The house feels empty without the girls. By Monday morning, I’m rushing out of the house like an intern on his first day of work. Once I walk in through the doors, the familiar walls of the office and the minty smell eases some of my discomfort.
I will always be welcomed here.
Minutes after settling in, I dial Sophia’s number. It goes straight to voicemail. She went out with Vincent twice. On Friday and Saturday. She needs to have good news for me. I need some relief in this storm.
El is still mad at me. I won’t get to see my girls till Friday morning. I redial Sophia’s number but it’s the same response. Eyes narrowed at the door, my fingers drum on the desk. She is a paediatrician, she’s busy. But she told me she will be here this morning. I wait another five minutes, then try again.
Sophia picks on the third ring. I hear nothing from the other end and an uncertain feeling fleets through me. “Sophia?” More silence. I pull the phone from my ear to stare at the screen. The call is still ongoing.
The knob jiggles, I cross over to the door with the phone wedged between my ear and shoulder. If this is a prank, I don’t like it. It’s dumb. I open the door to see Sophia. She sashays past me to occupy the seat in front of my desk like the owner. Her handbag rests at her feet, she rotates her chair and lets out a chuckle. That better be a sign of good news. I march to my seat, face serious as she pulls out her phone.
“So,” I drawl out.
The air of playfulness is replaced with seriousness, her smile falls. “I didn’t get any info on Brianna.” That was the point of going there. Sensing my fast growing annoyance, she holds her hands for me to calm down. The marks on her wrists catch my attention, she notices and tugs her sleeves over them. I swallow a shaky breath. I need air.
I rush to the window and throw it open, pushing my head out to get a whiff of fresh air. A hot ball of fury grows inside me at the contrasting marks on her fair skin and my fingernails sink into my palms. I will kill that idiot.
“He is rough,” Sophia explains the bruises. I lower myself to the windowsill and cross my arms on my chest. A smile springs to her lips. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” I spit out.
The wind ruffles my hair, I shut the window without closing it completely. Sophia spreads her hands on my desk. On closer inspection, the marks on her wrists look more like signs of handcuffs.
“We played,” she says with a grin. I don’t know why she thinks this is something to grin about. He could have hurt her and it would have been my fault. “It was fun. He’s rough but he’s okay. Nothing harsh.”
This wasn’t what I asked her to do. Getting information out of inebriated men shouldn’t involve cuffs. I stroll back to my seat. A defeated sigh escapes me. I clasp my hands behind the back of my head, Sophia twirls in her swivel chair.
“Did you sleep with him?” I ask, almost afraid to hear her reply. She flips her hair over one shoulder and shakes her head. My shoulders sag with relief. I close my eyes. Her sex life is none of my business and I have no problem with whomever she shares her bed. But as far as she’s helping me, I have to look out for her. I am not the bad guy El labels me. Maybe I am. But I don’t want Sophia in Vincent’s bed in the name of helping me. “Are you okay?” She nods. The guilt slowly dissolves, I wipe my clammy hands on my trousers. “What did he say?”
Tension tightens my muscles. “I don’t think Vincent knows her,” she says. Oh, he does. Or, he did. “And there was no way to bring it up in the discussion without him getting suspicious.” I know that. That’s why I sent her so she could use her lady charms. That man is a fucking womaniser. “Sorry.”
The silence grows into something thick and awkward. I heave a sigh that conveys my disappointment. I guess I am back to zero point. If he can manhandle her on their first date, he will do worse next time.
She’s not going back to him.
“Did you get anything at all?” I ask, too scared to hope. She didn’t spend two days there for nothing.
Her eyes light up with an emotion that assures me. She rummages through her handbag while saying, “Yeah, I did. Found something interesting.” Her search comes up empty, she frowns when she sees her forgotten phone on my desk. She picks it and types on it for a long, torturous minute, then slides it to me. “Keep swiping.”
I skim the pictures. “What am I looking at?” The pictures are old. Mostly pictures of kids. A boy and a girl with striking resemblance that makes it easy to tell they are related. They look like pictures of pictures. I raise my head. Did she snap Vincent’s baby pictures? Why do I need those? “Sophia?”
“Vincent and his sister.” My head moves left, then right. No way. My source told me he has no sister. He is an only child, an only son. “He has a sister.” She taps a finger to her jaw. “Okay, he had a sister.” I swallow the lump that lodges in my throat. Her phone slips from my grip to the desk. “She is dead.”
