“Edgar hasn’t told me much.” My mother sighed. “I’m not sure where Jenny has been staying, but apparently her mother left town, so Edgar had to send Pennington and Martinez to make her come back home.”
Oh god. Damien!
“On second thought, I will wait upstairs.” I pulled away from my mother and scurried up the steps.
My phone had been on the charger since I got home from work, and I had been so focused on my schoolwork that I hadn’t even checked it. I wasn’t expecting to hear from Damien after I told him I wasn’t able to meet him at the villa. Obviously, his afternoon hadn’t been as quiet as mine. I couldn’t help but fear the worst. Damien wouldn’t have just let them walk into his house and take Jenny—which meant something could have happened to him. I slammed my door as soon as I got to my room and immediately grabbed my phone. I had a message from Damien waiting on me.
Damien: You need to leave. Now!
Leigh: Hey, are you okay? Your sister is here.
Damien: I’m fine. I’m getting her out of there. You don’t need to spend another minute under that roof.
Leigh: I can’t leave right now. There’s too much going on downstairs. I think Jenny is having it out with your father.
Damien: I’m going to put a stop to whatever he has planned.
Leigh: He has no idea that I’m anything other than his new wife’s daughter. Let me use that to my advantage. Maybe I can find out more—something that could help.
Damien: It’s too dangerous. I don’t think it’s safe.
Leigh: If he’s doing something illegal, then my mother will have to listen to reason. Then we can all leave this place for good.
Damien: You might be surprised. Mine didn’t…
Leigh: She left town, right? My mother just told me.
Damien: My father knows she’s gone?
Leigh: Apparently so.
Damien: Be careful, Leigh. I have a bad feeling about this, and I think it may be much worse than we thought.
Leigh: I will.
I didn’t take Damien’s warning lightly. I was starting to get rather concerned as well. Jenny was very important to Damien, which meant she was important to me—even if I had never actually met her. I needed to figure out what Edgar had planned. If it was something illegal, I could go straight to the police and end it once and for all. If nothing else, I could keep an eye on Damien’s sister until he could figure out how to get her out of Sinn Manor. Edgar wasn’t going to let her leave without putting up a fight—she was part of his
plan—whatever it was.
I’ve never considered myself much of a hero, but I may be the only one with enough access to figure this out.
I exchanged a few more messages with Damien until the screaming downstairs finally stopped. A few seconds later, there were footsteps on the stairs. I opened my door just in time to see a girl with blonde hair stomp by. She made eye contact with me, but she didn’t stop. She kept walking until she got to one of the other bedroom doors—then she slammed it hard enough to make the new pictures my mom had bought rattle against the wall. I heard more footsteps and turned to see my mother walking up the stairs.
“I guess that was Jenny?” I motioned towards the door that was just slammed.
“Yes.” My mother nodded. “I think she got it all out of her system.”
“She looked old enough to decide where she wants to live.” I raised an eyebrow. “Why is Edgar so determined to make her stay here?”
“She was…” My mother exhaled sharply. “She was staying with Damien. It wasn’t a good environment. Edgar didn’t want to cause any problems as long as his ex-wife was there too, but when she left, he couldn’t let his daughter stay there any longer.”
“So, what Edgar said about Damien lashing out at everyone around him.” I tilted my head inquisitively. “It sounds to me like Edgar is the only one that has a problem with his son.”
I probably shouldn’t have said that, but I couldn’t help myself.
“It’s very complicated and none of our business.” My mother turned back towards the stairs. “Edgar wants us all to have dinner here tomorrow night—as a family. Please make sure you’re home in time.”
A family? What a joke… If we were a family, it would be our business.