“And? You mentioned a job not long ago, and I wanted to make sure I had all the information I needed to handle it,” I tell him casually.
“That isn’t your decision to make, Steele. I tell you what you need to know. Now, if I hear one word of you snooping around again, I will make you pay for it.” I ignore his threats. I’ve always ignored his threats because to be honest, I like his punishments. They give me a sick thrill of knowing what I can handle. He just doesn’t know that part.
“What’s the job?” Callan asks taking my dad’s eyes off me.
“We’ve been informed that there is a new girl in the area. We aren’t sure exactly how she fits in but she’s here with the Weatherly’s.” Now that has my interests.
“They don’t have kids and what the hell are they doing back in Rolling Springs?” I nearly growl.
“We don’t know. They returned and have brought a child with them.”
“And that has what to do with us?” Knox asks after being silent for most of the conversation.
“I’m about to tell you that. We have reason to believe that this girl isn’t who they say she is,” my dad says. Now that intrigues me. I sit up a little straighter, listen a little harder. My dad smirks knowing I like the sounds of that.
“And you want us to what? Make nice with her? Get her on our side and see what she knows?” I ask feeling the adrenaline as it rushes my system.
“Not exactly. If she is who we think she may be, we need information from her, not to scare her off.” I shake my head. This doesn’t make sense. Why would we want to get information from her? What information? As if he can read my mind, he continues, “We think she may have ties to the Macron family.”
Callan lets out a long whistle, Knox sighs, and I stare right into my dad’s eyes.
“Then why is it a problem for me to research them?”
“Because you don’t need to! Why are you so damn stubborn, Steele?” I shrug.
“Like father, like son?” Knox chuckles.
“Don’t keep this up. What I need for you to do is get close but not too close. We need to know anything she knows. You will be in charge of finding that out in any manner you see fit.” Now that causes a spark of fire to ignite in my stomach. My lips slowly curl into a grin that both of my brothers understand. They both smile along with me as my dad shakes his head.
“Don’t make me regret this,” he adds.
“Oh, you won’t regret it. If she knows anything, we will find out,” I add. I grab my fork, stab it into a piece of steak and pop it into my mouth as multiple ideas form in my head.
“If you will excuse me, I have things to do. I’ll be leaving again in the morning. I expect reports on this.” I nod my head as my dad shoves out of his chair and walks off.
“Is it the new girl I saw in the hall? Dark hair?” Callan asks.
“That’s her,” I reply.
“Her name’s Whisper. She’s in dance. Not a bad dancer either. Her body is toned and tight.” I jerk my head in Knox’s direction wondering how exactly he knows that. He laughs. “We had to have partners, so I grabbed her.” He shrugs making no apologies.
“I don’t care what her body is like, we need to start planning out what we’re going to do.”
“Since when do we plan? We always just go with it,” Callan adds with a shrug of his own. I glance over my shoulder to make sure my dad isn’t listening before leaning forward and resting my arms on the table.
“I’m not done looking into the Macron family. There’s a reason this shit is all secretive and I want to know,” I tell them. They both nod.
“So, we keep looking. We just do it on the down low. Dad won’t find out anymore,” Knox says. I nod as a smile crosses my face.
“Let’s go pay our new girl a visit.”
5
Whisper
I’ve never had much luck with sleep. With sleep comes bad dreams. With bad dreams comes another sleepless night. I toss and turn trying to get comfortable in this plush bed. I don’t think I’ve ever slept on anything so soft in my life. The Weatherly’s made sure to go all out for me, but the way they sat at the dinner table tonight gave me chills. I didn’t like how they looked at me, watched me. I think I was right. Psychos.
Throwing my legs over the edge of the bed, I stand and head for the door. I check to make sure their door is closed, which it is, before I walk down the steps. Making my way to the back door, I slip outside and inhale the cool night air. When I look up, I can see the stars. That’s not something I’m used to either. Back home, I was in a big city, bounced from place to place. I was never in a place like this. As we were coming through town, Rolling Springs looked like a picturesque town that you would see on a TV show or in a magazine. Not a place I ever thought I’d be living. I take a deep breath and sit on the porch swing, closing my eyes as it sways. The swing dips and I can feel someone sitting next to me but I’m afraid to open my eyes.
“What do you want?” I ask softly, not knowing who it could be, but I assume it’s Nathan or Debra.
“I’m not sure yet,” a deep, dark voice says. I open my mouth to say more, my eyes snapping open, but before I can move or make a sound, a hand covers my mouth and an arm snakes around my body. I start to thrash, fight, but I’m lifted easily. I can make out two more shadows in the distance near the pool house as I’m manhandled and carried in that direction. I claw at the hands that hold onto me, kicking my feet but it does no good.
“Stop fighting,” the man hisses into my ear. Yeah, that won’t happen. It only makes me want to fight harder, and I try too.
In a few more long strides, we’re in the pool house followed by the other two shadows. One of them slips something over my eyes before I’m being tossed onto a hard surface and my arms and legs tied down.
“You son of a bitch! I will kick your ass!” I scream before I’m being gagged. Well this isn’t good.
“Calm down and I might take that off,” one says in a hushed tone. I mouth around the gag when I feel hands on my body. They are tugging and ripping my clothes off. This isn’t happening. Not again. Please, God, don’t let this happen again! Tears burn the back of my eyes but I don’t let them fall. I won’t give them what they want. Instead, I remain perfectly still as my naked body is exposed to the cool air. Then there are hands on me. Roaming slowly over my flesh. Electric currents run from those hands and straight over my skin. What the hell is going on?
“I’m going to remove the gag and if you scream you aren’t going to like what we do to you,” one whispers in my ear. “Understand?” I nod my head rapidly when the gag is pulled free. Fingertips skate across the flesh of my stomach, bumps forming in their wake. I shouldn’t be feeling this should I? They are basically going to rape me, and I feel like I’m high.
“Who are you?”
“Whisper,” I say softly. Another hand comes to rest on my ankle, slowly rising up my leg to my thigh. I suck in a breath as another hand comes to my chest, slowly circling it.
“Who are your parents, Whisper?”