Play Me

by Ivy Knight

  "A lawyer, please," I word. That seems to tick her off, but she regains her patience and stands up.

  "He'll be here in a few minutes," she says before leaving.

  Fucking bitch.

  She has no evidence. The fingerprints is a lie, because I wore gloves the whole time I was at the station. Any virtual evidence she did have is gone and any paper or physical evidence she has is either being bought out by Lilly at this moment or isn't strong enough to continue on with the case. Whatever the officers and Camilla saw, is just their word. They have no physical evidence to back up their claims.

  "I'm George O'Neil, your defense lawyer for the case," we shake hands.

  "Summer White, I'm sure Kai told you about me."

  "That, he has and I'm sure if you did your part well, this won't take long," he comments. He notices my eyes lingering on the camera in the corner pointed at us. "No need to worry, all cameras were turned off before I entered the room."

  "Just ask for the evidence that the case is built on and once they give you nothing, make your magic happen and get us out of here," I sigh.

  "Did you answer any questions concerning the allegations?"

  "Nope."

  "Good."

  "So how long do think this'll take?"

  "A couple more hours. Because of the system setback, they haven't been able to get the search warrant. I'll work as fast as possible to make sure we end the case before it goes through."

  "Works for me. What do you want me to do?"

  "Not confess."

  "To what?" He looks at me like are you serious, but I keep my dumbfounded expression on. Realizing my trick, he laughs.

  "Clearly, you've got this. Let me do my part now," he buttons his coat and heads out the door.

  ...♛...

  "Finally!" I sigh heavily as the officer unlocks the cuffs on my wrists. I bring my arms forward and rub the marks on my wrists.

  My lawyer walks up to me with a smile on his face.

  "Thank you, Mr. O'Neil."

  "It's my pleasure," he says. We shake hands and he takes his leave reminding me that he'll take care of the extra paperwork.

  As I stand in the lobby, I find Kai and Alec talking to Camilla.

  "You must be Camilla, I'm Summer," I break into their small group. Camilla hesitates to shake my hand, but goes through with it.

  "You played a great game," she compliments.

  "Not sure what you mean, but I'm not one to turn down compliments, so thank you."

  "Do you mind if I have a minute with her?" Camilla asks Kai. Alec and him exchange looks before walking away.

  "You can hide and lie, but for how long? Eventually, you'll slip, and I'll be right there picking up every piece of evidence you leave behind."

  "Poor soul, you should really work on your priorities. Did you even call your kids today? Did they even come home?" her pupils dilate with fear and I let out a crooked smile.

  "Oh don't worry, I would never do anything that drastic. Not after you're perfectly capable of doing it yourself. The poor girl still blames you for her older brother’s death and I'm not sure if she's wrong. I mean, I'd blame you too."

  I recite the information I read on her while I was at the gym yesterday dismantling the surveillance cameras.

  "Don't you dare, threaten me in a place where I could bring down your whole existence."

  "I think you're forgetting that this is the exact same place where I fooled you and every single person standing in this building. In other words, don't fuck with me. Especially, on my birthday," with that, I turn around and leave.

  After spending three days in jail and being exposed by Nick on one day of the year I despise most, I think I'm keeping it together pretty well.

  ...♛...

  I enter the house and just like I guessed, Alec and Kai are on the couch.

  "Summer," Alec's voice echoes in the room as I pass by them. "Where are you going?"

  "To my room," I say heading up the stairs.

  "Summer, that's not your room anymore," he informs.

  "Why? Does one of the rooms in the basement have my name on it again?" I speak humorlessly.

  I hear both their footsteps behind me as I make my way down the hall to my room. Entering my room, I open the closet and take out a duffle bag. I put it on my bed and start to stuff it with clothes.

  "Where are you going?" Alec queries.

  "I have business to finish," I tell him.

  "What business?"

  "Look, Alec," I stand and face him. "You know who am and so does Nick. I'd love to stay here and help you destroy him, but we both know that's not gonna happen with us alone."

  "Then if you're not going to Nick, what business do you have to take care of?"

  "My family, Alec. Nick isn't going to let me or my family go now that he knows I'm alive. I'm not letting him break the news to them before I get the chance to explain my side of the story."

  "What is your side of the story, Summer?" Kai is the one to ask.

  I look past Alec's shoulder and let out a small, careless laugh before I walk back into my closet and pull out the small box I've wanted to keep hidden from everyone's eyes. Since there's no point in hiding, I bring the box outside where I smash it onto the ground.

  The lid breaks free from the hinges and all my IDs fall out along with my blades.

  "That's my story," I tell them. Kai squats down and picks up the cards reading them over.

  "I didn't tell you who I am, because I was never capable of holding just one name. All these identifications are who I am and unfortunately, I can't pick one over the other. They're all a part of me, because I never had a choice. Nick took that away from me and that's why the night the house set on fire, I never went back to who I was. I couldn't. He made sure of that. I didn't run away from who I was, I just did what I knew best. I created a new me and it was the only me I felt safe as until you came along."

  Tired of trying to prove myself, I get busy with zipping up my bag. I walk over to my dresser and open the first drawer. Under a couple of shirts, I make sure that the small piece of paper I hid is still there before closing it.

