If he’s trying to hold back, that’s good, because it means he doesn’t actually want to hurt me. But his next words have that notion flying out of my head.
“I never imagined that my precious sister would turn into such a filthy whore.”
I flinch back. I’ve never heard Theo use those words directed at me, and there’s ones I hate—it hasn’t been that many years, after all, since they were one of my nicknames at school.
But those kids who once called me that behind raised hands? Their cruelty was a sprinkle compared to the torrential downpour of Theo’s emotions. Malice is rolling off of him in waves—I can almost see the loathing vibrating in the air around him.
“Theo, I don’t understand.” The betrayal is huge. I stood up for him to Seth, rather than hiding away like Seth wanted me to. I’d truly believed that Theo would never do something like this to me. “Do you hate me? I just don’t understand what I did.”
And I really don’t. If Seth is right and Theo has had inappropriate feelings for me for a long time... what caused him to fly off the handle now? Was it Seth? Or was it going to happen anyway?
I think of that incident outside the bathroom, the night Theo first came home from prison, and it makes me shiver. Something tells me that Seth’s presence in Galveston might have speeded up the process, but that Theo decided on this path a long time ago.
“Hate you?” In an instant, Theo is crouched in front of me. His fetid breath caresses my face and I gag, even as his expression softens. Those big blue eyes of his shimmer with unshed tears. “I don’t hate you. I could never hate you. Don’t you understand yet? I love you, Allie. I love you so much. More than Seth could ever love you.”
“Did you... love me... before Seth came to live with us?” I’m starting to understand now that something is very, very wrong in Theo’s brain. I deeply regret not listening to Seth.
Theo’s lips twist into a cruel smile. “I’ve always loved you, Allie. But Seth coming to live with us, and the way he looked at you? It... well, let’s just say it encouraged me.”
My stomach does a slow roll. There it is, all laid out—the three of us, inexplicably and dangerously intertwined.
I’m not sure there’s any way to untangle the knot.
“If you actually loved me Theo, you would let me go.” My voice trembles, and I hate hearing the weakness. But I’m starting to shake. I’m trapped here with a madman. And the only way that I can see to get out is to kill him.
I don’t know if I can do that.
Theo reaches for me, stroking a hand over my hair. “I want to show you how much I love you. You’ll see that we belong together. That it’s right.”
“It will never be right.” I gather all the strength I can muster. His face crumbles at my harsh words, but I press on. “I love you, Theo. But I love you like a sister loves a brother. I will never love you like that. My heart belongs to someone else.”
Gathering my strength, I lift my right leg and kick with every ounce of force that I have, hitting him right where I’ve aimed—in the nose. I hear the gut-wrenching sound of breaking bone in the dusty air, and blood instantly sprays out, spattering over my shirt.
Seth’s shirt.
When he instinctively reaches for his nose, his voice a roar, I roll onto my knees and jump to my feet. I rush toward the door, clamoring for the handle.
My heart drops when I realize that there isn’t one. The door is boarded up from the inside.
“You will regret that.” It comes out muffled and nasally, but I hear the rage behind it.
I swivel around and face my tormentor.
My brother.
I’m pretty sure that only one of us is going to make it out of here alive.
Chapter Seven
SETH
It has been exactly forty-two minutes since I realized that Allegra has been taken. After my call to Sam, who of course assured me that Theo would never hurt her, I got Theo’s cell number from him and have been calling it every two minutes. It says it’s out of the service area, and every time I get the message, I disconnect and try again. I’m hoping at one point it will get through, he’ll answer, and I can somehow talk him down and get Allegra back to me. But my gut tells me that scenario is a dream. I believe the last six years of twisted notions in Theo’s mind have led to this point.
His infatuation with his sister might have started before I came along... but because of my own actions, he’s twisted his desire for her all up with his hatred of me. Taking Allegra is a way to hurt me. To claim her so I cannot.
I’ve been through the hotel three times, and have talked to every employee on duty. I’ve had her photo, one I took on my cell phone a few hours earlier, printed and distributed to everyone. I’ve never been more thankful for my wealth, although management at the hotel is being extremely helpful anyway. They know about my rental car being vandalized, I also had to fill out a police report, so they are inclined to believe the two things are connected.
I don’t believe. I know.
They encouraged me to call the police about Allegra’s disappearance. Since Allegra is an adult, I know they won’t do anything except perhaps limit what I can do to find her.
So I refrain. But I’ll tear up heaven and earth to find her myself.
Besides that—I want to be the one who finds Theo. I’ve never wanted to kill a man. But I understand now what was only a threat before.
Theo would rather Allegra be dead than in my arms. I won’t let that happen.
“Is there anything I can get you, Mr. Thorne?”
I glance at Carlos, the concierge. I realize I’ve been standing in the lobby motionless for the past ten minutes, just thinking, trying to figure out what else I can do. I’ve called both Tristan and Gavin and had them put their ears to the ground, ask around to their respective circles and gather any information they could on Theo and his network of people. Someone has to know something.
“Has the young guy who was attending the gym left the hotel?”
He frowns. “I’m not sure, sir. Do you want me to find him?”
