AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterThirty-Three
Eden
Everything moved in such a blur that I almost had an out-of-body experience. I heard myself answering the officer’s questions, but I had nothing to tell her other than the fact that I was visiting my parents after my place had been broken into and then, all of a sudden, we were being shot at. Even if I had the entire truth, however, I wasn’t sure how wise it was to speak with the authorities.
Because none of this felt like something the legal system could take care of peacefully.
I got shuffled into a car before the world passed me by outside a window. I had no idea whose car I was in or where we were headed, but once we pulled into the parking garage of Dominik’s place of work, I forced myself to focus. We all stuffed ourselves into the elevator that led us all the way up to the top floor. And after it dumped us into his private office, I found Jackson standing in the middle of the room.
“It’s about time you guys showed up,” he said with a coy grin.
“Jackie,” Em said breathlessly.
I watched as she raced into his arms. I watched as he picked her up and swung her around. Their lips collided, and the kiss was so tender and so beautiful that I had to turn my back. I didn’t want to watch it. I didn’t want to see the happiness upon my sister’s face. I knew I should have treated it as a reward for what I had done to help save her future, but it only made me angry.
Angry that she got to be happy, and I got to be someone’s sex slave.
“Where the hell did you get these?” Dad asked angrily.
His voice pulled me out of the foggy haze of my terror, and I searched around the room for him. I spun around eventually, finding him standing next to Dominik’s desk as he drank in the wall of pictures and documents that had been taped up to a window. My jaw dropped at the sheer amount of information plastered onto that wall. I mindlessly walked over, my eyes locked with a particular picture I simply couldn’t ignore.
“Dad?” I asked as I pointed. “Is that… you?”
“Where did you get all of this?” he hissed as he pivoted around. “Who the hell gave you these!?”
Dominik’s voice stayed calm and collected, though I wasn’t sure how. “My research team dug them up. Your family has been part of a file I’ve been working on for a couple of weeks now.”
“Dad?” I asked softly.
He charged the man and shoved him in the chest. “You start talking right now. Who gave this to you!? Did they give it to you? Did the government give it to you?”
“Clyde, stop it!” Mom exclaimed.
“Daddy!” Em shrieked.
“Hey!” I barked.
The room fell completely silent as Dad and Dominik stared off with one another. I was done. I was through. He either talked, or I tossed him to the wolves. None of us had a damn clue what was going on, but my father knew. His reaction told me everything, and as my mind slipped into “lawyer mode,” I ran my hand through my hair.
Before my voice grew hard. “Clyde.”
He slowly turned to face me. “What did you just call me?”
I lifted my head. “Until you start acting like my father, you don’t get the title. Understood?”
He scoffed. “Do you hear her right now, Claudia?”
But, instead of coming to his defense, she came to mine. “Tell them, or I will, and I’m not joking, Clyde. This has gone on long enough. They’re coming after our daughters. It’s time we did something about this.”
I tilted my head. “It’s time to talk, Dad. We just got shot at. We almost died. Someone’s been in my and Em’s apartments.”
“Wait, what?” Jackson asked.
My sister sighed heavily as she leaned her head into his chest. “Eden and I had our places broken into tonight.”
“Was anything taken?” Jackson asked.
I shook my head. “Not to our knowledge. Though, Dad probably knows what they were searching for. Which is why the least that he can do right now is flap those gums and give us answers.”