  I turn around and watch Kai stand up with the pieces of IDs no longer in his hands. I take a deep breath.

  "I never came into your life to get revenge on Nick. I didn't even know he had a little brother. After I found out, I thought that since I didn't have a choice in whether I went with you or not, I'd use you to get more information about Nick."

  I walk over to the bed and put the strap of the bag over my shoulders.

  "I'm not going to try and justify everything else I did after joining the team because even I'm unsure of why I did half the things I did. One thing I can confirm, is that it wasn't supposed to end like this."

  I was never supposed to fall for you.

  "I might've followed your orders before, but things are much more different now. I have to go and I'm not asking for your permission," I take my bag and start to walk to the door.

  I'm almost out when I'm tugged back.

  "I can't just let you leave," Kai says pulling me around.

  "Just like you couldn't help me when your brother beat me to pulp right under your feet?" I challenge looking into his eyes. When I don't get a reply, I continue on, "This is what Nick wanted. Don't turn your back on me, I can help you. All you have to do is come with me."

  "I came as fast as I could!" Cole appears in the doorway. I turn around and find him with his jacket unzipped leaning against the door frame trying to catch his breath. "So, how's everyone?"

  "Are you serious bro?" Alec questions.

  "Where's Luciano?" Kai asks causing me to turn my attention back to him.

  "He's safe," I reply.

  "I hope you don't really expect me to believe that, do you?"

  "I do actually, because you have no other choice. He's not coming home until Nick is permanently wiped out of the picture."

  "Is that a threat?"

  "Take it as you will. I
don't really care. But if you love Luciano, you'll come with me."

  "And how do we know that this isn't some sort of revenge plot you and your family have come up with to get back at my brother?"

  "Do you really think that if my family knew I was alive, I would be suffering from all the pain you caused me? If they'd known that I was alive, I would be locked up in my house protected by fifty bodyguards just so no one like Nick can ever lay their hands on me again."

  "That sounds like her family," Cole comments from behind me.

  "Pack your things, we're going to LA," Kai announces.

  I see nothing in him today. No emotions in his eyes and no language in his body that I can read. Just a man with nothing to say, a body with words and emotions buried deep within that even hell can't compare. All I see is him with flesh covering the anatomy and the only person to blame for his state, is me.

  So, when he walks past me, brushing his shoulder against mine, I don't stop him. I let him go, because holding him back will only cause him more pain.

  "Alec," I stop him as he tries to walk past me. "You trusted me before, I need you to keep it intact."

  "But I was wrong to do so. Today, I look like a fool for believing you. If I had just listened to Kai when he said there was something odd about you, things would've been different," he states before walking away.

  "Cole?"

  "Can't argue with that, I never did like you," he says.

  When I'm left alone, I close the door and drop the bag on the ground. My back slides down the door until I'm sitting on the floor.

  I want to cry, scream even, but I don't. I just silently whimper feeling like the whole world has turned against me.

  I can't believe I'm returning home. Dean will hate me for what I've done. I don't even think Vincent will care. Anthony, I don't even wanna imagine what he'll do. And my father, he'll feel betrayed. Family is never supposed to turn their back against each other, but I did. Instead of going home and facing who I am, I walked away from them. I let them believe I died and that kind of toll will never be forgiven.

  Even Kai, he'll never forgive me. If there was even a mere chance of us being together, it has been obliterated. He might come along now, but it's only because he wants his son back. With Nick around, he knows that's not possible. Kai will do anything for his son's protection. Even if it means working with me.

  I destroy everything. Up to this day, I'm still oblivious to why my mom chose an unborn child over her own life.

  Chapter 44

  I don't even remember the last time I was so anxious that all my surroundings became a blur around me.

  As I stare through the metal gates at the mansion stood behind, I imagine all the ways the moments lying ahead can play out.

  It's been forty-eight hours since I've gotten out of jail. Since then, we've spent most our time planning how we'd approach this situation. Before I was standing right in front of the gates, I was so confident and ready. Now, I just wanna run in the opposite direction.

  "What are you waiting for?" Kai questions. "It is your family in there."

  "Like I told you before, it's more complicated than that," I explain. "Our family isn't as golden as everyone thinks it to be."

  I look at the guards at the gate and then all the ones scattered around the front and on the roof. When I was a kid, we didn't have nearly as much security.

  "Cole, you got this?" I question through my bluetooth. Cole is stationed further away from us in an angle where he can easily shoot the guards on the balconies.

  "So you really don't wanna try the knocking on the door approach?" he asks with hope underlying.

  "I'll take that as a yes," I reply. "Alec?"

  I turn around and take the gun out of his hand. Tucking it under the waistband of my jeans, I ask for Kai's confirmation.

  "Kai?" he nods in response. "Okay, Cole."

  Listening to my command, Cole starts to tranquillize the guards that keep eyes from above. Just moments later, Kai starts to shoot the ones on the ground.

  I, on the other hand, start to climb the gate. Once I'm down on the inside, I run into the booth and shoot the security guard before unlocking the gate.

