Without A Trace

Fifty-Seven.

I squint my eyes and wince in pain as Ivy pulls out the shards of glass from my side, "I swear to god I'll put glass in his fuckin eye socket when this is over with," I say groaning through the pain, death gripping the arm of the chair.

"Don't worry Cor, I got that all scrubbed otta the table," Aurthur says with a proud smile across his face as he walks over to us with his sleeves rolled up and sits across from me.

"Thank you," I say breathlessly as I inhale sharply as Ivy digs the tweezers in.

"I'm sorry, this one is just REALLY fuckin in there," She says as she fishes around and dabs the blood off my side with a red stained rag.

Aurthur plays with his thumbs as he looks over at Michael who is getting up off the chair shirtless. He licks his lips slightly as he stands up meeting his gaze, silently having a conversation with him.

Aurthur finally breaks his silence as he reaches to Ivys hands and takes the tweezers from her, "Go get pip ready for school, I'll finish it," he says as he trades places with Ivy, her hands red from blood.

"Come on love," Michael says as he hands her a towel for her hands and places his hand on the small of her back leading her out of the room.

"Whats going on here eh Cora?" Aurthur asks as he starts digging around for that piece Ivy was struggling with.

"I think its my fault," I say gripping onto the arm of the chair closing my eyes tightly at the pain. "I haven't been including the girls as much as I should be nor have I been treating them as equals in the family. Anna moreso than Ivy. I don't want to put Ivy in an uncomfortable situation especially because she has Pip."

"Thats what happens sometimes. Tom does it to us all the time, we just keep our mouths shut and accept it. But we know Tom has the benefit of the family in his heart eh? You ladies are new to the business still. We've been doing this for years," He says as he clasps ahold of the piece of glass and pulls it out, tossing it in the tin next to me. "You three need to work with eachother and use your strengths as a group, not as individuals," he says as he reaches over for the needle and thread.

I grab his wrist, "No offense, but I would much rather have the nurse sew me up than you buddy," I say with a small smile as I wipe the sweat off my forehead taking a break from the pain, leaning back in my chair.

Aurthur pats my leg softly and stands up kissing the top of my head, "I'll go get her, and tell your husband he has a death wish," he says with a smile and wink before leaving the room.

As Aurthur walks through the hallway he hears yelling coming from Lewis and Annas old room.

"You havent even given me a chance to do anything and you're already biting my fucking head off!" She says staring at her husband from across the room.

"Because we've had this fuckin conversation more than a thousand times! You are already being WAY too fuckin much and I will be damned if I sit here and let you talk to me like I'm one of your fuckin henchmen," He says getting close to his wife. So close he can feel the heat of her anger radiating off her body.

"You three wouldn't have a fuckin dime if it wasn't for me and my brothers. So that power trip you and Cora are on needs to come to a fucking end before its too late and you both end up on the street with fucking nothing," he says darkly to her.

Anna stares up at him with a burning lump in her throat holding back the tears, "You don't understand what I've been through to get to this point. I've worked my fuckin ass off to get here and I will NOT let you stand in my fuckin way. So you either support me as my husband or stay the fuck out of my way," she says before looking behind him and seeing Aurthur in the doorway.