Page 89 of Wicked Tricks

“Morning, mum,” I yawned, stretching my arms above my head.

My body felt stiff, and was feeling the repercussions of my sleeping position.

She shook her head and groaned, storming away in a huff.

“Valerie!” she shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

When no one replied she stormed to the back of the house, into the kitchen, “Valerie!” she yelled over and over.

“Val was here?” Ren asked after clearing his throat, his eyes were focused on a far away spot on the floor.

I had hoped that I could keep it from him, but there was rarely a secret kept quiet in this family for long. Though I had told no one of her arrival, I’m sure there was someone in the city who had recognised her. The gossip would have started soon after and made its way back to my mother within the hour.

I nodded, “she was here last night. She probably escaped early this morning.”

Though she said she would stick around until the afternoon, I knew my sister better than she knew herself. She couldn’t stand being in Melbourne, and I knew she wouldn’t take the risk of having to face our mother.

Ren’s eyes stayed trained on the floor, his focus was far away.

Mum stormed back into the room, with a hand placed dramatically over her heart.

“I can’t believe she didn’t even bother to visit her own mother,” she wailed.

Wrapping the blanket around my torso, I stood up and rolled my eyes, hoping that she wouldn’t see. I left the room, purposely ignoring her antics, to go and get dressed before even more people arrived for the day.

I had meetings scheduled, and a backlog of work that I had to do after my few weeks of distraction. Her desperate attempts at gaining my sympathy over the situation with Valerie had grown old over the years. We were all hurt that Valerie chose to leave, but the rest of us understood why.

For the first eighteen years of her life, she was treated with nothing but contempt from both of our parents - our father was not the only one to blame. Mum resented her for not being the ideal mob princess, who would fall in line dutifully just as she did. She was the ever present voice of constant criticism, and Val was not one to take a verbal beating quietly.

Our teen years were filled with her and mum at each other’s throats, every day began with a screaming match - and ended with a slap from my father.

Zarina obviously witnessed this too, and out of pure self-preservation, shedidgrow up to be the ideal picture of a mobster’s daughter - and mum took every opportunity to remind Valerie of just that.

Everyone else was shocked when we woke up on her eighteenth birthday to find her gone - except for me. I knew exactly what she was planning, and I was honestly surprised she had waited so long.

“How could she do this to me?” I heard Mum complain to Ren as I left him alone with her.

I would have to make it up to him somehow.

Pulling on pants as quickly as I could, I scanned my room to see if Val had left any trace of her being here, but she didn’t. The bed was made, her bag was gone, it was as if she were never here. I rushed back downstairs to save Ren from my mother, and as predicted, she was still carrying on.

I even thought I spotted a glimmer of a tear on her cheek.

“Antoni, why didn’t you call me?” she asked.

I scoffed, “you can’t be serious?”

Ren had made tea, and handed a cup to my mother as she sat down on the lounge shakily, as if she were about to faint.

“My own daughter. That ungrateful little-”

“Enough,” I snapped.

Ren decided he didn’t want to be a part of the conversation, and pulled his phone out from his pocket, answering a fake phone call and excusing himself from the room.

“Tone,” she frowned, using my nickname against me.

“What did you expect?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips, standing above her, “she hasn’t heard from you since she left. You don’t put in the effort to fix anything, why should she?”

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