by M. S. Parker
“Sit,” Stefano said again, an edge to his voice.
Kaleb sat.
But when I went to take a step closer, Stefano pointed the gun in my direction. “Keep a few feet away, sweetie. I want to check my money.”
“It’s all there,” Kaleb said again.
“Yeah, yeah. Put the bag on the table. Unzip it.”
Kaleb sighed and did so, his eyes searching the room. I knew the moment he noticed his sister. His mouth went tight.
Then he looked at me, and again, our gazes caught and lingered. His gaze tracked to the front door, then back to me. What? I wondered. What are you trying to tell me?
“Man, I knew you’d come through,” Stefano said, that sly smirk firmly back in place as he looked at us. “I should have upped the dollar amount. You made this look easy.”
“Yeah, it was a real walk in the park. Are we good now?” Kaleb asked, sounding bored.
“Hmmm.” Stefano slowly zipped the bag, shaking his head. “What are you looking so smug about?” Stefano asked? He studied Kaleb with narrowed eyes, a look on his face that I didn’t like at all.
But the question made me wonder. Kaleb did look really, really calm.
Swallowing the knot of nerves in my throat, I tried to move to where I could watch both, but the room was only so big, and every time I moved, Stefano shifted his attention – and the gun – toward me.
“I’m not smug.” Kaleb lifted one shoulder, his face composed, entire body relaxed.
“Well, you look pretty damn chill about all of this.” Stefano looked even more suspicious
“I don’t have any reason not to be chill.” Kaleb snorted, then slid me another one of those piercing looks, before glancing at his sister. “I’m getting what I want. I’m getting Piety, I’m getting my sister and we’re getting out of here, all three of us.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t think your sister is going anywhere.” Stefano looked please with himself as he gestured toward Camry’s unconscious body. She lay sprawled on the couch, one arm and leg half on the floor, her face turned in our direction.
I don’t know if it was my own fear, or something more, but she seemed unnaturally pale, and I stared at her chest, searching for signs that it was still moving.
It did, but that didn’t make me feel any better.
“Don’t worry, I think I can carry her just fine,” Kaleb said, his voice dry.
“And if I tell you that I’m not letting her leave unless that’s what she wants?” Stefano’s brows beetled together over his eyes, an ugly snarl twisting his face as he took a few steps closer to Kaleb.
“You don’t want to do that.” Kaleb just looked at him, looking unconcerned.
“Yeah?” Stefano brandished the gun, holding it sideways, gangster style. I would have rolled my eyes if I hadn’t been so afraid.
Kaleb shot me another look, that intense gaze piercing straight through me. That silent unspoken message was still there.
What? I wanted to ask. What are you trying to tell me?
“You ain’t taking her anywhere she don’t want to go. That wasn’t the deal.” Stefano sounded bored, then his eyes brightened, and he snapped his fingers, like he’d just come up with a great idea. “I know. Why don’t you try to wake her up? If you can, she’s all yours.”
The confidence in his voice, the cocksure tone of it made me worry. He had already planned on killing me and pawning this off on her if things went bad. Was there something wrong with her? Was that why she was so pale? So still?
Had he given her some bad drugs? Or too much?
I knew way too many women and kids who’d gotten a bad mix. I had horror stories I could tell, and I wouldn’t put it past him either.
But I couldn’t voice any of those fears right now, could I? Not with him staring me down, almost daring me.
“Here’s the thing.” Kaleb’s face took on a menacing expression, and he took a step toward the other man.
Stefano’s gun came up, and he leveled it at Kaleb’s chest.
Fear exploded inside me, and I said, “Stop it, okay? Stefano, you got your money.”
“Be quiet, bitch,” he said, not even looking at me.
Kaleb held up a hand in my direction. I don’t know if he was trying to calm me or quiet me, and I wanted to rip out my hair.
