“And if he never comes back?”
“Then that certainly says something about your future, doesn’t it?”
I glance up to Noah, knowing exactly what he’s trying to tell me. I’ll be stuck here forever unless Rivers comes back and my gut is telling me that it’s very likely, not unless we can somehow take Anton down. But looking around me at this massive empire he’s built for himself, taking him down is not going to be a stroll through the park.
But then, could I really take down the man who gave me away to have a better life and save my little sister? Maybe he’s not the villain we’ve always thought he was? One thing is for sure though, he’s done things in his life which he deserves to be locked up for, and a few good deeds for his daughter isn’t going to outweigh the bad.
Anton indicates towards the door and Noah’s not stupid enough to hold back again and finally starts making his move. “Oh, and Henley,” Anton says, making me pause in the doorway and look back at him, dreading what he could possibly have to add. “You’ll do well not to broadcast your relationship with me. I have a lot of enemies around here who would all love to know that I have a daughter they could get to. Do you understand me?”
I nod my head. “Broadcasting will most likely get me a one way ticket to hell.”
“Good. The final day of summer, I will be expecting you at seven. We will have dinner together and I will share your schedule and tell you how I expect you to behave. If you are here even a minute past seven, I will come looking and I promise you, I will find you and when I do, you will be punished. Is that understood?”
I give a firm nod, hating myself for getting into this position, but the little girl in my arms makes it all worth it. “Yes.”
“Good. Now leave. I have a meeting to attend.”
Noah and I get out of there as quickly as we possibly can. I dive into the backseat and get Ari buckled in and the door barely has a chance to close behind me before Noah takes off down the drive in his desperate attempt to get us out of here unharmed.
I can’t help but sit as close to Ari as possible, keeping myself wrapped around her as Noah gets us home. As he drives, I can’t help but think over everything that was just said in Anton’s study. My mind swirls.
Is Anton not the bad guy I’ve always assumed he is or maybe he’s just protective of his family? He has no need to show kindness to anyone else and maybe that’s why I couldn’t see it before, but one thing’s for sure, he gave me a life he knew I would be happy living, he found my little sister and returned her to me, and he released Noah from his clutches because Lily had a part in helping his niece to survive.
This doesn’t make sense to me. My whole life, Anton has been the guy in Haven Falls that you have to stay away from, and yes, he’s scary as hell, but tonight he showed a different side of himself. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m about to start going over there for day trips to visit my new daddy. There’s no doubt about it, he’s a dangerous man and I’ll be keeping as much distance as I possibly can, I just don’t think he’s ever meant any harm to me. Though, something tells me he’d be more than happy to smack me around a bit if I was to fuck up.
He had promised, in not so many words, that he had taken care of Kelly and maybe I should be looking into that a little bit more. I mean, she’s an awful woman and I hope to God I never have to see her again, but maybe I should be asking a few questions as to what his idea of ‘making her pay’ is. I just hope I’m not responsible for giving the call for someone to be murdered. That would make me sick to my stomach. Hopefully, he just helped her see the error of her ways without inflicting any sort of permanent damage.
The whole drive back to my place, nobody utters a word. The only sound in the car is Ari’s constant sniffling and by the time Noah pulls up at my place, it’s a parking lot. Everyone is here to see here and check for themselves that she’s ok.
Noah comes to stand by the back door and holds it open as I scoop Ari out of her seat. He stands over us protectively as we make our way inside and the second the door opens; the whole world is there to say hello. Ari instantly gets shy with so many people and the second Violet sees the look on her face, she jumps into protective Mumma mode and has them all backing off.
I make my way with her down to the bathroom and close the door behind me, only opening it when Violet shows up with a bath towel and a change of clothes before promising Ari that she’s going to make her favorite pancakes with ice cream and strawberries on top.
Ari gives her a small smile and before I know it, I’m left in the bathroom with my little sister, scrubbing the memory of the past week and five days from her body.
We stay in the bathroom for a while and I put in every little effort I can to make her feel somewhat human again. I even go as far as to blow dry her hair for her. By the time we’re done, she looks just like the little girl that I remember putting to bed last week. Only now, there’s a darkness in her eyes that speaks of the horror she’s just gone through.
Ari still clings to me as we emerge from the bathroom and I let out a silent sigh of relief as everyone gives her the space she needs. I sit her down on the couch beside me, and Violet is the first to approach with the pancakes and ice cream that she promised. Ari gives her a small smile and then digs into her food.
One by one people come and say hello and it’s not until dad comes barging through the front door that she actually shows anyone a real emotion.
She flies up off the couch, spilling her pancakes all over the floor before sprinting across the room to dad. She throws herself up into dad’s arms and he catches her moments before dropping to his knees and sobbing into her freshly cleaned hair.
It’s then the welcoming party gets the hint to take off. Noah stays until the last person is gone before pressing a kiss to my head, promising to call me later. He walks out the door, closing it firmly behind him and making sure to flick the lock as he goes.
Dad gets up off the floor and wipes the tears off his face before picking up Ari and bringing her over to the couch. He drops down beside me and we sit in silence, just happy to have her back.
