DYLAN
“Take it easy, Anna.” I muttered softly as I helped my sister take a seat on the couch. She had finally been discharged from the hospital, and despite her numerous protests, I had brought her straight to my place where she was going to spend the time, recuperating.
“The doctor wouldn’t have cleared me to go home if I wasn’t alright, you know? So stop babying me.” She complained bitterly.
I ignored her and padded to the kitchen to get her and myself, something to eat. I had been at work the whole day, working on getting the rest of my list of investors on board with Lavish, and I’d been too pre-occupied to even think of getting lunch, so I was pretty famished.
I didn’t have much, but I did have the Wonton soup from yesterday;
I guess that’ll have to do.
Heating them for a few minutes in the microwave, I headed back to the living room, a tray wedged in my hands, filled with all that yummy goodness.
Placing the tray on the center table, I collapsed into the couch beside my sister. “Dig in.”
We ate in silence for a little while before I couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you going to tell me about what happened the day you were attacked?”
She shook her head in the negative. “Dylan-”
“Anna, no. Tell me. Now.” My tone didn’t leave any room for more argument. Sighing deeply, she nodded. “Alright. I’ll tell you, but can we at least finish having dinner first?”
“Good.” I nodded.
The next ten minutes or so was spent wolfing down the rest of our dinner, both of us seemingly lost in thought.
I got up to clear the dishes. “No, no. I got it.” I quipped, seeing as Anna wanted to help out too. She sat back down, a scowl on her face that had me chuckling slightly. “You know, for all your being the older sister shit, you sure do act like a baby sometimes.”
A loud gasp.
“Take that back, Dylan.” She proclaimed, trying to hit me in the face with one of the couch pillows. I dodged, a small smile making its way onto my face. “Or what?” I asked. “Or I’m going to tell your beautiful girlfriend, that your middle name is Humbert.” She declared proudly.
Oh shit.
“You wouldn’t dare, V-”
“Oh wouldn’t I?” She had a very mischievous smirk on her face, like she knew that somehow, she had me cornered. “Alright.” I conceded. “Come along then.”
Just like my elder sister wanted, I kept her company while she did the dishes. It was really funny how we were bickering about it in the first place when we both used to go to the extremes just to skip such chores when we were younger.
“Well, you wanted to hear the full story… so here you go.” Savannah called out abruptly, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“The man who attacked me, is my husband.”
I stood there, literally frozen for what seemed like ages. “You were married? How? When?”
She cleaned her hands on a dishcloth and headed for the living room, I followed after her, still reeling from the shock of her statement. Settling heavily onto the couch, she continued her outrageous tale. “His name is Jorge Miller. We got married about five years after I left New Orleans for New York.”
“You mean the year you stopped getting in touch all of a sudden?” I asked in bitterness. Her gaze flitted to me apologetically.
“Don’t worry about me, just go on.” I assured her.
“The first three years of marriage were incredible, Jorge made me so happy that I barely thought about home… about you guys. Everywhere we went, people called us the disgustingly perfect couple, because that’s how good we were together,” She shifted in her seat. “Until he lost his mom and got fired from work a few months later. Our happy life just collapsed into a downward spiral from then on. Before I knew it, Jorge was staying out late, coming home disgustingly drunk… seeing other women. He later started doing drugs, and when I did suggest that he seek help, he beat me black and blue for even thinking of suggesting such an outrageous thing.”
I clenched my jaw and fists in anger, suddenly feeling like a heel for not being there for my sister when she needed me most.
“He was so remorseful the following day, that I didn’t have the heart to report him to the police. Besides, he promised me that he was going to get his shit together, and he even checked himself into a rehab facility. I thought everything was finally getting back on track… how wrong I was.” She wiped a lone tear off her face.
“Anna, you don’t have to talk about it any-”
“No, I want to. I need to get it all off my chest.” She insisted, so I nodded for her to continue. “He cancelled rehab for no reason, and came back home… added heroine to the long list of drugs he was already using, and became an even more violent man than before. Now where he’d beat me up and show remorse, he was doing it now without a care in the world. I used to cake my face in so much makeup that I barely recognized myself anymore, work was the only solace I found… b-b-but somehow I still stayed. Call it stupidity or I don’t know what, but I always thought he’d get better, so I endured for two whole years.” She sighed deeply, trying to fix her breaking voice. “The last straw happened when he almost beat me to death for hiding his stash of cash. I managed to dial 911, and I was rushed to the hospital, where I was told that I was pregnant. That was my wakeup call, Dylan. I vowed that I wasn’t taking my child back to such an unstable home… that I wasn’t even going to go back, lest he beat me up again and make me lose my baby, so I stayed at the hospital until I had fully recovered. I reported him to the police, and then called Ma, and that’s how I came back here.”
