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She studies me, doesn’t answer.
“Because I want you, Helena. What I said last night. I remember that too. And I still think you should run like hell from me. From any of us. Because when this is over,” I start, shaking my head as I think, pushing my plate away before I return my gaze to hers. “When this is over, I’ll still want you. I love you. And I’m warning you to run like fucking hell because you’re right. This isn’t going to end well for you. For me. For any of us.”
She reaches out to put her small hand over mine.
“You have me, Sebastian. And like last night, you can’t make me go anywhere. I need you. I love you.”
Her eyes fill up and I watch her.
“This is what happens. This is what no one counts on. I think my Aunt Helena loved your uncle. I think my Aunt Libby, she may have loved your father. As fucked up as it is, this is the saddest part of all of this.”21SebastianThe next week is about the most peaceful week I have ever spent on that island. Even as a child, it’s always been bittersweet. Too much tragedy, too much grief and hate and death. But this week, it feels different.
Fall is coming, and the cool air feels good after the heat of the last weeks. The change will be good. We need the change, Helena and me.
But I feel the loss of my brother more acutely than I thought I would. I think she does too, but neither of us talk about it. Gregory hasn’t called and every message I’ve left has gone unanswered.
I think about Ethan too. For years, I’ve let what happened sit in the back of my mind, his presence a constant reminder of what I’d done, and, in a way, that was punishment enough. But I’m not thinking of my own punishment now. I owe Ethan. I owe him a better life than one spent under Lucinda’s thumb.
“Can I try my sister again?” Helena asks as I swallow the last of my coffee.
I nod, hand over my phone.
She’s been trying Amy for the last week but, like my calls to Gregory, they go directly to voicemail. A call home confirmed that Amy had done what she threatened to do. She left. No one knows where she is, and her phone’s been offline.
After a few moments, Helena disconnects the call, disappointed. She doesn’t leave a message this time. She sets the phone back on the table.
“She probably doesn’t want your parents tracking her. I’m sure she’s fine.” I don’t know that though. “Let’s get out of here for a while. Take a trip. It’ll be good to have a change. Be around people.”
“Wow. I never thought you’d say that last part,” she says.
“Where do you want to go?”
Before she has a chance to answer, my phone vibrates on the table between us. We both look at the display.
It’s Joseph Gallo. I pick up.
“Joseph.”
“I have news,” he says without a greeting. Ever since that night at his office, he’s been hard at work trying to prove his loyalty to me and I think maybe I judged him too harshly.
“Lucinda?”
“Yes. I had a call from her. Seems she’s in need of funds.”
I smile. “I figured that was the way to smoke her out.”
I froze hers and Ethan’s accounts when they disappeared. Only then did I realize she’s been stealing from him. Skimming money out of his account and putting it into hers. Stealing from her own son.
“You can always count on Lucinda to be Lucinda. Where is she?”
“Outskirts of Philadelphia.”
“What’s she doing out there?”
But I remember as I ask the question.
Her family had an estate there that was condemned years ago, while my mother was still alive. I have some vague memories of conversations about it and my father telling Lucinda to let it go, that he wasn’t putting money into that dilapidated house.
“From a look through her bank statements, she’s been rebuilding the Ayer house for years, Sebastian.”
Ayer is her maiden name.
“How the fuck did we not know this? To rebuild a house of that scale requires significant capital.”
“She was smart in how she did it, small enough increments you wouldn’t notice the funds moved out of Ethan’s account, especially if you have no cause to expect that she’d steal from her own son.”
“I should have caught it,” I say. I should have paid closer attention to the details.
“What’s done is done. And the good news is even if you have a beautiful home, you need money to live and she’s out of it. I told her I’d transfer funds as soon as possible so she’ll sit tight. What do you want me to do?”
“Ethan’s with her?"
“Yes.”
“Okay. Good. I want you to do nothing. I’m heading out there now. Should be there within twelve hours.”
