapes and bruises on her abdomen. Her face is bruised as well.