“I’m taking both Piety and Camry, and we’re leaving. You got your damn money, so we’re going. If you don’t like it, you go ahead and shoot me.” A bit of a smirk twisted his lips, even as I felt that fear expand and explode like it was going to eat me alive. “But I can guarantee you that won’t go well.”
Stefano laughed. “What, you think you’re Superman? You think bullets will bounce off you?”
They were close now. So close.
Not even two feet separated them, and the gun was only inches from Kaleb’s chest.
I tried to say Kaleb’s name, but I couldn’t even make my damn jaw move. I’d never felt fear like this, had never understood what it was like to be petrified by it.
What happened next was so mind-boggling, I still can’t completely understand it.
Stefano nudged Kaleb’s chest with the muzzle of the gun. “Come on, pretty boy. Do something.”
And Kaleb did. He shot out a hand, twisted and moved. There was a sickening loud noise, and I clapped a hand over my mouth to silence a shriek. Gun, I thought. It was the gun.
But it wasn’t loud enough to be a gun shot.
My brain knew the sound of a weapon. Dad owned a whole room full of firearms, and I’d learned how to handle them young.
It wasn’t a gun.
But in the quiet of the room, it sounded terribly loud.
A split second after that thick, wet, cracking sound, a scream erupted and Stefano just…collapsed. He went inward, going to his knees while Kaleb twisted and moved, all but jerking the man around by his arm, an awkward marionette and his puppet master.
His wrist, I realized. Kaleb had broken the man’s wrist. That horrendous crack I’d heard was the sound of a bone breaking, not a bullet.
Stefano was shouting, voice ragged and hoarse, now on his knees in front of Kaleb.
I had no idea how Kaleb had done that. I’d taken several courses in self-defense, and the fluidity of his movements bespoke of the ease some of the martial arts instructors had used.
“Wow. I think you really are Superman,” I said.
There was no chance for him to respond.
Stefano roared and surged back to his feet, fumbling at his back with his one good hand. A moment later, there was another gun, but instead of trying to disarm Stefano again, Kaleb lunged for me.
“TIME!” Kaleb shouted.
It was a huge bellow and within a split second I was pinned under him.
Feet pounded.
Wood crashed.
Voices raged.
Through it all, Kaleb held me pinned to the floor, protecting me with his body. He murmured reassuringly, “Be still, baby. Just…be still.”
At least that’s what I thought he said through the cacophony that followed.
There was more crashing, shouting, and above it all, authoritative voices bellowing out, “Drop the gun!”
That command came from multiple directions, and I could hear more than one speaker.
As I shivered and shook, Kaleb murmured to me, “Be still. Don’t move…you’ll be alright.”
I didn’t have any choice. I was so stunned, I don’t think I could’ve moved if my life depended on it.
“Be still…you’re safe, baby. You’re safe.”
“Your blood pressure is fine. Your pulse is strong and steady. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do to check on the baby, but if you’re just barely pregnant, everything should be fine. But it would be a good idea to go to the hospital and get checked out.” The paramedic gave me a solemn smile and held out a lollipop. “Want some candy? Always helped my wife when she was upset while she was carrying our first.” He looked thoughtful for a moment and then added, “And our secon
d. And our third.”
“How many kids do you have?” I asked, shooting out a hand to take the sucker. It didn’t matter that it was just a cherry flavored lollipop.
“Three.” He grinned at me and added, “I’m trying to talk her into a fourth, but she says this third one will be the ruler of the universe, so I’m not sure if I can do it.”
Kaleb sat next to me, rubbing my back. He was listening, sort of. But his eyes were on his sister, and so was most of his attention.
I understood.
Once the paramedic had assured him I was okay, he had focused on her, and to be honest, so had I.
She was still just as pale, just as still as she had been in the house. She hadn’t moved once, hadn’t made a sound.
I’d heard talk that was a little too familiar. The antidote to the overdose they suspected she’d been given wasn’t working.
Her heartbeat was too slow, her blood pressure as well.