“Yes, if you would please. I have a few questions for him since he was the last person to see Allegra.”
Someone has to know something.
There’s no way Theo could have gained access to the parking garage to vandalize my car without help, or without knowledge of how the security of the hotel worked. He also couldn’t have come into the hotel without someone seeing him tonight. How did he get access?
I’ve had my assistant back in New York checking the employees of the hotel for criminal histories, but so far nothing has popped.
Carlos returns with the young man from the gym. Although when I look at him now, he can’t be much younger than I am. Maybe Allegra’s age. “This is Brody. Brody, this is Mr. Thorne, he’s looking for his friend Allegra Flynn. He wants to ask you some questions.”
“Brody.” I eye the young man. He’s one big muscle, but he doesn’t look overly bright. “Do you remember me from earlier?”
He nods. He looks nervous and doesn’t look me in the eye.
“When you left the gym, where did you go?”
“To the maintenance room.”
“Why?”
“I got a call that there was something wrong and I needed to go there.”
“Who called you?”
“Hector.”
“He’s the maintenance guy?”
Brody nods.
“Is he still here? I’d like to talk to him.”
“I will check for you,” Carlos offers.
“You do that.”
Ten minutes later I’m in the maintenance room looking for Hector but he isn’t here. There’s Chuck, an older man probably in his fifties, and it’s his shift now. Hector clocked out at nine thirty. I ask for Hector’s number and home address, but no one is willing to give it to me. I’m not the police; I’m just some guy looking for his girlfriend. Even when I offer Chuck a hundred dollars, he doesn’t budge. I give him the mone
y anyway, because he seems like a decent man just doing his job.
Once I leave maintenance, I head back to my room and make a call. Randy, my private investigator, picks up on the second ring.
“What’s up?”
“I need the phone number and address of Hector Morales in Galveston, Texas.”
“How quick?”
“Now.”
“Call you back in ten.” He disconnects.
I pace the room as I wait for Randy to call me back, feeling completely useless. Allegra is somewhere with Theo and I’m here walking around this big room like a caged lion with no meat to eat, no prey to hunt. All I know is that once I find her, and I will find her, I’m never letting her go. I’ll shackle her to my wrist if that’s what it takes, but she’s not running away again.
She’s the only person I’ve ever wanted. She’s the only one I’ll ever need.
I stop and once again call up the information on Theo that I have stored on my phone—information I gathered before I ever came back to Galveston. There has to be something in here that can point me in the right direction. Obviously I have his home address and phone number, I know his parole officer’s name and number, which doesn’t help me, because he won’t tell me anything. I have a list of some of his known associates, but they are all without addresses. I gave the names to Tristan and Gavin to see if they could suss out any information, but so far my phone has not rung with anything concrete.
Waiting.
Waiting.
My cell rings after six minutes. Randy always exceeds my expectations.
“467 50th Street. Apartment number 16.”
I disconnect, changing clothes quickly as I do—it takes precious minutes, but I know that appearing intimidating will help my case, and sweatpants just don’t do that. I head down to the lobby and make sure the rental agency has dropped off another car for me. When Tommy, the valet, sees me, he smiles and hands me the keys.
The streets of Galveston are quiet, and over them I can hear the frantic beating of my heart.
It doesn’t take me long to find Hector’s place. I park and make my way to the apartment building. It’s a buzz-in-only setup, so I press a bunch of buttons claiming pizza delivery. I’m buzzed in quickly. I find number sixteen and knock.
The door cracks open and a burly face peers out. “What do you want?”
“I’m looking for Hector. You him?”
“Maybe. Who are you?”
I flash him a fifty dollar bill. “No one, I just have a couple of questions.”
He opens the door. “About what?”
I see now that he’s a big guy, with plenty of tattoos; a few of them are the crude quality that tells me they’re prison-made. I’m going to have to tread lightly if I’m going to get the answers I want.
“You work at the Tremont?”
He nods suspiciously, eyes on the cash. “Yeah.”
“You know Theo Flynn?”
There’s instant recognition on his face but he shakes his head. “No, man. Never heard of him.”
I sigh. “You were doing really well there for a minute. I had hope for you, Hector. Hope that you were going to put this fifty in your pocket.”
“Fuck you.” He moves to slam the door shut, but I’m quicker.
I kick at the door. The impact sends Hector sprawling backwards and I push forward into his apartment. Thankfully he’s alone, or this could’ve gone very badly for me. Thanks to Tristan, I’m good in a fight, but I like my odds better when it’s one on one, not a group dance.
I grab Hector by the shirt and shove him up against the wall. “I know you know Theo, Hector. Looks like you probably did a stint with him. I get it, I understand loyalty. But the thing is, Theo’s done something horrible to a woman that I love more than anything in this world.” I lean into his face. “So let me ask you again, do you know Theo Flynn?”
“Yeah, man.” He’s shaking, still eyeing the money. I fling it aside with disgust. “I don’t want no trouble.”
“That’s a start. Now, did you give Theo access to the hotel?”
He nods.
“Through the back maintenance door?”
He nods again.
“Did you know what he had planned? Abducting his sister?”
