Foul Play (Barlow Sisters Book 3) Read online

  Oh man, I hope my face looks okay. Lightly dabbing my cheeks, I try to think about warmth and sunshine, pasting on my best smile as I walk through the kitchen and out into the dining room.

  “We’re in here, sweets,” Dad calls.

  I can see his big foot resting on the carpet and have to take a second to gather myself. I should tell him about what happened tonight. He’ll want to know so he can track those guys down and make sure they never touch anyone ever again.

  If Vincent hadn’t been there, tonight would have ended very differently. I close my eyes and shudder, wishing I were more like Maddie and Max. They would have fought like wild cats—claws, teeth, fists, whatever they could manage.

  I could barely release a scream. It was pitiful.

  My fingers start shaking again as I wipe my mouth. Creating a fist, I hide my trembles behind my back and inch a little closer to the living room.

  I gave Vincent very valid reasons for keeping my mouth shut. But were they selfish? Should I be reliving my nightmare so justice can be served?

  It’s the right thing to do, but…

  “What’s taking you so long, kid?”

  A familiar voice that I haven’t heard in a long time distracts me and I can’t help a surprised laugh when Uncle Conrad appears in the living room archway.

  He spreads his arms wide, a happy grin on his face.

  I smile and walk into his embrace. He wraps me in a bear hug, lifting me off my feet. Planting me back down, he stands back to assess me.

  “Geez, you girls just keep getting more beautiful.”

  I snicker and shake my head.

  “I know, that was lame, right? Way to sound like an old fart, Conrad.”

  I laugh at his self-deprecation.

  “You’re later than I thought you’d be.” Mom checks her watch and looks up at me from the sofa.

  “Oh, yeah, I…” My voice disappears as my heart starts thrumming again.

  “You okay?” Mom smiles.

  I bob my head. Do I do it now? Do I destroy everyone’s evening and create more drama than I think I can handle?

  I don’t want Uncle Conrad to know.

  I don’t want…

  “Chloe’s been helping out at a church on the other side of town, serving meals to the homeless,” Dad explains to his younger brother. “It’s a really great outreach. I love that Chloe’s involved with it.” Dad’s smile is filled with pride as he grins up at me.

  “Thanks, Dad,” I murmur.

  “My little girl with the heart of gold.” He winks and I just can’t do it.

  I can’t break that smile.

  Not tonight.

  “Sorry I’m late. It was busy tonight, we were understaffed, and things kind of went over time.”

  “Have you eaten?” Mom stands, ready to prepare me a late dinner.

  “Actually, Mom, I’m good.” I stop her before she leaves the room. “I just really want to go to bed.”

  My eyes start watering before I can stop them.

  “Sweetie?” Mom’s pale eyebrows dip into a frown as she runs her hand down my arm. “What’s the matter?”

  “Oh, I…” Shoving my hand into my pocket, I wrap my fingers around my phone and decide to sell a lie.

  It’s not like me.

  I’m usually pretty honest, but I just can’t seem to form the sentence: I was nearly raped tonight.

  “I broke my phone.” I pull it out of my pocket and show her the cracked screen. “I’m sorry.”

  “Oh, sweetie,” Mom chides, taking it out of my hand to inspect the screen. “It’s just a cracked screen. That won’t be too much to fix.” She grins at me, her blue eyes dancing. “You look like you’re ready to pass out. It’s just a phone. I’m not mad.”

  “I just know how expensive they are. And you guys bought it for me for my birthday and made me promise to take really good care of it.”

  “Replacing the screen is easy,” Uncle Conrad pipes up. “Don’t sweat it, kid. I can sort that out for you tomorrow.”

  “Really?” I turn and beam him a grateful smile.

  “Of course. That’s what I’m here for.”

  Dad rolls his eyes while Mom lets out a soft huff.

  It’s no secret that she’s not a huge fan of Dad’s little brother. Heck, Dad’s barely a fan, but we girls love him. Particularly Max. She’ll be stoked that he’s here.

