by Helen Scott
Inside the store is clean but cluttered. Nicknacks cover every available surface. It's only as I look more closely at some of the things that I see the valuable items hidden among the trash. What is this place?
I follow the guys through to a small back area in the store that is about the size of a closet, before we turn and head up the stairs that branch off one side of the tiny room. The space at the top of the stairs is so different from what was below that my brain stutters momentarily. Sleek lines and sharp, spotless furniture decorate the space, which is covered in white, black, and gray with the occasional pop of navy blue. I never thought of navy blue as a color that popped, but in this monotone room it did.
A kitchen came off one side that was almost as big as my parents’. Between the living room and kitchen is a fireplace that is encased in glass so it can be seen from three sides, which make it an unobtrusive divider between the two areas in an otherwise open floor plan. Another set of stairs go up on the side next to the kitchen.
I continue to follow the guys up, ever aware of Crax's presence at my back. The fact that I'm gawking at the sleek luxury of their apartment or townhouse or whatever it's called has to be obvious, and it’s a fight not to look over my shoulder to see if Crax is watching me. I focus instead on the stairs in front of me, which instead of being old wood with more peeling paint are covered with a thick, luscious carpet that feels bouncy under my feet. I almost ask if I should take my shoes off, but I don't.
At the top of the stairs is a hallway with rooms coming off it, two doors on each side and a bathroom at the end. I know it's a bathroom because the door is open and as I peer around Zard and Hyde I can see the sink and mirror that sit in front of the door. I can also see all their personal items around the sink. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, etc. It makes me feel awkward, like I'm somewhere that's much too private and personal for someone like me.
They stop at the first door on the right and Hyde flings it open, letting it smack against the doorstop unapologetically. The room looks like an add-on from the decor downstairs. All black, white, gray, and blue. A large bed dominates the room but there's a closet and a desk and chair as well. It gives me the feeling of a hotel without the ick factor of the ones I can afford. This would be in a nice hotel, one where they had complimentary skin care products and robes for everyone.
"This is your room," Crax says, reminding me that he was behind me.
"You mean I'm not going to be chained in a cell? How will you stop me from escaping?" I gasp in mock horror.
"This can change if you push us," Hyde says, the us changing in my head to me. I know he’s the only one who would want to have me under lock and key.
"And what am I supposed to do with my days? Are you going to feed me? Clothe me?" I ask, spinning to face each one of them. I have to take a step back so I'm now inside what is supposed to be my room.
"We are still figuring that out," Crax says, shooting Hyde a glare when his brother opens his mouth to reply.
I glare at all three of them before reaching out and grasping the door with my fingertips, slamming it shut in their faces.
7
Zard
I grab a bottle of my father’s expensive scotch and plop down on the couch, putting my feet on the coffee table for the first time in my life. I see Crax lift a brow and wait to see if he’s going to say anything. The truth is, I don’t envy him. After being under my father’s thumb for so long, he’s strung higher than a violin. I know for a fact that just about everything we did drove him crazy. I also know for a fact that he fought to say anything with every ounce of his being.
At last, his gaze jerks from my muddy boots, and he sits down lightly beside me.
I grin and crack open the bottle before slamming some.
Crax surprises me by reaching for it and taking a long swig himself.
Hum, he must have really changed more than I thought. It seemed more natural for him to lecture me about randomly opening a five hundred dollar bottle of scotch than to enjoy it with me. Or maybe capturing Alexis had affected him more than he was letting on.
“She’s changed,” he says, wiping his mouth and handing the bottle back to me.
“Not in any of the ways that count. She’s still hot as fuck and knows how to handle herself.”
Crax nods. “So now we just need to figure out what to do with her.”
Hyde starts to pace by the open window. “The goal is to collect the asshole’s debts and get out of here. So let’s fucking do it!”
“It’s not that easy and you know it,” Crax says, and there’s a hint of frustration in his normally calm voice. “The other debts were simpler. A thousand pieces of gold. A family heirloom. A boat. A house. Owning someone… it isn’t as simple.”
Hyde freezes in his pacing and whirls to face Crax. “So, we have her work the fucking shop and sell all of our dad’s shit. Free labor for eternity, and the deal is done.”
Crax frowns. “There has to be another way.”
Hyde’s hand curls into a fist. “You just don’t like the idea of her being unhappy. Well, I don’t care if she’s happy or not, this is about our freedom.”
“I want to be free too--”
“Yeah, so you can go back to your prissy little lawyer life.”
Crax stands. “I’m sorry I made something of myself.”
“Yeah, all you had to do was leave us here with the monster.”
Crax flinches. “I was going to come back for you.”
“Sure you were. You just didn’t.”
Crax runs his fingers through his perfect blond hair, ruffling the strands. His mouth opens, but no words come out. Slowly, he sits back down, and Hyde goes back to pacing.
I stare between the two of them, trying to decide what the hell to say to break the tension. But, for once, I can’t think of anything. This argument between them, it was about more than just the beautiful woman in the room upstairs. It was a deep wound between them that might never be healed.
“Maybe let’s just focus on our next debt,” I say, choosing my words with care.