  "Okay, I'm coming down!" Cole notifies. I take note of his words, but don't have time to reply. As Kai, Alec and I make our way to the main entrance, I take a small piece of contraption and attach it to the door.

  "It's blue, Cole," I explain.

  "Okay, click the button on the far left and then the third one away from it."

  "Hurry up, Summer," I hear Alec complain as he shoots down more guards.

  "I'm trying," I say as I click the buttons. A few seconds later, I hear all the locks to the door unlock.

  "Bless," I sigh heavily as I rip off the bluetooth and crush it under my foot before I walk inside and pull out my own gun. Seeing a whole line of guards blocking my way, I keep my weapon up and pointed.

  Kai and Alec take my two sides.

  Going against the plan, I lift my hands up in surrender.

  They're all going to hate me for this, but there's no better way. If we make a move, the guards will shoot without even a second thought.

  "Get on your knees and put your weapons down!" one of them yells.

  "Summer what are you doing?" Kai hisses.

  "Just do what I'm doing," I order.

  "Fuck," he hisses as he puts his hands up in surrender following my lead. Slowly, we get down on our knees and set our weapons down.

  "Ego pars Candidam Casam. Et puer parvulus, et expecta filia autem Xavier and Hope Album; Summer. Soror, Vincent, Anthony et Dean Album," my Latin is rough, but I still manage to glue the words together so that it can be understood. At the end, I pull my hair back and reveal the tattoo that marks me as the property of The White Dragons.

  I watch as one of the guards speaks into a walkie talkie. He's too far and speaking lowly for me to even predict a word he's saying, so I remain silent waiting to see what happens next.

  The guard in charge, passes an order down and the rest start to surround us closing the proximity. Splitting into three groups, they all pin us down and handcuff us.

  "Take them down," the head guard says. One of them roughly pulls me up onto my feet.

  "What? Who did you talk to?" I question. "Hey!"

  I hiss when the guard starts to tighten the cuffs and shoves me foreword.

  "Dean White, it's your fucking sister trying to talk to you! Dean! Anthony! Pater! Come down and stop being fucking cowards!" I look up at the multiple balconies from each of the floors hoping that someone will show their face.

  "Stop!" I hiss as the guard behind me pushes harder. When I lift my eyes to the balcony again, I find Vincent leaning over the edge dressed in a fine grey suit.

  His eyes meet mine.

  "Vince," I word.

  "Take them down!" he yells.

  "Vincent!" I protest. "Vincent!"

  He doesn't say anything. He just enjoys watching me struggle as I'm pushed out, and away from his sight.

  ...♛...

  "Fuck!" I hit the glass window. It's been over hours since the guard shoved me into the room. I know they're watching me, but no one has come down.

  I can't hear Kai or Alec. They're probably torturing them for all I know. I was stupid to think that they'd believe me when I told them who I am. I thought that they'd give me a chance to prove it, but Vince hasn't changed a bit. A part of me can't help but feel like my death is all Vince ever wanted.

  I could've tried the knocking on the down approach, but that would never gain me a meeting with my brothers or father. They're all too busy for a stupid girl claiming to be their dead family member. I needed their attention as fast as I could gain it and this is the best possible way I knew how to.

  Hours pass and I change serval positions. From the ground to the chair, to lying down on the table, and now trying to sleep on the ground.

  On the brink of falling asleep, I start to hear the hiss of an air conditioner. Sitting up strai
ght, my eyes find a cloud of yellow smoke coming in from the air vent.

  Oh hell, no.

  I take off my shirt leaving myself covered with only my sports bra and hold the shirt in front of my face allowing the fabric to somewhat filter the oxygen going into my system.

  "Dean!" I speak through the cloth covering my face.

  "Dean! You're gonna kill me with the Chlorine poisoning! For fucks sake -" I halt my yelling as I start to cough.

  "D -Dean -" cough - "My throat won't be able to handle the swelling - sss!"

  I throw in facts about me, that not a lot of people know, hoping that the person listening decides to give me a chance and hear out what I have to say.

  I seal my eyes as I start to feel the burning sensation.

  "What's your name?" I hear a voice. I open my eyes, but everything's a blur. The smoke filling the room like fog, I can't make out a picture of anyone else's presence in the room. "What's your name?"

  "S- Summer," I speak closing my eyes again. I lean my back against the wall. My lungs burning; the deeper my breathing is, the more intoxicated they become.

  Weakening by the second, my arm drops to the side no longer being able to hold the shirt up to my face.

  "Do you have any idea of what you've done?" The voice speaks again and I try to search the back of my mind to link it to someone I might know.

  "I- I came h-home -" cough, cough, cough.

  "Zeke!" I yell connecting the voice to one of Dean's friends. "I -I'm -" cough - "g- give me a- a meet- ing wi -with D- Dean. Ugh! This shit burns!"

  On my knees, I put my head on the ground.

  I feel hot liquid dripping from my lips as I try to think of what I want to say.

  "I -I'm his sister," I whisper before falling to one of my sides. The room full of Chlorine, all I see is the gas before I feel my airway completely close.

  I try to breathe, but I can't. So, I just close my eyes hoping that the pain goes away.

  ...♛...