“Was he arrested?” I asked in interest. My elder sister shrugged. “I have no idea. I didn’t stay long enough to find out, and when I came out here and didn’t hear from him in the first two months, I relaxed, thinking he had been taken care of.” Savannah turned in her seat, wincing slightly at the effort. “The first threat was a bouquet of rotten roses.”
My eyes widened incredulously. “You mean, this isn’t the first time he had tried to get in touch? Why didn’t you tell me anything, Anna?”
“I WAS AFRAID, OKAY? JORGE IS DANGEROUS, I DIDN’T WANT ANYTHING TO HAPPEN TO YOU OR DAD.” She shouted. “I didn’t want to drag you two into my mess.” She whispered softly, I pulled her into my arms.
“You know there’s nothing we wouldn’t do for you, right?”
She nodded. “I know, Dylan. I know.”
“Speaking of, why did you tell Ma about me being at the hospital?” She asked, yawning tiredly, her head sagging onto my shoulder. I glanced at my watch.
8:30.
“She really got on my nerves this morning… and she was bound to find out anyway. Better sooner, than later.” I explained, standing up to my feet. “Anna, let’s get you into bed.” I whispered, pulling her up to her feet. She nodded and allowed me to take her to her room.
I came back to the living room after getting her tucked in, my mind racing with a lot of thoughts. First things first, I needed to take care of this Jorge bastard. Reaching for my phone I dialed Marin. He picked up on the first ring. “Dylan?”
“I need your help, man.”
***
THIRD PERSON’S POV
“Such a lovely home you have here, Ryan.” The beautiful blonde woman said, her gaze flitting around the study room appreciatively.
“Thank you. Though I’m not sure that’s the reason you’re here, is it?” Ryan asked, somewhat impatiently.
“You’re right, it isn’t.” The woman stood up, pacing lightly across the room. “You're attracted to Brielle Renaud, aren't you?” She asked, her gaze completely curious. Ryan leaned back comfortably in his seat, looking every bit like the young aristocrat that he really was. “I’m not completely sure how that concerns you.” He said.
“Well it does.” Proclaimed the woman. “Because, if you do… I think I have the perfect way to help you get her all to yourself.”
****
BRIELLE
“How’s Savvy doing, Dy? I asked over the phone. Last I spoke to him, he had been en route to get her from the hospital after she had been discharged, and I wanted to see how she was doing now.
“She’s in bed now, so I guess she’s okay.” He affirmed. “What are you up to?”
Silvie wanted me to go out with her tonight. According to her, we barely got to hang out anymore, so she was seizing me for the night. I agreed with her… we rarely went out nowadays, so a little outing wouldn’t hurt. “Uh, Silvie and I are going out tonight. I honestly don’t know where she’s taking me, she just kind of commanded me to get dressed, saying she’d handle the rest… so yeah.” I explained, drawing a chuckle out of Dylan. “I wouldn’t expect Silvie to act any differently.” I giggled at that. He wasn’t wrong, at first glance, you’d think Silvie to be the shy, quiet type… but, boy when you get to know her…
“What are you wearing?” He asked huskily, a smirk planting itself on my lips at his question. I quickly took a picture and sent it to him. “Fuck Brie, you have no idea just how tempted I am to tag along so I can proudly claim you in front of every man who has the guts to make a pass-”
“Woah, Caveman. Calm down.” I interrupted with a giggle. “There won’t be any need for that. You know you can trust me, right?”
“Of course I do.” He assured me. “It’s just the men I don’t trust. “He mumbled.
I laughed. “Well, trusting me is all that really matters, Dylan Knight. So you have nothing to worry about.”
“You’re right.” He agreed, staying on the line for a while in complete silence. “Okay, I guess I should leave you to it then. Have fun, Brie… I l-uh- bye.” He hung up abruptly.