  I walk over to where he’s taken a seat and peck his cheek. “It’s nice to have you here.”

  He winks and I take the chance to slip away.

  “Good night.”

  “Sleep well.” Mom rubs my arm and passes my phone back to me.

  As soon as I walk out of the room, the pocket of air I’ve been storing in my lungs pops and my shoulders sag with relief.

  I quickly text Rahn and hope it’s the last lie I need to sell tonight.

  Home safe. See you tomorrow xx

  It’s not exactly a lie. I am home safe…thanks to Vincent.

  Her reply makes my phone vibrate.

  Glad you made it! Sleep well xx

  I can’t imagine that happening. I shudder and close my eyes.

  I probably didn’t do the right thing tonight.

  When Maddie was assaulted at school, she told Dad everything the second she walked in the door. Admittedly, she was beat up and bleeding.

  Shit, that was only a week ago.

  I can’t come out with my incident yet. Mom will flip out and then start arguing that moving to Armitage was a huge mistake.

  There have been moments when I one hundred percent agreed with her. But I don’t know if I want to go back now. Even after what happened tonight.

  Armitage is changing us.

  Maddie’s fallen in love with a jock.

  Max is… well, I don’t know what she’s up to.

  The point is, if we up and left now, Columbus wouldn’t be the same. You can’t go back and expect life to carry on as usual. Being in Columbus won’t solve all our problems.

  “Hey, you’re back.” Maddie catches me in the hallway.

  She’s drying off her hair and looking happier than I’ve seen her in a long time.

  What’s the bet she made out with Holden after school. They probably drove up to Cherry Top Hill or something.

  I force a smile that she doesn’t buy.

  “You all right? You look kind of pale.”

  Do I? I blink and glance to the floor.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah.” My shoulder hitches and I swipe a finger across my mouth.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” I shake my head. “I’m just really tired.”

  “How was the soup kitchen? Tough night?”

  “It was busy.” I cross my arms, my heart starting to race as my mind tortures me.

  I glance up in time to see Maddie’s blue-green eyes narrow. She’s about to ask for more.

  My heart lurches, threatening to cut off my air supply.

  I was nearly raped.

  The idea taunts me and it takes everything in me not to buckle to the floor and sob out the truth.

  “Seriously, I’m fine,” I manage. “I’m just tired and I want to go to bed.”

  I drill her with a look that hopefully screams, Don’t push me on this!

  She takes a step back, slowly nodding while not believing me. “Sleep well, sis.”

  My lips quiver into a smile as I quickly brush past her and into my room.

  I close the door on her. “You too.”

  Stumbling to my bed, I make it there before crashing onto it and fisting the covers.

  They wouldn’t understand.

  Maddie would want to know why I didn’t scream and fight my way out of it. Dad would want me to describe every detail. Mom would hear Vincent’s name and immediately assume the worst.

  They won’t hear the truth.

  Their shock and horror, their preconceived ideas, would mask what I’m saying.

  I know I need to make it right
and somehow let the police know about these men.

  But I can’t face it tonight.

  All I can do is scrub my skin in a hot shower, throw away these tainted clothes, and curl into a ball, safe and warm under my covers.

  4

  Just Like Them

  VINCENT

  It’s nearly nine by the time I get home.

  Enzo will be pissed, but what else is frickin’ new?

  My car rumbles and sputters to a stop outside the house I’m supposed to call home.

  I’ll never be able to. None of my immediate family even lives here. This whole block is Mancini central, but they’re all second cousins and distant relatives I couldn’t give a shit about.

  The only Mancini I do care about is now in jail for murdering Todd McCrae. Bile surges in my belly the way it always does when I think about it. Nick said he didn’t do it, but then all the evidence came out. It was impossible for him to deny it, so he shut the hell up and took the punishment.

  So now I have to live in this stinking house with Uncle Enzo and his shithead son, Diego. I hate them both, but there’s not much I can do about it right now.

