Tiny Dark Deeds: Chapter 4

Dorian

My god dad came over to me, his hand up when my parents wouldn’t do anything but look at me. Jax put his hands on my shoulders, waving my parents on. I wasn’t leaving, and it seemed he thought it best just to be with me in that moment.

Maybe my parents felt the same way because my mom’s attention traveled to my dad next. He raised that phone to his mouth, the call apparently on speaker, and the seconds in which he didn’t say anything amplified in this quiet room.

“Dad,” he said, the word foreign coming from him. I mean, he was my dad. So yeah, hearing him call someone else that was weird. Dad’s jaw shifted, tight when the muscle feathered along his jawline. “Any idea why you’re holding an eighteen-year-old girl who’s been missing for the past eighteen years?”

Straight to the point, my father, and when Jax refused to breathe behind me, I realized we were both doing the same thing. We were holding our breath.

And we were doing it for my dad.

We all knew his history with my grandfather. Maybe not everyone in his room, but the people closest in his life. This wasn’t easy for my father, this conversation.

Some static occurred on the line, movement. Wherever Grandpa was, things were going on, moving. “Royal.” The word amplified in the room as much as the silence. “Thank you for speaking with me.”

If my dad had a tell for what it was like to speak to the abuser during his youth, he didn’t give one. He merely glanced down when the man beside him, the one behind the computer, lifted a paper.

He’s at the hospital was written across the paper, big and bold, and my father took his attention back to the call.

“And I’m sure you want answers,” Grandpa continued, deep and smooth as my dad’s voice. Hearing them together was crazy, trippy. They probably hadn’t spoken to each other since before my birth. Grandpa had been in prison before. “I’m here to give them, but to start, the hold you speak of was merely a security precaution.”

A lazy smile touched my dad’s lips, but I was sure he’d found nothing funny. He angled the phone toward his mouth. “Holding her against her will and keeping her from her family was a security precaution?”

“All due respect, son, you’re not her family, and as far as the Mallicks, she didn’t know they were. Until she did, it didn’t seem appropriate for, to put it bluntly, an army of strangers to come and get her.”

Dad sneered.

“As far as holding her against her will, this was not true.” He sighed, a bit of agitation in the old man’s voice. Was my father getting to him? “I’ve actually been trying to get her back to her family, her real family, since she’s come into my care.”

“Well, please. Enlighten me and everyone else in this room because no one else knows what’s going on but you.” Dad raised a hand toward the room. “Because how it looks is, you have a missing person in your custody. A missing person my kid tells me you’ve been lying to. At least about your identity.”

I stiffened, my god dad bracing my shoulders.

Dad angled in my direction. “He’s also been telling me how you pursued a relationship with him behind my back and without my authority. One he more than clearly cut off after his mistake, so from how it’s looking, at least on your end, it’s not good. Especially when it seems one of your final meetings together didn’t end so well. For him, or for you.”

He’d changed the words up, danced around what had actually happened but probably only for my benefit. This room was full of strangers, friends, and Dad hadn’t wanted to put what I’d actually done out there.

He didn’t want to tell anyone his son had attempted a murder.

My parents kept eye contact with me, both of them, and though it was hard, I didn’t look away. I had done what he’d said, and I owned up to it.

Even if it was late.

Another sigh from the old fucker on the phone. “I’m sure you think you know what’s going on, and yes, things do look a certain way. It was unfortunate what happened with Dorian and me and completely my fault in that regard.”

My mouth parted, my dad’s too. I didn’t think either of us had actually thought he’d admit that.

“Pursuing a relationship behind your back was wrong, and I make no excuses for that. I was the adult in the situation, and I should have put a stop to it when he came to me. I’m sure he explained to you why.”

“He did.” Dad’s tone was stiff, rigid. “And he knows what he did was wrong, but that doesn’t excuse some of the things I’ve heard you’ve done to him. Nor does it make anything right about what you’re doing now to Pilar Mallick. You’re holding her and the fallout of what happened between you and my son—”

“Aren’t related whatsoever. Pilar Mallick, who goes by the name of Noa Sloane, was simply my ward and a bad decision made by a man I called a friend.” Grandpa paused. “A man who’s now dead after we pursued him.”

Mom looked at my father. We all did.

“His name was Godfrey Sloane. His wife Marilyn. Godfrey used to work for me—”

“We know,” Dad said. “We know all about that. The kids told us who Sloane’s alleged parents were, and it wasn’t hard to figure out the connection to you. He used to work at one of our plants, work for you.”