It’s not long before Ari’s exhaustion catches up to her and she falls into a deep sleep on dad’s shoulder. He questions if he should go put her down in her room, but remembering that’s where she was taken from has him second guessing himself and making me realize that I might be switching rooms with my little sister soon.
Dad reconsiders and keeps her in his arms and something tells me that’s where she’s going to stay until tomorrow morning.
I give dad the recap of what happened with Anton and how Ari looked when I finally got to her. Dad looks absolutely shattered and broken but the relief to have her back outweighs everything else.
“I’m sorry,” I finally tell him once everything else has been said and done. “I shouldn’t have told you about my deal with Anton and how I was connected to him. All I did was make everything harder for you.”
“Henley, you could have told me yesterday, today, or in a year from now and nothing is going to change how bad it hurt hearing that you’re not my biological daughter. I understand why you chose that moment to tell me and I agree that I needed to know as it made understanding what you did a lot easier. I’m not going to lie to you, Henley, I’m not proud of you going to Anton and I don’t really know where to go from here. You put yourself in unnecessary danger to save your sister and while I applaud your courage and the love you clearly have for her; I can’t forgive the fact that you went behind my back and ended up putting yourself in a difficult situation.”
“But I got her back.”
“I realize this and I will forever be grateful that you sacrificed yourself like that, but it doesn’t change the fact that I am furious with you.”
My eyes drop to my lap as dad’s words really settle over me. I sacrificed myself for Aria and now it’s time to face the consequences. "I have to go at the end of the summer.”
Dad’s big hand rests over mine. “It’
s going to be alright, Squish. We’ll work out what we’re going to do with Anton, but for now, let’s just be happy that we have Aria home and for the most part, she is unharmed and healthy.”
I nod and lean into dad’s side, hating that awful cloud of dread and guilt that seems to settle above me. “He’s not going to let me go,” I murmur, hoping dad understands just how serious this is.
“I know. He may share your blood but he gave up the rights to you the day you showed up on my doorstep. I am your father, not him and I will fight tooth and nail to get you back. Don’t be fooled, Henley. You’re not going anywhere. I didn’t raise you all those years just to have you taken away by a man like that.”
I look up at dad, searching his eyes. “You promise?” I murmur, hoping to God that every word he speaks is true.
“I promise, Squish,” he tells me, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me in hard to his side, making me want him to never let me go.
Chapter 8
I sit out on the beach, watching as Ari plays in the sand, hating how she’s constantly looking around, terrified of Kelly showing up and taking her away. We’ve had her home for a week now and watching her fall back in with her normal life has been hard.
She’s jumpy, scared, and scavenging for food like she used to when she first came to us. She’s the same Ari that we used to know and it kills me that less than two weeks with Kelly was enough to send her back to that old version of herself. I’m just glad that she’s so much stronger now. She has so much more will to fight and keep going. She knew deep down that we were going to come and get her and while she hasn’t actually said it, I feel it right down in my gut.
Dad went back to work today and I promised Ari a special girls’ day with Tully. I’m not going to lie, he was nervous leaving her, and had Noah helping him install new locks on every window, brand new locks on the doors, and even splurged and bought a proper security system.
Though, he didn’t leave without giving me the biggest lecture of my life about opening doors for people we don’t know and checking through the window first. Hell, he even told me that if it’s a Girl Scout selling cooking to tell her to piss off or slide some cash under the door and tell her to leave the goods.
I sit beside Tully and while Ari is having the time of her life, jumping over the shallow waves by the shore, I can’t say that Tully and I are really enjoying ourselves. The beach is packed with bodies and we’ve both been watching Ari like a hawk, terrified of something happening to her.
We should be able to relax and enjoy ourselves. Ari is home safe and Kelly won't be coming back, but I guess the heaviness of the situation has been weighing down on me. I’m no longer carefree when it comes to Aria. I’ve screwed up majorly and forever worrying about it happening again is just going to be one of the many consequences that come along with it.
I will never let her out of my sight again.
“Do you think she’s alright?” Tully asks, sitting up a little straighter as Ari jumps over a wave, misses, and then crashes down into the sand.
We each watch her for a moment, waiting to see what she’ll do, when she gets to her feet, dusts herself off, and heads straight for the waves again. “I think she’s stronger than what we give her credit for,” I tell Tully. “That first day we got her back she was an emotional wreck, but after a good sleep and waking up at home, she’s been absolutely fine. I mean…mostly fine. She’s jumpy and cautious, but generally she’s the happy girl we all know and love. I’ve been waiting for her to break and let it all out but it’s just not happening.”
“Shit, if that was me, I’d be crying on the bathroom floor for days on end.”
“I know, and then Rivers would come back and threaten anyone who dares touch you.”
Tully rolls her eyes. “He wouldn’t come back.”
“Bullshit. If you were in trouble, he would be on the first flight back here.”
“Whatever,” she scoffs, focusing back on Aria. “Have you tried talking to her? It couldn’t be good holding it all in like that.”
