The Pain Of The Pleasure

THIRTY-FOUR - CALEB

THERE WAS blood on his shirt. Blood on his shirt and the same panicked look I'd seen before. Back when things were bad... And he was in trouble. He wanted to pretend I didn't remember those times, the times he'd spent staring into the bottom of the bottle, back before mom became sick.

A twitch came from the corner of my eye. Was it a habit or a premonition? Fuck, I hoped it wasn't that. I turned, leaving Nick to deal with his psycho ex, and listened for my father's footsteps in the hallway before the soft thud of his bedroom door closing. What the fuck are you still doing here, Caleb? The words rang inside my head. He didn't want me here...and he sure as hell didn't want me asking questions.

Nick opened the front door behind me. "What the fuck are you doing here, Natalie?" I left that mess behind and made for my father's study in the back of the house. Darkness waited as I cracked open the door. The blinds were drawn, leaving murky shapes to guide my way. But fuck if I didn't know this room as well as my own.

I made my way past the towering bookcases filled with law journals. Journals kept by my mom. I reached out, my fingers skimming the desk until I found the lamp and hit the button. The desk was bare and neat. It was always neat.

But I'd learned long ago what was on the surface was only a glimpse of what was underneath. I rounded the desk and sat in the chair. The weak amber light barely reached inside the drawer. I reached in, grabbed the stack of paperwork, and placed it on the desk in front of me. Funeral arrangements, a bill, a copy of mom's will. Nothing I didn't expect. But there had to be something. Something I was missing.

He'd left yesterday out of the blue. Right after his bachelor party, where he'd been intoxicated as hell. I hit the keyboard of his desktop, waiting for the screen to come alive. One glance at the door and I punched in the same damn password he'd used for the last ten years. Incorrect. The message blinked like a slap across my face. I tried again Naomiforever85. Incorrect.

"What the fuck." I sat back. He'd changed mom's password? My mind raced, trying to fill in the goddamn blanks before I glanced at the open drawer beside me. The papers sat on the desk, revealing a black velvet ring box. I grabbed it and opened it. A wedding ring sat in the middle. Crammed with diamonds. Expensive as fuck.

Not that he couldn't afford it. After all, mom had left him a nice chunk of change, the benefits of him marrying into money. But Elle...Elle didn't have a goddamn cent. I jerked my gaze to that blinking box on the monitor and punched in the letters, Elleforever20 and hit enter. The screen came alive. I fought a wince as a scream carried from somewhere upstairs, along with the sound of shattering glass. "Nice one, Nick," I mumbled absently, leaning closer to the screen and bringing up dad's planner to yesterday's date.

Mitchelton. "Mitchelton?" I muttered, and that sick, cold feeling rose inside me once more. I didn't need a fucking map to know where that was. I scrolled through his calendar, finding more meetings listed there at times when I knew damn well he wasn't there...until I stopped at a specific date about a month ago, with a name attached to it. Ryth.

My damn pulse stuttered. I clicked the date, but there was nothing else, just my little sister's name. "What the fuck are you up to, dad?" Whatever it was, it wasn't good. I logged out of his computer and shoved the paperwork back in the drawer before I switched off the lamp. The bastard would be sleeping.

But I wasn't trusting a damn thing when it came to her. She needed someone to protect her, someone to look out for her. She needed someone to care for her. Now she had us.