Page 19 of Beautiful Scars

I slam the car door behind me, not worrying about waking my cargo. She’s been bouncing in and out of consciousness but seems to have given in, finally. She’ll be out cold for hours now. I had her bundled up in a blanket on the back seat, and she’s exactly where I left her after our final stop on our Magical Mystery Tour of Coercion.

I lift the little thing into my arms and kick the door closed behind me, heading for the front door. The sun is on the rise, but there aren’t any neighbors for miles so nothing to worry about.

I bought this place years ago off a footballer friend who needed to settle one too many cocaine debts. It’s about forty minutes away from the city, which roughly translates to the middle of nowhere, and that suits me perfectly.

It’s an old building, all stone and gabled roofs, though completely modernized. All except the front door, which I remind myself needs oiling every time I walk through it.

The living room door creaks open to reveal my brother lying on the couch in a pair of gray sweats, a bottle of Peroni in one hand and the remote control in his other. He’s watching the boxing, and Sarah is curled up at his feet like a cat, sleeping.

“Get her out,” I tell him as I walk into the room and take the couch opposite.

He shoots up. “Don’t be a dick, Kill. She’s sleeping.”

“I can see that. Doesn’t change a thing.”

Cole chuckles. “She stayed here with me for the whole week you were in Manchester.”

Is that supposed to make me feel better about it?

Fuck it. Whatever.

I’m honestly too exhausted to get into it with him after the night I’ve had. “She’s not here when I wake up.”

He nods. “Fine, fine. How did it go?”

I adjust Meisie’s position so I can get my phone out of my pocket, then throw it over to him. He unlocks it easily because we have the same face.

The lights from the video footage flicker across his features, and he glances up toward me occasionally, biting down on his knuckle and grinning like a child with a lollipop.

“Happy?”

He throws the phone back to me. “Delighted. Did you fuck her?”

“Behave. Course not,” I tell him.

Cole shrugs and lies back down on the couch. “I would have ”

I chuckle. “You wouldn’t have. She’s not exactly... agreeable.”

Cole’s a fan of an easy conquest.

He smirks over at me. “We’ll see about that. Just wait until she sees what I’ve planned next.”

My eyes narrow, but he’s still smirking.

Next?

There is nonext. We got what we wanted, and thanks to the impromptu photo session on Cole’s bed, we got even more. Now all we have to do is send the proof to the right people, and wait. She’s free to leave as soon as we get what we want.

“What are you talking about?”

He jumps up from the sofa, exhibiting far more energy than any normal person should have at five in the morning. “Come. Let me show you.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Come!” he shouts as he walks through the living room door.

I haul myself and Meisie up off the couch and find him already halfway down the hall. He stops under the staircase, where there’s a door that leads to a cupboard, which leads down into the basement.