Chapter 4 - "This is the very last one."

"You told?"

Charles wasn't surprised that, when he was shoving his books in his locker, that the junior Natalia approached him with a nasty glare on her face. He hadn't said a word, but the silence was much louder than any words could've been. Still, he didn't regret not lying to his father.

"This was personal to me, Charles," Natalia spat, her eyes filling with tears. Her bottom lip quivered the moment he met her gaze, and she had to turn away for a moment before she shrieked through a whisper, "They won't look at me the same anymore—"

"Relax," Charles reassured, reaching for her shoulders and leaning down to meet her gaze; for a fifteen year old, he was quite tall, while her height had been entirely inherited from Sarah's genes. "I didn't tell them about...that other thing..." he sighed; he really didn't like using that word. "But they know about the money."

Natalia's eyebrows raised, relief softening her features as she asked again to be sure. "They don't know..." she glanced over her shoulder to ensure no one was listening in on them, "...about...th-that?"

"No, they don't, none of them even mentioned it, you're fine." Charles knew that Natalia hadn't been the best lately, and that she was unbelievably mouthy, but she was still his best friend, his sibling, and there was no way he could be disloyal to her. "I do think you should lay low for a little while. Don't do anything crazy and Uncle Lu will unground you in a few weeks, he never holds up to it anyway."

"I will lay low, but I have half of what I owe," Natalia whispered, wiping her cheeks as she again glanced in her surroundings. "I'm meeting with him tonight and giving him half." Charles slowly nodded his head, even though he thought that was a horrendous idea. "You coming with?" His jaw stiffened; he had promised his father he wouldn't, and he never broke his promises. "It'll only be to drop off the money and then we leave."

"My dad specifically asked me not to go with you for anything and I promised," Charles sighed sadly, shrugging his shoulders.

As expected, that was not the answer Natalia had wanted and her eyebrows furrowed. "Please, Char?"

Charles shook his head. "I really can't Nat," he declined, "I'm sorry."

"It's the last one for three months, and I swear, I'll never ask for you to come with me again." It was obvious in his face that he was debating whether to agree or not. He didn't want to betray his father, but it was definitely unsafe for a seventeen year old girl to meet an older man to drop off that sum of money. He didn't want her to be alone, and he'd regret it forever if something happened.

Hence, even though he didn't want to, he slowly nodded his head, to which Natalia beamed and threw her arms around his shoulders. "I'll sneak out of my house and climb through your window tonight, and then we can leave from there," she squealed.

***

"What did Charles say?"

"He was going to have an anxiety attack when I asked him questions, so I laid off of him," Nate explained back to Jules. With a glass of wine in his hand, he paced back and forth, and his phone was on speaker on the kitchen island table while Dante was seated on a barstool in front of it. Dante also had a glass of wine, and he poured himself a bit more before setting down the bottle. "But from the way he looked at me when I asked those questions, I think what we thought was right. Nat owes someone money and she might have killed someone or saw someone die."

"I don't think she killed someone because she ridiculed me when I asked," Jake grumbled.

Both Lucius and Jake were already in bed, and Jake was seated with his back against the headboard while Lucius was lying down, a cigarette on his lips and his head perched upwards by pillows. Their entire day had been talking about that, Jake mumbling how it hurt his feelings what Natalia had said, and Lucius comforting him. However, they hadn't gotten anymore answers than that, and Natalia stayed in her room.

"Then we first need to find out who she owes that money to, and the sum," Jules chimed in. He was seated at the desk in their room, checking through his files with Bronsted's unbelievably loud snoring behind him.

"But most troops know that Nat is affiliated with not only the Hercules troop but the Wolves as well, that's why Black Jack didn't do a thing to her," Cesar stated on the phone, passing his hand along the fabric of a new costume he purchased—a unicorn suit. "Whoever she owes money to, it's a bit weird that they're not scared at all."

"How are we going to find out all of this?" Lucius mumbled, before inhaling a sharp breath from his cigarette.

Nate, who had finished his glass of wine and pouring himself a new one, said, "I can hire a private investigator to follow her; they'd definitely get something."

"I think that's a good idea," Dante seconded, nodding his head. "She wouldn't see it coming."

