Chapter 3

• CHAPTER THREE
• RICHARD
• Father looked distraught when he broke the news and I knew he was very sad about the fact that his wife died but the boys and I couldn’t care less. It was best that she died since we never liked her anyway and I was certain he would be more open to understanding the fact that we are his family and not that woman and her stupid ass daughter. He had married her even though we had protested against it, arguing that we were enough for him but he had been blinded by love.
• I schooled my expressions to show concern, knowing he was watching each of us. It wasn’t a secret we didn’t like her but I didn’t want him using his hurt and anger against us. He was hurt and lashing out was very likely. I watched as he delivered the news to her.
• After she rushed into her room, father turned to us as we stood awkwardly by, none of us knowing exactly what to say without seeming rude.
• “I would have expected you to look a bit more remorseful about the fact that your mom died”. He sounded so disappointed in all of us but that didn’t stop Raymond from uttering “stepmom”.
• Wrong fucking timing for him. He realized that as Dad pinned him with a glare. He didn’t back down and I knew Dad would have been even more disappointed if he had.
• “I’ll be going back to the hospital now to prepare to move her for the funeral but while that is being put in place, take care of Bella. I’m sure she’d be hurt right now and I don’t want anything happening to her while I’m gone. Is that understood?”.
• Yeah, right. Like we would do that but we managed to give varying murmurings that conveyed a total lack of truth. He didn’t question it as he left in the direction of his room, coming out a few moments after with something in his hands. He barely spared us a glance after that.
• Raven was the first to break the silence. “So, she’s gone”. He had a small smile on his face, one that is mirrored by the rest of us.
• “I knowww”. None of us ever liked her and we always made that obvious. It would have been better if she had suffered a lot more than she actually had, that would have thought her not to steal people away from those who actually need them.
• “What do we do about the brat now?” I asked, voicing the next question we would need answered. We had to find a way to get her out of the house in a few weeks and knowing dad, he would be prepared to raise her as his just because of her bitch of a mother.
• “Let’s give her a few days. Her mother just died after all, poor thing”. My brothers’ sarcasm is one thing we all had in common, alongside our need to see that everyone who wronged us got what they deserved which was why it didn’t surprise me when Ryan mentioned days instead of the weeks I had earlier thought.
• “What about now? It would be easier to get rid of her now since father won’t be home till later tonight. Funeral arrangements take hours because of the paperwork and all that shit and its nearly dark”. Everyone knew Raymond hated Bella most. He found the tiniest things to torture her for even if the reasons weren’t justifiable and it entertained us to no end. However, doing this right now would be foolish.
• “You want to be here when father comes back to find that you sent away his ‘beloved’ wife’s daughter the night she died?” Raven glared at Raymond who finally thought about it before nodding.
• “I guess she can stay a few more days but I hope she’s mentally prepared. I won’t go easy on her just because her mother died”. The glint in his eyes meant he had thought of more ways to bully her.
• I shook my head, suppressing the laughter that was bubbling up in my throat. While I might have hated her, it still felt wrong to laugh in the house and I knew Father would be able to smell it the moment he walked in. I glanced in the direction of Bella’s room, briefly wondering if she was fine before I reminded myself about how it was none of my business.
• It was eerily quiet though. I would have expected her to lash out and cry or at least yell but there had been no sound from her room since she disappeared into it. People deal with grief in different forms, I guess.
• I turned to my brothers. “Video games?”
• We turned as one in the direction of our games room, debating who was going to be the most beaten as we decided on which games to play.
• I was completely trashing Ryan when the door slammed open. We turned as one to see our father standing by the doorframe, looking pissed as fuck. We hadn’t heard him come in. I glanced outside the window to see that it had gotten pitch dark. We must have lost track of time as we played.
• “Where the fuck is Bella?” He asked in a calm tone that I knew from experience was anything but calm. I could read him well enough to know that not only was he extremely angry, he was sad, anxious and there was a mix of something I hadn’t thought that he could feel – fear. Dad was afraid of something which decidedly meant something had to be seriously wrong.
• “Is there a problem, dad?” I asked as I stood up from the beanbag I had been sitting on.
• His eyes were blazing when he turned them to me. “You’re asking me if there’s a problem? I asked you to do just one thing for me while I take care of my wife’s body. She’s been dead barely eight hours and her daughter went missing?”
• What did he mean by missing? I glanced at my brothers, each of them just as confused as I am.
• “Bella is not in her room and her things are gone. I specifically asked you four to check on her since this had to be a very difficult time for her since she lost her mother only a few weeks after losing her father but what did you do? Nothing. You couldn’t do one simple thing. Instead, you all gathered here playing video games while the poor girl left for goddess knows where. I promise you, if Bella isn’t back in this house before morning, you’ll hate what I’d do to all of you”.
• Honestly, my brain was still stuck on the fact that she was gone. As far as I knew, she hadn’t left the house before which meant she wasn’t possibly over at a friend’s place. It was also late at night which made it possible that she had lost her way.
• “What the hello are you still waiting for?” Dad yelled as we sprung int action. We all hurried to leave the games room and out of the house into my car.
• “Wouldn’t it be faster if we all split up? We can cover more grounds that way”. Raven suggested as the rest of them filed out of my car into theirs with a promise to call or mind-link the moment she is found. I hope for the sake of her that Raymond doesn’t find her first. He would probably kill her on the spot for the stress he went through to find her.
• I combed everywhere and after about three hours, I was ready to give up. I had ditched my car to walk into the woods in case she was there or maybe I could catch her scent but there was nothing. It was almost like she vanished or never existed. I got back into my car and drove back home as agreed.
• We decided to stop a few blocks from the house since we knew father wasn’t bluffing about we hating him if she’s not found.
• “Any luck?” I asked as I alighted from my car.
• “Nothing”. Ryan responded while the rest shook their heads. I sighed. It was going to be a long night.
• “So, what do we do now?” Raymond asked, barely concealing the anger in his voice.
• “There was something we should have done first?”. At the blank look on our faces, Raven sighed and continued. “Her room should have been the first place to check. What if there are clues that would tell us where she was headed?”
• How could we have been so dumb as to not do that first? We decided to sneak into the house to check out her room before heading back out to continue the search.
• As we walked in, her scent hit us. It was everywhere, particularly stronger on the bed since she must spend a lot of time there. I paused, something else wafting up my nose, a scent I have never smelled before. It was sweet with a mix of something else, something I couldn’t place.
• “Do y’all smell that?” I asked, seeing as my brothers had stopped to sniff the air too. Involuntarily, I began to growl. My growl was soon joined by the others as we all uttered the same word.
• “Mate”.