  If it wasn’t for Selena, I probably would have split after Nick left, but Enzo’s girlfriend convinced me to at least stick around and finish high school.

  “Don’t let the Mancini name ruin you, Vinnie. You could be different from all these guys. You are different. You stick with it, and one day your time will come. You’ll get away.” Her eyes glistened as she spoke, but she didn’t shed any tears.

  She’s learned not to cry.

  After trying to escape a couple of times, she’s accepted her place in this “family.”

  The poor woman’s only ten years older than me and I’m still hoping to set her free when I leave.

  I don’t know how we’ll do it.

  But for now, I just have to stick it out and at least get my high school diploma.

  Mom would want that.

  I sniff, trying not to think about the fact that Mom hasn’t been around since I was eleven. She overdosed and we got shipped here to live with Uncle Enzo. My life has always been shit, but it’s been ten times worse since moving to Armitage, and a million times worse since Nick got sent away.

  He used to cover for me all the time, do the jobs I never wanted to. But now I’m stuck running his errands too.

  Patting my jacket pocket, I shoulder the door open and trudge up the front steps. Thank God Pedro likes me. He owns the store near the church and Enzo makes him pay a monthly protection fee. Every person on that block pays something and unfortunately, it’s my job to collect.

  Rather than going in with a baseball bat and hitting the shit out of anything that moves—that’s Diego’s way—I’ve tried to build a rapport with these people. Most of them slip me the money without too much fuss. It’s in everybody’s best interest, I guess.

  I just wish it didn’t make me feel so scummy.

  I’m taking money off these good, hardworking people. Money this family hasn’t earned and we sure as shit don’t deserve.

  Anger fires through me and I shove the front door open, dropping Pedro’s payment in Enzo’s lap without a word.

  “Hey!” the gruff man calls me back.

  Everything about him is dark and threatening—from his black eyes to his towering persona. He’s nearly fifty, but still just as scary as he’s always been. The guy is stronger than me, tougher than me, and I’ve learned not to mess with him.

  “You’re late!”

  “I got held up.” I shrug.

  “Doing what?”

  “Nothin’.”

  Enzo’s dark eyebrows dip into a sharp V. He snaps his fingers and beckons me over to his chair.

  Holding back my sigh, I spin and clomp across the wooden floor. My boot steps are loud and reluctant.

  Snatching my hand, Enzo digs his thumb into my bruised knuckles.

  I wince but don’t make a sound.

  “Who’ve you been fighting?”

  “Some jerks,” I mutter and dish out an easy lie. “They wanted to take your money.”

  “Did you kill ’em?”

  I scowl and Enzo just sniggers at me. He’s always hassling me about killing people, comparing me to my loser brother. The guy used to be my hero, until he turned out to be just like everybody else in this damn family.

  “Tell Diego what they look like. We’ll track them down and teach them a lesson.”

  My gut twists with unease. “I taught ’em a lesson.”

  He scoffs, like my lessons are more like being whipped with a soggy tissue than bashed over the head with a baseball bat—Diego style.

  “They won’t be trouble,” I softly argue.

  Enzo shoots out of his chair, getting up in my face. He loves that he’s a few inches taller than me. He loves that he’s broader in the chest and can make me feel like a snot-nosed preschooler who is about to piss his pants.

  It always takes so much to look him in the eye and not back down.

  “I want those pieces of shit brought to their knees. Diego will get the boys together and deal with it. No one steals from a Mancini. You got that?”

  “I got it,” I grit out, hating this whole Mancini, mafia bullshit. He acts like the freaking Godfather and I just have to play along with it. “That’s why I broke their noses.”

  I hold up my fist so my red knuckles are hovering just in his line of sight.

  Easing back, he checks my hand again and I round off the conversation with a little nugget of truth, “I told them if they ever showed their faces on Fort Street again, I’d kill them.”

  His lips twitch before slowly rising into an impressed smile. “Finally learning something, huh?”