A weight descends on my shoulders. For some odd reason, I feel there’s more to her death and I am a part of a dark scheme with Vincent as the grand planner. Why does Sophia know this? How did she get access to his baby pictures? She got this information too easily. I will never give strangers that much information about me. Hell, only my family knows I am a twin.
“She was the only thing he talked about all night and then he fondled my boobs.” I give a noncommittal response, zooming in on the picture. “He’s not that bad.” Yeah, she can say that because she’s not the one who has had to deal with him trying and succeeding in sabotaging me a few times. “Anyways...”
The excitement in her voice has me picking her phone to appear busy. I tense as she clears her throat to prepare for the reveal. She is getting on my nerves. Since when does she care for theatrics?
“You remember Nicole?” I can never forget her, she started everything. She changed my life. To anyone who saw us, we were the perfect couple. It didn’t matter how many times I told her I was not ready for a relationship. She wouldn’t leave my side and I was too much of a gentleman to cut her off. I shake my head, Sophia rolls her eyes. “Nicole the virgin.” She scowls. “The one who hated me. Your famous girlfriend.”
“She was not my girlfriend,” I correct, “we never dated. And she didn’t hate you.”
“Didn’t like me either,” she mutters. “Would have stabbed me if she got the chance.”
“She was confused about our relationship,” I say in Nicole’s defense for reasons unknown to me. Maybe for old times sake. Towards the end of our friendship, she became overbearing but before then, she was a sweet soul. A sweet soul who turned into a little devil whenever Sophia showed up. I trace a line on my desk. “She wasn’t capable of hurting anyone, Sophia. You were just unlikeable.”
Sophia scoffs. “That’s not what you said when you found out she was having your baby,” she snaps. Bile rises to my throat and I am forced to swallow my comeback. We are not here to discuss Nicole. That night is still foggy. The night she claimed I took her virginity. Almost feels like I have a gap in my memory. Sophia knocks on the desk. “Keep swiping.”
The pictures progress to the kids as teenagers. My jaw ticks at the brown eyes staring at me. Her bangs and naive eyes attracted me to her. She looked lost and out of place in the university’s cafe.
Innocent little thing.
As a new dominant bustling with life, I was ready to find a submissive and explore my new world. And boy, was she pretty. A fresher. A virgin. The right catch. All that interest waned when I found out she wanted a home, picket fences and happily ever after. I wanted to bend women over and spank them. Break a couple of hearts in the process.
But hers was too fragile so I offered friendship. Something I have never done. Something I will regret till I die. My pulse quickens, I am certain Sophia can hear my heart beating and the blood roaring in my ears. Theories begin to form in my head, my throat dries up and I drop the phone.
Isn’t life such a bitch?
“Nicole is his sister,” I whisper, more to myself as if whispering will make this go away. Palming my head, a groan shoots out of my lips. Fucking shit.
“Bingo.”
It becomes harder to breathe. How is this possible? They don’t share a last name. Does that matter? Joshua dumped his last name a long time ago.
But how? How did I miss this?
Nicole is Vincent’s sister. My head spins from trying to make sense of this news. There has to be a catch. The attacks. Was it a sick form of revenge for breaking his sister’s heart? This was too easy for Sophia. What if he knows I sent her? I sneak a look at Sophia who is inspecting her manicured nails.
“I’m calling this—whatever this is, I’m calling it off.” My hand sweeps over her phone. It ends here and now. “I don’t want you around him anymore.” She huffs. My fist gently descends on the table. These women never listen to me. “I am serious, Sophia. He could be dangerous. You already know what he can do.”
“Five years ago? Yes. But he hasn’t done anything since then.” Can she get any more stupid? I try to speak but she cuts me off. “People change, Brandon. If you deserve a second chance, why doesn’t he?” Because he never asked for a fucking chance. Head in my hands, I groan. She is in lust. Horniness has a way of manipulating our thoughts. I have been there. I raise tired eyes to her face. “I’m seeing him tonight. We have a date.”
“Don’t go.”
“I will. I’m single, he’s single, why not?” Women and their ability to let emotions get in the way. She squeezes her shoulders and smiles sadly. “I want what you and El have. It gets lonely sometimes.” But Vincent isn’t that person. “I’ll be fine and if I need help, I know who to call. Besides, more dates means more information. You should be thankful.”
But I am not because a feeling of doom hovers over me. I stare into her eyes, willing her to back down but she doesn’t. My phone’s ringtone interrupts us, I do a double take at the picture of El on my screen.
El is calling me. Are the girls okay? She wastes no time on pleasantries. “You need to get here now.”