Your greatest mistake

Chapter 27

"What was it that Lyncon was trying to say to you?" Zac asks.

"Something about a las book."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Adam asks.

I think about his words. He was desperate for me to know whatever it was.

"Well...book is easy. Let's start with the fact that books are usually found in a library."

"Yeah, that is not easy when all of Victor's properties are being raided as we speak."

"Wait, he was trying to say something that started with 'F.'"

"Like fuck you?" zac smirks.

I roll my eyes at him. I felt nothing when Victor died but I did for lyncon. I feel it in the pit of my stomach.

F... When I think of books I think of my father. My head shoots up.

"Frank."

"What?"

"Frank. What if he was trying to say 'Franks book.'"

"He has thousands of books. That would be like looking for a needle in a haystack," Zac remarks with a sigh.

My father did try to make sure that when our family fortune fell the house that was once his parents was in no way connected to anything they could take. It was supposed to be the one safe place no one could take from me but I guess he underestimated Bonney.

I haven't been back since my mother killed him in his favourite place in the world, right in front of my eyes.

We rock up to the mansion. The massive hole in the side where the bomb went off is now covered in tarps and plastic to protect what they can. Besides that there is no sign of anything else.

I hear the car doors slam and Adam and Zac are right at my side. "We are right here."

"Yeah man, we've got this," Zac says, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"You don't have to come with me," I say, stronger than I feel.

"Nah man, we have had enough time away. This we do together," Zac says, finalising the argument.

I take one last breath and walk up the grand stairs and into the massive double doors. The polished wood creaks from the lack of upkeep as it opens.

All of the debris has been cleaned up and sealed off and repairs had begun before the whole organization began to take a huge hit.

We walk into the house I grew up in. I walk past old paintings of my mother's side of the family. It isn't until we get to the back heading into my father's wing that I notice the paintings stop and photos of me growing up line the hall.

I don't remember these. I look at a picture of me throwing leaves around the courtyard with a gleeful look on my face as I run away from the gardener who is chasing me with a rake.

Adam chuckles, "I like this one."

I'm about to say 'me too' when I realise he is not looking at the one I am. This is a picture that hits me hard. It is a picture of Adam, Zac, Lyncon and I. We went on a training camp that ended up being one of my greatest memories.

In this photo Lyncon and I are charging for Zac and Adam's hill flag as Adam trips Zac who has the flag as they run from us. I smile, letting the memory flood my thoughts. I remember this.

Adam says with a laugh, "Great. We need to burn this picture. My mouth is wide open," he grumbles.

"Don't you dare. None of these pictures are ever being touched. These are my fathers treasures." You can see the care in each and every one as it was placed and framed.