Page 78 of The Deceptions
“Sometimes I think she loves the dog more than us,” Mack quips, walking into the living room and wiping the sweat from his face after a leisurely jog around town. He never pushes himself too hard, just enough to exercise for the Water Polo season.
Olivia’s glare blasts through us, and she huffs, kissing Waffles’ head. “You’re funny,” she says sarcastically. “Of course I love the dog, but not as much as you three.” Her cheeks heat when the words fall from her lips, but she doesn’t backpedal.
“We love you too, Buttercup. Now, come on. Let’s eat some dinner while Daddy Franco is out policing the casino.”
"So, what did Amanda do this time?" Besides annoying him to the point of insanity. Obviously.
"We could murder her," Mack pipes in, shoving a grape into his mouth. Hux side-eyes him with a frown. "What? You act like it hasn't happened before."
"Yeah? And what would Franco say?" Hux raises a brow.
"He'd say. Oh, well. I'll find a new alliance for my business," Mack says nonchalantly, like the alliance between Amanda and Huxley hasn’t been carefully planned and executed by Franco and Mr. Devalle. There’s too much money and too much time invested in the two of them to not bring their businesses together.
"More like he'd have our heads. You know that's his ticket into the big times," I mumble, sitting beside Mack. My nose wrinkles. "You need a shower."
Mack scoffs, forcefully shoving another grape into his mouth. "That's the smell of fitness victory," he rumbles, curling his arm and showing off his thick muscles. "Besides, I'm getting ready for Friday and the season."
"It can't come soon enough," Hux grits out. "I'm going to beat that motherfucker’s ass." Something haunting lights up in his dark eyes, flashing quickly.
"You're really going to take on that giant motherfucker?" Mack asks through several grapes in his mouth before swallowing them almost whole.
Hux levels Mack with a glare. "Why wouldn't I? He challenged me. I'm not going to back down. Besides, he needshis fucking face rearranged." For many reasons that Hux won’t be willing to discuss. “Would you not take on your fucking brother?”
Mack stiffens, swallowing his mouthful of grapes. “I’d never back down from that fucking fight.” Hux throws his hands in the air as to say–see, motherfucker?
Speaking of Malic… I nod, putting my elbows on the countertop. "You heard from her?" Every motion in the house stops, and I swear a pin could be heard dropping.
They all know theherI'm referring to. Meredith. It’s where we were going before Amanda called. We’ll keep trying to find any sign of her, but we’re losing hope. It’s been over a week since anyone has spoken to her or seen her face. We’re hoping she’s lying low somewhere, keeping out of sight. Even her brother is getting concerned, and he doesn’t seem to have any sort of feelings.
But we can only hold out hope for so long before, internally, we know something awful happened.
“No.” Hux’s jaw flexes at the mention of her. I know he’s blaming himself for whatever happened. If something bad happened. It was their plan together. Her idea. Hux will carry this on his shoulders for eternity if we don’t find her alive.
“We’ll find her.” I try to sound reassuring, but even I’m feeling doubts about my claims. Will we find her? Alive? Dead? She’s not a part of this world. Or the other. She was out, living her dreams, but suspected something, and instead of going to her brother, she came to us for help because she was too afraid Malic was in on whatever was happening.
“It’s the Shades,” she says, shaking her head. “It has to be them. It has to be…”
“Is that why you came to us instead of your brother?” Hux asks suspiciously. For all we know, this could be some weird ploy to infiltrate us. It wouldn’t be the first time someone cameinto our organization, attempting to relay information back to their bosses. Only to get caught.
“Yes,” she says with a firm nod. “My brother is too closely associated with them. Always has been.”
“What if it’s us?” I ask, leaning back in the small booth of the deserted restaurant.
Her eyes widen slightly, and a pallor takes over her face as if she hadn’t thought about that.
“It’s not, for fuck’s sake,” Mack grumbles, biting into his burger like an animal. “Franco doesn’t allow that shit under his nose. Organ sales? Pu-fucking-lease. That’s Shades bullshit right there. Right up your brother’s alley and mine, too. Wanna make a club for the world’s shittiest brothers?” He offers her a food-filled smile, and she frowns.
“I love my brother. You don’t know how much guilt I felt when CPS tore us apart, and I was sent to my dad’s house. A blessing for me, but he was stuck with her.” She shakes her head. “What he went through is not to be made lightly of.”
Mack chews his food. “Whatever,” he scoffs.
“Back to this. So, you overheard a doctor, and he was going to sell a kidney?”
Right then, Meredith sighs, pulling out her phone and playing us a video. “My friend and I were right there on the opposite side. They couldn’t see us, but we could hear them, and I got this. There are multiple highly accomplished doctors in that recording, operating on a man who was supposed to get a simple appendectomy.” I swallow the bile in my throat, watching them operate on the man and taking all his organs without a second thought. Before they closed him up and took him off all the machines, his heart was the last thing to go.
“We have to get to the bottom of this. That man was a father. A family doctor, too.”Meredith shakes her head, turning pale.She knows she can’t go to the police. Not with this matter. Her friend already tried and went missing from opening her mouth.
And that’s how our alliance formed. In a dingy restaurant with poor lighting and good burgers.