"Isn't that a breach of privacy for a seventeen year old?" Cesar mentioned, folding his arms and narrowing his eyes at the stain he found on his unicorn suit

Lucius rolled his eyes. "She lost her privacy when she started acting like an entitled brat and stole drugs."

"I wonder what we'll find..." Nate mumbled to himself, twirling his glass a bit as he fell into thought. They had done horrendous stuff when they were younger; he really hoped Natalia had not gone down the same avenue. "I hope it's not as bad as I think."

Nate had been stressed about this, as if he could sense some incoming danger from the future that hadn't happened yet. Dante hated when he stressed that way since he overthought and it was practically debilitating to Nate, and that was why he stood to his feet and reached around Nate's waist.

He saw the light flicker back into Nate's eyes when their gazes met, and a small smile stretched Nate's lips as he whispered, "Babe, I'm okay."

"I know," Dante exhaled, leaning forward and planting a gentle peck on his lips. "I just wanted to hold you, that's all."

"You should get the private investigator tomorrow." Their attention was returned onto the phone on the table as they heard Jules' voice. "That way, we get as much details as possible."

"Should we get one for Charles too then?" Nate asked Dante who was still holding onto him.

Dante shrugged his shoulders; Charles wasn't a bad kid at all. He kept his grades up, he didn't have many friends and the few he did were all nerdy and calm. All they did was study and their idea of a party was going to someone's house all together and playing some form of educational game with alcohol or drugs banned. He only got in trouble when he tried to diffuse situations or prevent Natalia from knocking people out, and he would never even hurt a fly.

But with what he had been hiding, Nate wasn't sure anymore if he even knew his own son.

Thankfully, Lucius answered for them. "There's no need. Let's see what the private investigator gets on Nat and we'll go from there."

"Fair enough," Dante agreed.

"Alright, I want to go try on my new costumes," Cesar said before he hung up.

Jules had finally turned off his laptop and yawned. "Yeah, I need to get some sleep," he groaned, getting into his bed and shuffling beside the sleeping Bronsted.

"We'll talk to you all in the morning," Nate yawned as well.

"Alright, goodnight guys," Jake concluded, hanging up the group call and laying down beside the grumpy Lucius who hadn't been able to stop thinking about this horrendous situation.

As for Nate, the moment they hung up the phone, the lines across his face became much more prominent as he bit his bottom lip, forgetting about Dante's hand around his waist. He really hoped that it wasn't anything serious, but everything pointed to that being the case. What seventeen year old would need ten grand? The drugs she stole could have been sold for thousands; why would she need that kind of money?

"Nathan." Dante's worried tone caught Nate's attention, and he met his gaze. "We're getting a private investigator tomorrow, alright? Everything is going to be fine, nothing will happen to any of us."

"But what if something does and we're too late?" Nate murmured, the inner corners of his eyebrows rising in fear. "We've lost so many people already. I can't lose someone else, I'll go nuts."

Dante couldn't stop himself from chuckling as he assured, "No one's dying. She's seventeen years old Nathan, she's not some drug lord. There's a chance she doesn't owe anyone money, she hasn't been traumatized, and Cesar's right, it's just a phase."

"You didn't see the way Charles looked at me," Nate grumbled, shaking his head. After staring at the wall for a few more seconds, he detached himself from Dante's grasp before heading towards the staircase to the second floor. "I'm going to say goodnight to him. I really want to talk to him because everything might change tomorrow."

"I'm coming with you."

As they reached Charles's closed door, Nate knocked before pushing the door opened, and they found Charles with his headphones on, messing around with his electric guitar. As he saw his two parents walk in, he instantly swallowed hard and lowered his headphones from his head.

They were both smiling, but neither looked genuinely happy as they approached him.

"I have the talent show soon," Charles spoke before they did, nervously glancing between the two of them. "I was just practicing my original piece for it."

"No, it's fine, I'm sorry, I just..." Charles eyebrows raised and he tilted his head to the side, waiting for Nate to finish his sentence. For a moment, Nate could again see a reflection of himself. His messy ginger curls, his wide curious blue eyes, the freckles across his cheeks and such innocence.

It was the same look Nate used to have before he encountered Dante, before he came face to face with the true evil of the world, before he was kidnapped and tortured and left without an eye and an arm. That was the look he wanted Charles to keep; he deserved the perfect childhood that both Dante and Nate never had.