What the hell was that?
“LUCIAAA??? ARE YOU DONE?” I heard Silvie yell from the living room, cutting my thought short. “YEAH. GIVE ME A MINUTE!” I yelled back, taking a final look at myself in the mirror, I headed to my closet for shoes. I’d chosen a mint sequined mini dress, but was kind of in a dilemma over what shoes to wear. Silvie’s head popped into my room, as I contemplated my choices, her gaze brushing over my outfit. “Ooh you look lovely.”
I twirled gracefully, “Why, thank you. So do you…” She was wearing a red ruched midi dress with a wide split that went very well with her auburn hair which had been styled in a simple, yet classy bun atop her head. “…Though I’d be lovelier if I had the right kind of shoes for the dress.” I retorted, wrinkling my nose distastefully.
“Don’t worry your pretty head, I’ve got just the perfect shoes for your outfit. Come on.” She reached for my hand and dragged me out of my room to hers, walking at a brisk pace that almost made it impossible to keep up.
“I have no idea how you’re able to pull of walking this fast in the heels you’re wearing.” I complained, settling heavily onto her messy bed.
“Years of practice.” She muttered as she entered her closet, coming out with the perfect shoes for my outfit. “This should do it.” She tossed them at my feet, and sashayed out of the room to God-knows-where. “LUCIA, YOU KNOW… WE SHOULD GET TURNT UP BEFORE WE HIT THE CLUB!” She hollered, I heard a crash, like she had dropped something and then muffled noises.
Wait, she wanted us to go to a club?
“SILVIE! I DIDN’T KNOW WE WERE GOING TO THE CLUB?” I hollered back. I really wasn’t in the mood for grinding and sweating, and drinking. I honestly thought we were going to the movies, or to some fancy restaurant for dinner or something. The club was the last place I had in mind.
My tall, slender best friend with legs for days came back to the room, a cute pout on her face. In her hands were a couple of beers, she handed me one, placing the rest on her dresser. “Come on Lucia. Where else were we going to go to?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Uhm, anywhere else but the club?” I retorted.
“You promised you’d go out with me, without specifying where you wanted us to go, my guess was you were okay with any choice I made. I really wanted us to check out this new club Lisa told me about, you know?” She wailed, causing me to sigh deeply. “Alright, alright.” I conceded, finishing my beer hurriedly. “We can go to the club.”
She squealed loudly and collapsed on top of me on the bed, engulfing me in a big hug. “Have I told you you’re the best?”
“Only a handful of times, not that I’m counting or anything.” I grinned, pushing her off me to scoot over to the edge of the bed. I reached for the turquoise lace-up high heels and slipped them on. “Speaking of, you’ve really become quite close with this Lisa girl.” I observed absentmindedly.
“Yeah… she’s like my work place buddy, you know?” Silvie explained, smacking her lips loudly while checking her lipstick. Her eyes lit up once she heard her phone ping. “Ooh, our ride is here. We should start heading down.”
I stood up in surprise. “We’re not driving there?”
“No silly, I ordered us an Uber. We’re getting knackered tonight!”
I locked up, and we made our way to the elevator. I had had only one beer, but I could already feel the buzz, Silvie was already on her third, so it really wasn’t surprising just how much she couldn’t stop talking.
We stepped out of the apartment lobby into the cold night, our eyes seeking out our ride. “I can’t wait to dance my ass off, you know? Maybe I’ll meet someone, you know I’ve always wanted to try one night stands…” Silvie’s rambling faded into the distance as my gaze landed on a particular car in the parking lot. The same car had followed Chloe and me to Johnny’s Bistro where we had lunch, and it had followed me home.
Strange, right?
“Lucia, are you even listening to me?” Silvie retorted in vexation, cutting my thought process short. “Yeah, yeah.” I answered absentmindedly. It was probably nothing, you know? I was probably just being paranoid.
A car pulled up in front of us, and Silvie hopped in, dragging me in with her. “Lucia, are you sure you’re alright?” Her attention shifted for a minute to confirm our destination for the driver, as my eyes sought out the car in the rearview mirror. In true stalker fashion, the car pulled out of the parking lot and followed after us onto the main road.
“Lucia?”
“I don’t know, Silvie… but I think we’re being followed.” I whispered shakily.