  I clench my jaw and look away from him. “I’m going to bed. I’ve got school tomorrow.”

  He snatches my face and forces me back before I can step away. “Don’t think me letting you finish school gets you off the hook. As soon as that final bell rings tomorrow, I want you cruising the street looking for these assholes. We don’t give empty threats in this family. Take Diego with you.”

  Shit!

  I force a nod and wrestle out of Enzo’s grasp.

  Trudging to my room, I bypass the den where Selena’s watching TV. Diego seems to be out tonight, which is a huge relief. Creeping into my room, I shrug out of my jacket and throw it on the bed.

  I still haven’t called the cops yet. I thought I’d get a read on Enzo first, see if anything about the fight had gotten back to him. He could have dropped me a couple of names that I could pass on to the police. But he obviously doesn’t know them, and as much as I’d love to serve up Mancini justice on this one, I won’t be responsible.

  I need to call the cops tonight.

  It’s times like this when I wish I owned a cell phone. I could just pull it from my pocket, hide in the closet and have a whispered conversation. But I hate phones. Phones link me to people, and I don’t like it when Enzo can reach me at the drop of a hat.

  It’s been a constant battle between us, but every time he gives me a new phone, I lose it down the toilet, in a stream, or it “accidentally” gets smashed. I get a beating every time, but it’s still not enough to stop me.

  He gave up at the end of last year, and it’s about the only fight I’ve ever won in this fucking house.

  Slipping into the bathroom, I lock the door and flick on the shower. I get the spray pumping before turning on the radio. Finding my usual station, I turn up the volume, then climb onto the toilet seat and out the window.

  I hit the ground and duck into the shadows, sneaking around the house and racing down to the payphone at the end of the street. It’s one of the only ones left in Armitage, and the town council better not take it away. I’ve used it on more than one occasion. Shoving a few coins into the box, I call the Armitage Police Department. I’ve learned not to bother with 9-1-1; it’s easier to call direct and leave an anonymous tip.

  “Armitage Police Department, you’re speaki
ng with Mike.”

  Lowering my voice, I try to make it as gruff and scratchy as possible while I describe the two men who tried to hurt Chloe. The officer tries to get some personal details, but I deflect those questions, telling him it’s not worth the risk.

  He’s not satisfied with this, and I’m running out of time.

  With a sharp huff, I bark, “Just look for them before they’re found by a Mancini and taken care of with another kind of justice!”

  And with that, I hang up and run back home.

  My boots scuff on the cracked concrete as I creep around the side of the house. As soon as I reach the bathroom, I jump up and grab the window ledge, pulling myself back inside.

  “Hurry the fuck up, man!” Diego’s home and pounding on the door.

  I scramble out of my clothes and dive under the spray to wet my hair before turning off the shower. “I’m coming!” I holler, wrapping a towel around my waist.

  Diego keeps pounding anyway. He’s going to freaking break down the door if I don’t hurry up.

  Shit, I miss Nick.

  It kills me that the guy who used to look out for me became just like them.

  I don’t want to be like that.

  I don’t want this toxic family to rub off on me too.

  5

  My Almost Worst Nightmare

  CHLOE

  To say I didn’t sleep well is an understatement. Every time I drifted off, my body would jolt awake with the feeling of tight arms around my waist and drunken threats against my skin.

  At two o’clock, I gave up, flicked on my light, and tried to read.

  The romance novels I’m into are always such a good distraction. I don’t care what genre they’re in; as long as they can take me to another world, I’m happy.

  The reading worked…sort of.

  I don’t know what time I fell asleep, but I woke up with my thumb squeezed between the pages of Eleanor & Park. I’ve read the book before, but it’s one of my favorites.

  Trying to get ready for school was hard work, but thankfully Max and Uncle Rad left to do some breakfast and baseball thing, and Dad had already left for work. That just left Mom and Maddie to deal with, and they were so busy chatting about Mom’s latest job application that they didn’t even notice me.