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I groaned and held it away. “I’m not trying to eat it, you moron. Just look at it.” I held it up between two fingers. “If this really fell out of your bag, that means we’re going in the right direction to get back to our villa.”
Brick gasped and took the Skittle from me, holding it up triumphantly. “You’re right. Yes! We just need to follow the trail.”
I glanced around us, looking for more Skittles, but it had gotten so dark we couldn’t see very far. “We’re going to need a light.”
“I have a flashlight in my bag,” Brick offered, already slinging the pack off his shoulders.
Yes! Thank you, God, for my junk-hoarding little brother.
“Give it here,” I said, holding out my hand.
Once he passed it over, I turned on the light, and we scanned the ground together, spreading away from the site of the first Skittle in a circular pattern, until Brick cried, “There! There’s another.”
“Don’t eat it,” I instructed even as I hurried to him, and we started over again looking for the next Skittle.
And that’s how we found our way back to the hotel, one beacon of Skittle-colored hope at a time. It took us nearly an hour, my skin was ice cold, and it had to be way past bedtime, but we made it.
“There,” I said as soon as I saw something recognizable to me. “Isn’t that the villa where we’re staying?”
“Yes!” Brick raced forward to reach the door first. “We made it!”
I hung back though. Maybe I was worried Mother wouldn’t be around and the horror of our night would just be beginning. Or maybe something in me already knew what I’d see when I paused to look in through the large glass window.
Because there sat the woman who’d given birth to us, lounging on a claw-footed sofa with her feet kicked up and crossed at the ankles as she sipped from a glass of wine, laughing at something she was watching on the television. It looked like a soap opera. She lifted a round chocolate bonbon to her mouth and took a bite as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
Because she didn’t.
She didn’t have a single, fucking care on the entire planet, certainly not a smidgeon of concern for her two missing sons, anyway.
I stared in disbelief.
We had waited on her for hours, growing hungry and cold and scared, worried if she was okay, worried if we were going to be okay, and wondering if we’d ever see her again or if we’d make it home alive. And she’d been here, watching television in warmth and comfort, laughing while she dined on chocolate and wine?
No fucking way.
She’d never been a warm, caring person, but this seemed like a new low. It was heartless and cruel. And unforgivable.
In the next instant, Brick pounded on the door, and the woman inside jumped, cursing when she spilled a splash of wine on her lap.
“Mom!” Brick cried, knocking more vigorously. “Are you there? Mom! It’s us.” He jiggled the handle, but it was locked. “We found our way back.”
When she glanced toward the door, she met my gaze through the glass.
A second later, she perfected the appearance of a fretful mother and pressed a hand to her heart before springing from the couch and hurrying forward to let us in.
“Oh my God! Where have you two been?” she accused as soon as she flung the door open.
Grabbing Brick’s arm, she yanked him rudely inside and shook her newly manicured finger at him.
“I looked everywhere for you. I even called the authorities, and they have men out searching for you right now. Are you two trying to give me a heart attack?”
“But we were right where you left us,” Brick swore, “waiting for you to come back and meet us. It was so scary. No one talked English. We ran out of food. And it got dark and cold. I think one lady wanted to eat us.”
He went in for a hug, but she sniffed and held up a hand. “Honestly, Broderick, this blouse is silk. You’ll wrinkle it. You already ruined my slacks.”
When she pointed out the wine spill, Brick mumbled, “Sorry,” and moved closer to me. I took his frozen fingers and squeezed supportively. “I just didn’t know if I was ever going to see you again.”
With a harassed sigh, she rolled her eyes. “God, you’re so dramatic. Of course you’d see me again. Do you think I’d just leave Monte Carlo without my children? Don’t be stupid.”