The paramedics were worried about her, and they were loading her into the back of an ambulance. They were already prepping a second treatment, and I closed my eyes, resting my head against Kaleb’s shoulder.
Don’t let it end like this, I thought. Not now that Stefano was out of the picture.
I hadn’t told anybody what Stefano had threatened. Not yet. I would, but the cops hadn’t even gotten around to taking my statement yet. They were too busy focusing on Stefano and Camry and gathering precious evidence, but I knew they’d get to me.
He was wailing for a lawyer from the back of a squad car, but the detectives were ignoring him. One told him he could get his phone call once they got to the station.
I had a feeling he wasn’t going to get out of this quite so easy.
Kaleb and the cops had actually been outside for over an hour, he told me, waiting for the right movement. They’d had microwaves up, the kind you’d think would exist in spy movies, and they’d caught the better part of the conversation from the past hour.
The cops probably already knew about his threat to kill me and frame Camry for it. Since he’d decided to go and kidnap somebody this time, it seemed to me he’d have a harder time sidestepping things. And I knew my dad would throw his weight into prosecuting the man too.
For once, I didn’t mind at all knowing that being his daughter was going to make a big difference here. Stefano needed to be taken off the streets for decades, no matter what it took.
“Are you okay?” Kaleb murmured against my temple after the paramedic left.
I laughed weakly. “Okay?”
“Shit. What a stupid question. How can you be okay?” He hugged me tighter and whispered, “I’m so sorry, so fucking sorry you got caught up in this.”
“Don’t.” I turned my face into his neck. “You’re not responsible for this, so don’t apologize.” Then I tipped my head back and smiled at him. “And it could have been so much worse.”
I shook my head, still baffled by everything he told me. I had no idea how he’d done all of this. Saving me. Shifting around, I wrapped my arms around his neck and cuddled close. The tears wanted to come out, but I didn’t want to cry right now. Not here.
Later, maybe. When we were alone.
He nuzzled me, murmuring nonsensical words under his breath. None of them made sense, but they did their job, soothing me when nothing should have been able to. I took a deep breath, and for the first time in hours, let some of the fear inside me drain away.
“Hey, Kaleb?” A watery laugh escaped me. “I think I’m pregnant.”
He laughed too. The sound was strangled and raw. “Really? Huh. Maybe we should have a talk.”
“Yeah, but not yet. I want to stay like this.”
Thirty-Nine
Kaleb
“She’s awake.”
The doctor’s words hit me like a leaden fist, heavy and bruising, and I stumbled back against the wall.
“What?” I asked.
“She’s awake,” he said again gently, smiling at me as if he understood. He looked around and then came into the waiting room where the nurse had asked me to wait. Camry was being examined when I came to check on her, so they hadn’t let me in. I’d been about to leave and go back to Piety’s side when the doctor appeared around the corner.
The worst sort of dread had flooded me, and I’d been prepared for the worst. And now he was telling me…
“She’s awake.”
I swallowed, the words foreign and strange in my mouth. “Are there…?”
She’d had to have another treatment in the ambulance, and they’d told me her heart was dangerously slow. I hadn’t understood any of the medical mumbo jumbo, save for that – dangerously slow.
“Are there complications?”
“I think, after a few days of observation, she’ll be fine. She’s very malnourished, which isn’t uncommon for addicts, so I’d like to keep her here and monitor her for a few days while we push fluids and try to stabilize her on that front.” He glanced around and then nodded to one of the chairs. “Why don’t we sit?”
I all but collapsed into the chair, the fear and adrenaline draining out of me, leaving me weak.
“Your sister…” He offered me a kind smile. “Camry has struggled with her addiction for some time, hasn’t she?”
“I don’t know if struggle is the right word. She’s had quite a bit of fun with it lately, seems like.” I felt bad saying it, but I was so tired of making excuses for her. I loved her, but she could have cost me something precious tonight – today. Fuck, I didn’t even know what time it was. Anger tried to take root in me once more, but I lashed it down.
