I HAVE A PLAN
1152 Words
CASSIAN
Penelope—as I’ve come to discover is her name—is asleep on the couch, tucked under one of Val’s many blankets.
She’s so small, so fragile. And ours.
Ours to protect now.
And why the f**k does Val have so many blankets in his study?
Did you know she ran away?” The words come out leveled, more controlled than I can give myself credit for.
I turn to Val, whose eyes are locked on the screen of his phone, furiously scrolling through tabloids, I imagine.
“Of course not,” he tosses his phone onto his desk.
He hasn’t looked this ready to kill in years.
“I should have known,”
His knuckles are white where he grips the armrests.
“When she panicked after I tried to take her to the hospital… I was so f*****g carried away.”
You can say the same for all of us,” I answer. The smile that curls my mouth is cold.
“Seeing her again after all this time…” I don’t finish my sentence. There’s no need to, they understand.
She was hurting.
Postpartum, abused, alone for years with no one. Not even her own mother.
Brandon Kingston deserves to die for what he’s done to her.
Xavier scoffs from his chair. “Are we going to sit here jerking ourselves off with guilt, or are we going to kill this fucker?”
I turn slowly. Every muscle in my body goes tight.
“Are you f*****g serious right now?”
Xavier’s fingers continuously tap his knees. He sits up straighter, returning my glare with equal intensity.
“You’ve got any better ideas?”
Val stays silent, watching both of us. I can feel his gaze dart from me to Xavier and back again.
I scoff a low, dark chuckle, my lips curling into a mocking smile.
Val cuts in just in time for me to give our baby brother a lesson or two.
“The fucker just painted Melanie to be a dangerous woman, mentally unstable, and capable of harming her own child,” the words land over the silence with all the venom in his heart.
“Who do you think is going to be held responsible if anything happens to him?” he continues.
Xavier falls back.
Good. At least one of us is reasonable.
Pen yawns and stretches on the couch, and we go quiet.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be plotting her father’s murder while she’s right here.
“We have to do something.” I speak up.
“What do you think he wants? Money? Custody of his child?”
“He’s not getting that.” Val cuts in, his jaw razor-sharp as he pushes his table forward and shoots out of his chair.
The noise makes Pen turn in her sleep. He notices and takes a deep breath.
“Nor does he want any of it,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Narcissistic abusers simply want control, freedom to inflict their abuse on the people who have no other choice than to look up to them.”
Xavier straightens. His shoulders tense as he looks down to the ground, clearly avoiding my gaze.
Fuck.
“Listen, I didn’t mean…”
“It’s alright.” He cuts in, shrugging his shoulders and forcing a casual wave.
He’s shrunk and suddenly feels smaller, like the torn fifteen-year-old he was. All these years, and he still hasn’t been able to forget.
Just like him, the memory of her husband’s abuse would be engraved into Melanie’s mind—all because we were f*****g cowards.
“We should never have let her leave that night,” Val voices my thoughts.
“We should have kept her chained to the bed if needed.”
“You know why we didn’t.” Xavier replies.
We all turn to him, a silent knowing passing between us.
It only lasts for a few seconds before the door pushes open and Melanie walks in.
My heart does a violent painful flip on seeing her. I’m torn between the urge to destroy him for hurting her, and the desperate need to hold her together.
It feels like being ripped into half; one side bleeding for her, and the other burning with red hot fury.
My shirt hangs off her frame, her faded jeans covering her lush thighs.
How could… How could anyone ever think of hurting her?
The sight of her tear filled eyes nearly breaks my composure.
“I’m going to kill him.” She breaks into a sob, and Xavier moves to pull her in. She falls into his arms and grips his shirt, crying into his chest.
“I’m going to f*****g kill him.”
“Shhh, it’s okay, sweet cheeks,” he presses a kiss on her forehead.
“You don’t ever have to get your hands dirty. We’ll do it for you. We’ll do anything for you.”
My phone vibrates in the pocket of my suit pants, and I take it out.
One look at the message on my screen puts a frown on my face.
It’s a missed call from Tessa.
“Excuse me,” I slip out of the room and close the door behind me.
Then, I return her call.
“Cassian, darling.”
Her voice is high pitched, her words stretch longer than they should, like a song.
She’s drunk.
“I can swear I just saw your little sister on the news.”
My fingers grip my phone. Any harder, and I might smash the damn thing.
“Come back to bed, baby!” A man calls out to her.
Tessa chuckles in response.
My relationship with her is strictly for the benefit of both our family businesses. She made it clear she had no intention of being faithful to me, and didn’t expect faithfulness either.
Still, one would think she would be more respectful of our arrangement.
“Sort this out, will you? I will hate for it to come back to us. Remember your business is mine now. Daddy won’t be happy to hear of this… low-life debacle.”
My jaw tightens.
“Sure.”
She giggles.
“Great! See? This is why you’re perfect for me. You’re so smart. I’ll see you when I’m back in the country, okay? Bye!”
The call ends.
I return to the room to find Val and Xavier holding Melanie as she cries.
“What do I do? He’s always ten steps ahead.”
“It’s your word against his, isn’t it?” I say aloud.
They all turn to look at me.
I continue, “you will discredit him, make every word that comes out of his mouth a lie,”
My gaze shifts to the sleeping Penelope.
“And you won’t have to move a muscle.”
A slow smile curves on my face.
“I have a plan.”
- Writer