"Uh..." The silence had been a bit too long for the anxious Charles who set down his guitar and stood to his feet. "Everything okay, dad?"

"Yeah," Nate smiled, nodding his head. "Everything's fine, I just wanted to come say goodnight."

Charles again glanced between the two of them; they never usually came to say goodnight. "Did something happen?"

"No, nothing happened," Dante replied, patting Charles on his shoulder. "We're just a bit worried with everything we recently discovered, that's all."

"Oh..." Charles swallowed hard, lowering his gaze for a moment. "You don't need to worry about me guys, I'm fine."

Nate nodded his head, reaching forward and wrapping his arms around his son who awkwardly hugged him back. "Then we won't worry. I wanted to come say goodnight and that we love you very very much."

Although they all knew that, it wasn't spoken very often, hence Charles' felt awkwardly flustered, his face burning red while he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, of course I know that. I love you guys too."

The moment they left, Charles felt the heaviness in the room stop suffocating him, and he planted his ear against the door to listen to their footsteps. When he heard their door open and shut, he twisted around in his bedroom and shrieked through a whisper, "Holy shit! We almost got caught! I told you this is a bad idea!"

"But we didn't!"

Natalia emerged from the closet, carrying a humongous duffel bag that she could barely hold up on her shoulder. She was dressed completely in black, even wearing black gloves and boots, along with a black scarf to wrap over her mouth. As she glared at the door where they had just left, she grumbled quietly, "I can't believe they're getting a whole fucking PI on me."

"They're doing that tomorrow," Charles reassured, shoving on his sweater and putting on his gloves as well. He pulled the hoodie over his curls as he added, "Let's go give them half the money and then deal with the rest after the three months are over."

"I'm going to be squeaky clean," Natalia nodded her head, as if to convince herself of that as well. "Nothing bad until the PI is off of me."

"Great, now we can have a normal life again." He received narrowed eyes from her, which made him roll his eyes before motioning towards the window. "I'll go down the rope first, and then you can throw the duffel bag and I'll catch it. By the way, how did you get the money?"

With a smug smirk on her face, Natalia folded her arms and lifted her chin, such conceit in her eyes as though she was a genius that discovered the best trick to ever exist. "Remember the drugs we stole?"

Charles frowned. "We gave it back."

"No, I didn't. I gave them back replicas, but it wasn't the right pills."

"Holy sh—!"

"Shhh!" Natalia shrieked, leaping forward to plant her palm over his lips. "You'll get us caught, Charles!"

Charles was in shambles, shaking his head as he began to pace back and forth. "Natalia, do you realize how fucking dangerous that is? How much was it worth?"

"It was worth a hundred grand but I needed the money really bad so I gave it away from fifty grand."

"Oh my lord..." Charles couldn't believe what he was hearing. They had stolen fifty grand worth of drugs, and now, they were paying one debt with another. "We owe a troop leader fifty grand worth of money."

"No we don't," Natalia snickered, broadening her shoulders. "They're not going to do anything since I'm Lucius' daughter."

"They're going to tell Uncle Lu and that's bad enough, Natalia!" Charles sent quivering fingers through his already messy hair as he exhaled through a shaky breath, "Natalia, I know you've been through something really rough, but you've been spiralling out of control!"

"I'm not spiralling!" she shouted through a whisper as well. "I know what the fuck I'm doing so are you coming or not?"

Charles had to take a few deep exhales before hesitantly bitting his bottom lip. He couldn't let himself continuously be dragged into these sorts of dangerous dilemmas, and that was why he pointed a finger in her face and stated again, "This is the last one. After that, I'm done, so don't ever ask me again."

"Yeah, whatever," she dismissed, pointing towards the window. "Now let's go."

In hindsight, Charles wished he hadn't accepted this suggestion and Natalia wished she had never gone. Charles wished had not only listened to his father, but told them what she was planning to do. Natalia wished she had listened to Charles, and instead, revealed the truth to her father, even though she knew he would be livid.

Maybe then that hapless outcome would have been prevented...

All the adventures had often been dangerous but they always returned safely. They always laughed about them days later, no matter how injured they were from them.

Charles thought this was going to be no different.

Natalia thought they would be back in Charles' bedroom, giggling until the sunrise as they always did.

However, unbeknownst to the both of them, it was going to be their very last one...