“Yes, but I’m sure your team also knows he left the company shortly after the initial kidnapping when the child went missing. My people looked into this too. Godfrey and his wife had issues having children. The pair lived not far from Maywood Heights. I’m sure Sloane was the perfect opportunity for them. They skipped town not long after, went off the grid.”

“And the man just so happened to give the baby to you after his demise, which was apparently false?” Dad eyed the room. “Quite coincidental.”

“I’m sure you know it’s not.”

I blinked, my dad and more than one person in the room twitching too.

Grandpa’s sigh was once again heavy. “You know my history. It’s the same reason I’ve given your family space, something I’ve been doing for over a decade and at your request despite you sending people to watch me over the years.”

Dad frowned, and it was news to me he’d asked Grandpa to stay back. He hated his dad.

I suppose it shouldn’t have been news then.

Even still, it was, and my father cleared his throat.

“I’ve been doing everything you’ve asked of me with the exception of most recently when your son came to me, son,” Grandpa said. “But even still, that doesn’t excuse my history and who my old friend Godfrey believed I was.”

“Which is?” Dad asked, and there was silence on the phone again, rustling. Someone’s voice came in, hushed, hurried. I heard mention of the words must hurry and others, which had the people in the room jotting things down, police, detectives. I couldn’t hear much clearly, but what had been said definitely made people uneasy. There was lots of shifting, and my mother touched my dad.

“Someone who did something terrible in the past,” Grandpa said, surprising me. “And I don’t expect retribution, nor your forgiveness. I’m just saying that’s who Godfrey believed I was. He trusted me to take care of someone who clearly wasn’t his own, and when I found that out, one thing he probably didn’t expect was for me to try to reunite the girl he and his wife had taken with her real family. In fact, I’m sure that was the opposite of what he believed because not only did he come back, come back to kill her and cover up what he’d done…”

My mom gasped, and Dad froze. My stomach twisted the fuck up too, and my god dad noticed.

Jax’s hands tightened on my arms in a firm grip. It wasn’t unknown my relationship with the girl we were all speaking about. I introduced her to Brielle as my girl that day at school, so of course, the other parents knew that detail too now. Sloane was my girl.

And I loved her.

I think sharing that with her might have pushed her further away in the end. She hadn’t been shy about letting me know she hadn’t trusted me in the past.

A sharp chill racked my fucking body, my grandpa speaking again.

“He would have had it not been for Lucas, my head of security. We found Sloane and Godfrey in a warehouse in the end. The man had been about to blow the place to kingdom come. He faked his own death and, after he took care of Sloane, planned to take his actual son away. Bruno Sloane, Noa’s kid brother, is actually biologically his.”

“And how do you know all this?” Dad shot, his teeth bared again. “How could you possibly know all this?”

“The man detailed it, son. All of it.” Hushed voices occurred in the background once more, and I was sure I wasn’t the only one straining to hear them. Someone was trying to get word in to my grandfather about something. “He’d been staying in a motel. The motel called the hospital after seeing Sloane’s story on the news, a story I leaked to help find Godfrey in the first place.”

That sharp chill cut across me again, my parents exchanging the same look. Dad covered the phone, and with the way they weren’t speaking to each other, they clearly were at a loss for words. Before I knew it, my mom of all people was taking the phone.

“You really were trying to get her back?” she asked, and no one attempted to keep her from doing this. Not even my dad. Though, his jaw had clearly tightened. He didn’t want this, this exchange.

But hell if anyone could stop my mother from doing anything she wanted to do.

“And speak quickly, Callum,” she said, her voice rough, low. “You talk now because I swear to God, if you’re lying, I’ll come for you myself.”

“Em.” Dad took Mom’s hand, but even still he waited patiently. Perhaps he wanted to know the answer too.

“I’ve been a lot of things. I have done and was a lot of things, but I am not this man my old friend believed,” Grandpa said, and I noticed he didn’t acknowledge the change of voices. He had to have an indicator this was my mom though. He had to know. “I’m not, and I truly have been trying to get Noa back to her family. Back to your friends. I only apologize for how long the process was taking. We were still trying to collect evidence and unearth a lot of things Godfrey attempted to cover up. It was a tedious process, and one I thought best to keep quiet until at least we’d concluded and had all the evidence. We were reaching the end of that process when Sloane was taken.”

Which explained why he lied to me about knowing who she truly was… I guess. He told me none of this in Sloane’s kitchen that day when I ran into him.

And from how it sounded he knew he was talking to my mother, mentioning her friends and all that. I started to come forward, but Jax cut me off.

“No, kid,” he said, so serious. I wasn’t used to it. Not from him. He leaned in. “Just no. Let them handle it. Her handle it.”