Not now.
Just…not now.
“Well, I doubt we could call it fun. Your sister is…quite depressed.” The doctor settled back in the chair, studying me. “I understand you lost your parents young, and you had to raise her.”
I could already feel the defensiveness rising, but I struggled to keep it at bay.
“Yes. I know I wasn’t able to give her everything–”
“This isn’t your fault.” He shook his head. “Your sister was old enough to understand what she was doing when she first started using. I’ve talked with her to some degree. She said you talked to her growing up, about drugs, sex…you had to be brother and parent. That couldn’t have been easy.”
I could feel the blood staining my cheeks, but I didn’t look away. “Who else was going to?”
“And that’s just the thing. You did everything you could, and she made the choice. She chose. And you’ve tried to be there for her as much as you could. She even understands that. She’s…angry with herself more than anything, and that’s the root of much of her depression, more than likely.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Are you an ER doc or a shrink?”
He chuckled. “I started out in psych before I realized it was a lot easier to fix the body than the mind.” His eyes became intense. “I think she wants help. Every addict hits rock bottom, Kaleb. And every brother, sister, mother, father of an addict eventually hits a point when they don’t want to reach out anymore. This isn’t the time to walk away from her.”
Something tangled and twisted welled up in me. It was guilt, a feeling I knew too well. Throat tight and burning, I said, “Is it that obvious?”
“Well, I overheard the police talking. I can’t imagine how angry you must be – and rightfully so.” He inclined his head. “If you were to walk away from her now, you’d be completely entitled. Nobody could blame you at all.”
“I would.” I got up and moved to the door, staring out the block of glass toward her room. “I can do it…one more time.”
But that was it. If she messed up again…
“I think one more time is all she needs.”
A trim Asian woman was walking out of Camry’s room just as I approached the door.
She paused and met my eyes. “You must be Kaleb.”
“Ah, yeah.” I racked my brain, trying to figure out who she was, but I came up empty.
&nbs
p; “I’m Liushi Testudo, a friend of Sam’s.” She smiled. “I’ve been trying to help him work on a way to keep you both stateside.”
“Oh.” A hard breath exploded out of me, and I shot a look at the room, where I could see Camry lying in her bed. She was curled up on her side, facing away from me. “What were you…ah…she needs an attorney, doesn’t she?”
Medical bills. Lawyer bills.
How was I going to handle all of this?
“Yes,” Liushi said gently. “She does. But that’s not the kind of lawyer I am. I was testing the waters, so to speak, on behalf of a friend at the district attorney’s office. Sam gave me a head’s up, and I called the DA and asked if he’d mind if I spoke with Camry. I had a feeling she might be willing.”
“And just what were you testing the waters for?” I had to fight not to throw in the word sharks.
She looked kind enough, but this was my baby sister. My fucked-up baby sister who could have gotten herself and Piety – and the baby – killed.
“To see if she’d be willing to make a deal with the DA and testify against Stefano Fuentas. I don’t think you realize just how hard the police here in Vegas have been trying to put him away.” She smiled again. “If she testifies, the DA will have enough of a case to put Stefano away for a very long time. Since there’s no physical bruises indicating that he hurt you and Piety, without Camry’s testimony that he tried to kill her by giving her an overdose, he could be out in less than a year, depending on the judge and jury. Camry might need some time to adjust, but she told me she’ll testify.” She rested a hand on my arm for a moment. “Be gentle with her…she’s fragile.”
I stared at the narrow back of my sister and wanted to laugh, wanted to punch something.
Fragile.
She looked damn fragile, alright.
I’d been trying to help her, take care of her for years, and look where that got me.
But I told myself – told the doctor – I’d give it one more try.
Thinking of my parents, I promised them too.
One more try.
Slowly, I entered the room. Camry flinched at the sound of my footsteps, quiet as they were.