“Yeah,” I laugh, remembering the conversation I had with her yesterday. “I sat her down with a bowl of ice cream last night and asked her all about it and she somehow turned it back on me and somehow I was the one being analyzed. She even had me in tears, telling me that it wasn’t my fault and that I did the best I could.”
“Are you serious?” Tully howls as laughter pulls from within her. “That little girl is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Mom was talking about it last night and suggested taking her to therapy.”
I scrunch up my face, not really one for sitting down and telling a stranger all about my issues. “No really,” Tully says. "Mom used to take Lily to therapy all the time and she’d talk about her illness and how it was making her feel. Hell, sometimes even talking about other things like me and Noah or her friends at school. It did her wonders. She always seemed to come back from those appointments so much lighter. By the end she had gotten really close with her therapist. I think her name was Sue or Susie, or something like that.”
I let out a breath as I watch Ari spin around, laughing at the divots she makes in the wet sand. “I don’t know. I’ll talk to dad and see what he thinks about it.”
“It really couldn’t hurt,” Tully says. “She goes, she sits down and talks to the woman and if she likes it and gets something out of it, then great. If not, you don’t go back for another appointment. No harm, no foul.”
“Fine, I’ll take her to go see this shrink but if it all goes south and she has some kind of meltdown, it’s all on you and I’ll be bringing her over for you to deal with.”
“That’s fine by me. Ari loves having time at my place.”
“No. She loved it when Rivers was there. I think she had some giant crush on the guy.” I grin at Tully. “It seems you two have more in common than you thought.”
Tully shrugs. “What can I say? The kid obviously has good taste in men.”
“You know we’re in for trouble when she starts dating.”
“Don’t remind me. We’re going to have a line of dudes outside your house day in and day out.”
“That’s if she’s not holding out for an older man. You know, I wouldn’t put it past her trying to steal Rivers or Noah away when she’s older.”
“Nah, no way. A girl like Ari is going to enjoy watching all the boys at school fall at her feet, desperate for her attention. She’s going to be you in twelve years, just cooler, prettier, and not so screwed up.”
“Shut up. She’s going to be all those things except she’s going to absolutely love going to school. She’s going to enjoy all her classes and focus on every word her teachers are saying, and then she’s going go home, ignore all the boys pining for her attention, do her homework and go straight to bed.”
“Yeah, right,” Tully laughs. “Can you imagine if Ari brought home a guy like Noah? Covered in tats and working as some mobster’s muscle. I don’t think your dad could handle that a second time.”
“Come on,” I chuckle. “Dad handled it just fine. He hasn’t even threatened Noah since prom.”
Tully’s brows fly up and she nods. “Wow. I’m impressed,” she says. “How is the old man doing? Last I checked he still hadn’t said much about…well, everything.”
I let out a deep sigh. “Still the same,” I tell her. “We had that one talk and now he’s gone back to sulking and snapping at everything. I think his head is still messed up from Aria disappearing and then add the whole ‘who’s your daddy?’ bullshit with the lack of sleep he’s had for nearly three weeks and well…he’s a bit of a mess.”
“Maybe you should be sending him to therapy with Ari.”
Laughter claims me and I howl out like a hyena, imagining how that conversation would go down. “Trust me,” I tell her. “There’s no way in hell that I’ll be poking that bear with a therapy stick, not unless I want my head bitten off. But you’re free to give it a try if you’d like.”
“Shit. That bad
?”
“Yep. I’d have a better chance of surviving a swim with hungry sharks and waving blood under their noses than asking dad to go to therapy. I think the guy just needs a little time off and maybe one hell of a good sleep while knowing that me and Aria are locked inside the house with no way out.”
Tully shakes her head. “Being a little dramatic, don’t you think?”
“Fine then. Be my guest. You go and suggest therapy and see how it goes.” Hesitation flashes in her eyes and I grin wide, knowing I won this round fair and square. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
We both stay focused on Ari, watching her every move and both sit a little straighter as a man walking his dog walks a little too close. My mind takes me to places it shouldn’t go and I’m seconds from bowling the dickhead over when he walks on by, minding his own damn business. “Shit,” I sigh. “No matter the circumstance, I can’t stop looking at every single person as a threat.”
“You and me both,” she grumbles.
I glance across at her, hating how every moment of every day, nothing but the thoughts of Ari being taken and my deal with Anton are the only things filtering through my mind. “Alright. I’ve had enough of this. Distract me so I can stop going crazy, and you better make it something good.”
“I still haven’t heard from Broken Hill University,” she says with a shrug, trying her best to keep my mind off the thought of Ari disappearing on me again.
“Really?” I question, kind of wishing she had something a little more exciting to talk about. “They’re taking their sweet time.”
“Yeah, I’m kind of doubting I got in. A school like that wouldn’t still be sending out acceptance letters. They’d have that shit sorted long ago. Maybe it’s time to notify the community college that I’ll be attending their business classes. I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
“No, don’t give up yet. It won’t be any fun if I have go on my own. I need you there with me. Besides, you never know. It might still come.”
Unbreakable: Haven Falls (Book 6) Page 7