He shakes his head vehemently. “No way, man. I’m not down with that shit. No way. I got him in so he could fuck up some dude’s car, but I don’t know nothing about any abduction.”
“Lucky for you, I believe you.” I back off him a little, then I gesture to the fifty on the floor. He scurries to scoop it up. “Do you know of any place he would go? Probably a place really out of the way?”
“Yeah, there’s this house we used to party at. It’s all boarded up and shit in a really shitty area.”
I pat him on the shoulder. “Good. What’s the address?”
Chapter Eight
ALLEGRA
My face aches no matter how I moved. The pain radiates from all over and I can’t tell which part hurts more. My black eye, my bleeding nose, my split lip. Theo has punched me enough times that I lost count. Turns out that no matter how strong I am, I’m no match for someone who’s that big... and that angry.
As I lay here on my side, back on the floor where I started, I still can’t believe that he’s hurt me. Despite what Seth had told me, despite the abduction, I was still delusional about the false notion that my brother would never physically harm me. That he truly loved me and was incapable of causing me pain.
Obviously I was wrong. And it’s cost me.
“I didn’t want to do that. But you left me no choice.” Theo sits in his ripped lawn chair, lording over me from the corner, except he’s moved a little closer. Not close enough that I can kick him again, mind you, just enough that he can pounce on me if I try for the door again. Which of course I won’t since it would do me no good, considering it is boarded up and I can’t open it with my bare hands. I would need a crowbar to do that.
“You know what kind of people say that after punching the crap out of someone? Pyschos.”
“I’m not crazy.” He sounds insulted, which makes me laugh.
“Sorry to say, you are.” I press my fingers to my lip. It’s swollen and tacky with congealed blood. “You are insane. You need some serious help.”
He bolts off his chair, but doesn’t make the mistake of crouching next to me. “Shut up!”
“Or what? You’ll hit me? I think we’ve already played that game.”
“Oh you want to play a game, do you, Allie?”
I don’t like the wild look in his eyes. “No, I don’t. I just want to go home.”
“I can’t let you go home, because I know you’ll just go back to him. And I won’t allow that.”
“I won’t, Theo, I promise. I’ve learned my lesson.”
“I don’t believe you. You’re a liar. Always have been, even when you were little.”
Maybe if I can get him to remember our sibling bond from when we were young, then hopefully we won’t see me as a conquest or as a sexual object, but as his sister whom he should want to protect from harm, like a normal brother.
“I remember all the special times we had together when we were little, Theo.” I sit up, hoping he doesn’t smack me down again. Maybe if I’m not cowering at his feet, he’ll see me again as his sister, his family, and not a victim he can play with. “You were always there to protect me. Remember when you saved me from the neighbor’s Doberman? He would’ve ripped my arm off if you hadn’t been there.”
He smiles. “You were so little then. That dog could’ve eaten you up in two mouthfuls.”
“I know but you’re a good brother, so you didn’t let him hurt me. That’s what good brothers do, they protect their sisters. They don’t harm them.”
“You’re right.” He offers me his hand. I don’t take it right away. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you again.”
I put my hand in his and he pulls me to my feet. There’s no contest—he’s bigger. I’m in better shape
, but I’m woozy from whatever he drugged me with.
“I’m sorry I hit you.” He reaches for my face. Although it takes everything I have not to flinch or pull away, I let him caress my cheek. My gorge rises, but I swallow it down. “You just make it so hard sometimes to love you. You can be so reckless.”
“I know,” I say through clenched teeth. “I’m sorry.”
“I forgive you.” He leans toward my mouth.
Oh God. I don’t know if I can stay motionless. I’m going to get sick. I can feel the bile rising in my throat. I just have to stay still for a minute. That’s all it will take for him to drop his guard.
His lips touch mine and I scrunch my eyes closed against the revulsion that surges through me. Just a few more seconds.
What I’ll do after that, I haven’t yet figured out.
When he tilts his head just a little more to try to deepen the kiss, I strike him hard in the throat with my thumb. At the same time, my knee comes up right between his legs. As his head comes down to protect his throat more, I push him off balance as hard as I can. Then I’m off. I run toward the back of the house as fast as I can.
I don’t look over my shoulder, I don’t slow down. If he catches me, I’m dead—or worse. I can’t think about now. All I need to concern myself with is getting the fuck out of this house. Once I’m outside, I can run. I’m fast and I can go for a long time. Outside, I have the advantage.
I reach the back door and see that it is also boarded up. There has to be an opening somewhere, because how the hell did he get me inside to begin with? Then I see it. An open window. There are no boards, and the glass is broken. It’s my only opportunity. I make a dash for it.
I sense he’s almost on me as I dive through the opening. His hand brushes my foot as I go through. A jagged shard of glass nicks me down the arm, but it’s not bad enough to stop me. It stings and I’m bleeding, but I keep going. If I stop, I’ll lose more than just some blood.
When I land on the ground, I roll and get to my feet as fast as I can. Tristan always told me I had quick feet, and I use those feet now to run. I make it around the house, darting as fast as I can through the thick weeds and garbage surrounding the forgotten lot. I nearly trip on a discarded sink but manage to keep my feet.
The Other Brother Part 3: Illicit Page 5