Crax nods slowly. “I think we go with the next easiest one and work our way up to the more difficult ones.”
“And who left you in charge?” Hyde challenges.
I shake my head. “We’re never going to get anywhere if we can’t work together.”
Hyde huffs. “I don’t want to work with him.”
Fuck. It’s hard to watch this. We were all so close before. Every single day I thought Crax was going to break. It was even a little joke Hyde and I had: “When will Crax crack?” And then he’d turned eighteen. Rumple had always thought Crax would take over the family business, but with hardly a word, Crax had confessed he’d applied to colleges around the country. He’d gotten a full-ride scholarship and was leaving that day.
Our dad had begged and pleaded with him to stay. And then I was pretty damn sure he cursed him. Crax had told us one day he’d be back for us. And I believed him with every fiber of my being that when he made enough money to support us, he would be. But things had turned dark here. Rumple had taken his anger at losing his first born out on Hyde, and our brother had changed beneath our dad’s bloody fists.
I tried to step in. I tried to make things better. But I only ever made them worse.
But somehow, I could never seem to stop trying. “Can’t we all just get along?”
“No,” Hyde says at the same moment Crax says, “Yes.”
Crax’s emotions spill over his face in a way that makes my whole chest ache. I knew he was going to come back. I also know it was too late by then. Why couldn’t Hyde see that Crax had probably beaten himself up every single day of his life for failing us? Because I could see it.
I drink more and so does Crax. None of us speak for a long time. And then Crax’s phone rings.
He answers it slowly. “Hello?” There’s a strained pause. “Okay, we’ll come collect it.”
When he hangs up the phone, Hyde asks, “What was that?�
��
“Lady White, the banshee, wants us to come collect her voice.”
“Fuck,” I say, “I thought she’d fight us with every fiber of her being.”
Crax shrugs. “Maybe something in our lives will be easy.”
Hyde huffs. “Nothing is easy. It’s probably a damn trap.”
Crax rises, his back stiff. “Then don’t come.”
As he heads for the door, I sigh and rise to follow him.
“You know I’m coming,” Hyde says. “You guys will get fucked without me.”
We’re at the door before Crax freezes and looks back. “Wait, what the hell do we do with Alexis?”
Hyde glowers at her door. “We need more time to create a spell that binds her to the shop.”
Crax looks thoughtful for a long minute. “I guess, for now, we take her with us.”
“She’ll try to escape,” Hyde warns.
Crax gives him an irritated look. “Of course she will, but we don’t have a choice.”
Ignoring the dirty looks they give each other, I go to her door and rap on the wood. “Hey, Sweetheart, guess what? We’re going banshee hunting!”
The door creaks open a second later. “What did you just say?”
It takes me a second to answer. Alexis is fucking beautiful. Hyde might have pretended to spank her in anger, but I knew damned well he’d just wanted to touch that perfect ass of hers. Not that I blame him.
She lifts a brow, and I remember to speak. “We’re going banshee hunting, and you’re coming with us.”
I know she must be plotting something when she leaves her room without a fight, head held high. She follows us down into the shop where Crax goes to reach for one of the empty bottles that line the shop's back shelf. I watch in fascination as he speaks the words of the spell and pulls on the thread of the banshee’s deal. Within seconds, the bottle glows a pale white.
Hyde and I could collect debts, but we couldn’t do all the spells our father could. That privilege had fallen on the first born… something that drove Hyde crazy.
“What’s that for?” Alexis asks, and there’s wonder in her voice.
Crax looks sad. “It’s for her voice.”
“Her voice?”
The pained look in his face grows. “Lady White’s.”
Her mouth drops open. “She’s one of the top singers of our time.”
Crax nods. “She made a deal with Rumple to become a famous singer. But she only had ten years, and then she’d become mute. Her ten years ended shortly after my father died.”
She shakes her head. “Who would do that?”
“You know the kind of people who do that,” Crax says, too softly.
We all start toward the door. I try not to notice the weight that seems to have descended on Crax’s shoulders, but I know him too well not to notice. Collecting these debts is the only way we’ll ever be free. But a man as empathetic as Crax… I wasn’t sure who he’d become by the end of this.
Hell, I didn’t know who any of us was going to become. And that scares me a little.
8
Alexis
The car ride over to Lady White's place was awkward, to say the least. There’s clearly some unresolved tension between the brothers that I want nothing to do with. It was painfully obvious when there was a standoff between Crax and Hyde about who was driving. I thought they were going to come to blows before Hyde reminded Crax that he'd been drinking. I wasn't sure if I'd ever seen Hyde look more smug than when he got in the driver's seat after that. The rest of the ride was silent though, aside from a few awkward throat clearings.
Now we’re almost to my parents’ castle-like house and my heart feels like it's hammering in my chest. I'm surprised that the guys haven't commented on it, because I'm sure I can't be the only one who hears it. We stop a few properties away from my childhood home, and a wave of relief washes over me that we don't get any closer than that. I say properties instead of blocks because these buildings are so much bigger than houses, and they sit on massive plots of land that ensure privacy for each family.