But how could I just stand here, my mom talking to the man who, well, did something so terrible to her, her sister.

“I understand your distrust… especially yours with who I assume you to be,” Grandpa started, both my parents too still. “But history, at least for now, needs to be set aside.” More hushed tones broke the conversation, my grandfather and someone else. Several someone elses actually. They all spoke for a few moments before he returned this time. Grandpa forced a harsh breath into the phone. “The girl’s been missing for over an hour now.”

“What?” Dad took the phone now, my mom willingly giving it to him, and this time Jax didn’t make me stay. I was at my dad’s side now, my mom grabbing me.

“I mean, she’s gone. She and her brother,” Grandpa huffed. “They somehow escaped the hospital together.”

“What do you mean somehow?” My dad asked my question. “You’ve got that place locked down.”

“I do, with the exception of hospital staff. They come and go as they please. Noa was dressed in scrubs from her ordeal. Godfrey covered her in gas and tried to set her on fire this morning.”

“Oh, God.” Mom’s words were laced with a thickness that had her covering her mouth. An extreme and violent nausea hit me to the point where, if my mother and I weren’t virtually holding each other up, I would have fallen to my knees.

“Dad,” I said, my dad’s hand coming to me.

Dad’s throat jumped. “I advise you to speak quicker, father. You said she’s missing. Is she injured? Seriously hurt?”

He looked at me, the movement in the back of the call amplified.

“She’s experienced no serious injuries. Bruises here and there. She could be in the hospital, but with the way she’s dressed could have just as easily slipped out. Especially if they got Bru, her brother, scrubs as well.”

“Must have slipped out.” Dad pushed his fingers over dark blond. “Any idea why someone you saved and provided for, according to the kids, would want to run away from you?”

“Probably because I told her the truth.”

“What?”

“I told her the truth, son. I told her about me. Who I was and why I think Godfrey trusted me to keep his secrets.”

My mouth dried.

“I told her my history. With the town, yes, but also with her grandfather. Her biological one.”

My hand gripped my shirt, my legs fucking wavering. I rubbed at my chest, but no matter what I did, I still couldn’t breathe.

“And as it sounds like Dorian explained, she didn’t know my true identity. She didn’t, but she does now.”

She does now.

“That being a part of her transition back, back to Mallicks, wasn’t a part of the plan. I hoped to get her set up, tell her the truth about her identity, then remove myself from the equation. I believed that was the right thing for all involved, and I’m sure you understand why.”

The illness didn’t leave. Sloane knew the truth?

Leaning against the desk, I managed to remain standing, and I noticed my father held eye contact with me. Perhaps I looked as sick to my stomach as I felt. Sloane knew the truth, a truth I should have told her. I hadn’t told her about my connection to my grandfather.

You’re the liar. You.

“I planned to release a statement to the press after my people made contact with the Mallicks. I told her that too,” Grandpa continued. “She reacted as well as you could expect. All of this was a lot, and she was quite silent. In fact, she didn’t really speak at all, and after, she simply asked for some time alone. Her brother stayed, and my people and I left. We gave her time.”

Too much time, as it sounded.

“She was gone when we got back, and it’d be nice if we could work together to find her. Right now, my team is scouring the hospital and the surrounding areas, but it’d be nice if they didn’t have to worry about yours coming through the hospital with battering rams. We were going to attempt to talk to them, but I thought reaching out to you first was best. You could make a call and uncomplicate things in that regard.”

“I’m sure you have it all figured out, Dad,” my father said, but he was snapping his fingers. He did first to my god dad. “Get Ramses on the phone.”

“On it, brother.” Jax left me, on his phone, and my mother grabbed Dad’s hand. She mentioned going back to the hospital, but when I attempted to go after her, Dad snapped his fingers in my direction.

“You stay,” he said, then directed a cop over to me. “Make sure he gets back to his friends.”

What?

“Dad.” I came over to him. “I need to be out there. The guys and I can—”

“No,” he challenged, and when a cop touched me from behind, I pushed the fucker off.

“Dad. Please.” He couldn’t keep me here. I needed to look, look for her. “You have to let me go. I have to look for her.”

“You’ve done enough,” he volleyed, and in that moment, my father shot me an irregular look. It was one completely foreign to him. He was always so patient with me. Even when he had no reason or right to be. He always was.

But not today.

Today, and in this moment, it felt like we lost something, the pair of us, and covering his phone, Dad wet his lips.

“Go,” he said, just one word before he was getting back to things. The cop didn’t have to escort me out after that.

I went by myself.

24 hours since the news broke…

2 days since the news broke…

1 week since the news broke…

The present.