As we all get out of the car, Hyde takes me by the elbow and hisses in my ear, "Don't try to run and don't beg her to save you or this will go badly. The only reason we brought you along was because we can't trust you alone."
"Wasn't planning on doing either," I whisper back at him, letting my tone show exactly what I thought of his comments, as we followed the winding path that led to the front door.
When we reach our destination it's only to find the door ajar. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Nothing good ever comes from situations like this.
Crax knocks on the thick, aged wood panels of the door, which only pushes the door open further. Suddenly, a man is there, dressed in a simple suit, who looks like he's been... crying?
"You're Rumple's boys?" he asks without any preamble.
"We are," Crax says. "And... guest." He gestures to me at the end and I nod at the man standing in the doorway.
He sniffs as he looks down at me, but not in a dismissive way, just the sniff of someone who is struggling to control their emotions. A watery smile fills his face. "An angel at the end, it's exactly what she deserves," he says under his breath as he looks at me before adding, "Follow me."
We oblige and I try not to gawk at the house of the famous, or infamous, depending on who you talk to, Lady White. I try not to let the fact that the only reason, or at least the main reason, she is considered such an amazing singer is because of a deal with Rumple, make me bitter. It is an uphill climb though.
The man who had answered the door, kind of, opens a set of double doors and we walk into a large, airy room that looks out over the estate's grounds. Sitting out on the patio in a lounge chair is Lady White. One hand lolls off the arm rest while the other appears to be holding a cocktail of some kind that she's sipping on.
When the butler, for lack of a better thing to call him, leads us out to the sitting area, he leans down and whispers something in Lady White's ear. I'm not sure what he says but she gives him a single nod. He scurries off, leaving us behind with a woman who might be an amazing singer, but is also considered one of the biggest divas out there. Which is exactly why I wasn't surprised to find her wearing large sunglasses that covered most of her face in the evening light.
"Gentlemen, and guest, thank you for coming so quickly. I know it was short notice," she begins, overly pronouncing each word as though she's savoring the last time she'll be using her voice. "I want to make a new deal."
"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way," Crax replies. "Once the deal is struck it must be adhered to, or both parties will suffer the consequences. It's the only reason we are collecting our father's debts in the first place."
I want to snap my head and look up at Crax so I can judge the truthfulness of his words, but I don't. I look straight ahead at what is the most famous person I was ever likely to meet. He was probably just saying that to make her feel better.
"I was afraid you'd say something like that," she says with an overly dramatic sigh. For the first time, she takes off her sunglasses. Her eyes are rimmed with red and to the untrained eye it would look like she'd been crying, but there's something off about it, something that screams at me that this effect was achieved by makeup, not actual tears.
"I'm sorry it has to be this way, truly I am, but we don't have a choice," Zard chimes in, surprising me.
"Then neither do I." She stands and moves away from our little group. Not far, and not fast enough to think she's trying to make a run for it. "There are snipers in the trees surrounding us." She pauses and lifts her left hand, the one not still holding the cocktail, and when I turn to look at the guys I see red dots have appeared on their chests and foreheads. "They will shoot you if we can't come to some sort of agreement. You won't be allowed to leave with my voice."
Fuck.
I knew they wouldn't lie about the restrictions on their magic. Plus, I had hoped that they had more than just a sick curiosity sinc
e they came for me again. Hearing that they didn’t have a choice in collecting the debts was surprising though. If the magic was so dangerous that not following through on a deal would hurt someone, then what would happen if one of them died? I wasn’t sure, but we were going to find out if we didn't do something. And while Lady White might be willing to risk the consequences of leaving deals open with no one to claim them, I wasn't.
"I'm sorry," I say quickly as I take a step toward her, working on instinct. "I know this is awkward and I'm picking the worst moment to do this, but just in case we don't make it out of here alive, I was wondering if I could shake the hand of the phenomenal Lady White."
"You really want to do this right now?" she asks, sounding confused.
"Yeah, before they put their feet in their mouths again and get us all killed," I say with my best fangirl smile as I jerk my thumb over my shoulder at the guys.
"Fine, fine, hurry up," she replies, extending her hand to me.
As soon as our skin connects I push my magic into her. Then I get to experience one of my favorite things. The surprise that crosses her face when she first feels my magic and the jolt of panic that runs down her arm and seems to reverberate off my own. Her eyes widen as she looks down at me, clearly thinking I was a regular human until that moment.
Gold rushes up her arm and she tries to pull away, but she can no longer move. There’s no escape once the golden curse starts and if it gets to her heart? Bye, bye, Lady White.
"What is this?" she demands, looking down at where we are still connected.
I release her and turn away, walking toward the guys and turning back to face her as I spoke. "This is my curse. The little hiccup in messing with magic to get what you want. See, my mother sold me to Rumple before I'd even been born, all to get her own selfish desires. Now, here you are threatening to kill four people so you can go back on your word. Tsk tsk, Lady White. Now, you have two options. You can either give the boys here your voice, or you can die, because once that gold reaches your heart it will stop beating and become a lump of metal in your chest. Decide fast, or the choice will be taken from you and you'll be a statue for the rest of your life."
