Page 16 of Burke (The Haven #2)
She laughed hysterically. “Honestly, I can’t believe this happened,” she muttered, sniffling back tears, “but now I’m unemployed, and I’m walking around my apartment, knowing that I’ll have to leave this too, with no idea what my best move is at the moment.
But the reality is that Silvia will be here soon enough. I’m sure of it.”
“Do you have much?”
“No, I don’t, honestly. She destroyed a lot of it the last time she threw a fit, and then, when I went away for a holiday with some girlfriends from school, Silvia supposedly left the door unlocked, and I got robbed. So, I’ve been living with the bare minimum for a while now.”
“So, knowing what you now know about your sister, do you think you got robbed or do you think she was the one who robbed you?”
A long sigh came, and she replied, “I don’t even want to think about that, but it’s possible.”
“Of course it’s possible,” he stated, with a groan. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, me too,” she muttered. “Right now, I’m just exhausted and worn out. My rent is due, and I’ll be okay for a while as, thankfully, I do have money. I just can’t stay here right now. I want to avoid Silvia when she is this mad.”
“I can understand that.”
“Not after what she just did. Plus, I know she’ll be coming after me,” she pointed out, “maybe even with that scary boyfriend of hers. So I am not sure where and what I’m doing at the moment.”
He didn’t know what to say, but Timber piped up, “If that’s Shirley, and she’s in trouble, tell her to come here.”
“Do you have room for her though?” Burke asked.
“There’s a spare bedroom upstairs. She can come and figure out what she wants to do from here,” Timber offered. “She helped you out, so let’s help her out.”
At that, Burke spoke into the phone, “Did you hear what Timber just said?”
“I did,” she whispered, “but I don’t want to be in the way. I don’t really have any reason to come out there, and I don’t want to stop all the work you guys are doing.”
Timber grabbed the phone and gave her directions, completely overriding her objections. “A bedroom is here for you, so don’t be foolish. When you get offered an opportunity, you take it,” he stated. “Let’s confirm your sister won’t find you right now.”
“That would be a big help.” And there was no mistaking the tremor of tears in her voice.
“Do we know if she has heard anything about the pending court case or the detective’s investigation?”
“I wouldn’t think so, but I honestly don’t know. She’s been calling me, but, especially after I lost my job.… I haven’t felt like answering.”
“Good and don’t,” Timber stated. “If you can get away,… then get away. I don’t know what you have to pack up, but… Are you on a lease?”
“No, it’s month-to-month.”
“In that case you know what you need to do,” he declared, with a hint of sharpness. “Put whatever you care about in your vehicle and get away from there.”
“I don’t even have anything to care about left,” she explained. “I haven’t even been cooking here. After everything got completely wiped out, I basically just moved the little that was left.”
“Then give up your apartment, tell your landlord you’re done, and get your ass over here. We’ll figure out what’s next.” Then he gave her the signpost to turn at.
She hesitated. “Are you sure?”
“I know you don’t know me, so you don’t know that’s almost an insult to ask me that. However, I am sure, so come on. Let’s sort this out from here,” he added. “We don’t want you to have a run-in with your sister, especially with that boyfriend.”
“Oh God,” she muttered. “I’m already throwing shit into my suitcase.”
“Do you need a hand?” he asked.
“No, I don’t have much,” she shared, panic in her voice. “And now you’ve put the fear of God in me at the thought of him showing up with her.”
“That bad?” Timber asked, his voice hard.
Tiffany’s hand landed on his shoulder as she listened in.
“Yeah,” Shirley replied, “that bad.”
“Maybe I should come then,” Burke interjected.
“No,” Shirley said immediately. “If they see you, it’ll be an all-out war.”
“That’s a valid point, but I don’t like the idea of you still trying to pack up your things. You know that, if Silvia finds out that you were fired, it’ll make her way too happy, and she’ll come looking for you.”
“She’s already been trying to do that. So now that she’s gotten me fired, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” she muttered. “However, I do have two suitcases fully packed. I have a few boxes that I should collapse and put into recycling, and I’ve got a few bags of toiletries and stuff.”
“Can you get them loaded on your own?”
“Yes. I think so.… I don’t know. Look. I’ll call you back in a few minutes.” And, with that, she disconnected.
“Shit,” Burke said, as he stared down at the phone. “I didn’t think Silvia would go to her sister’s place of work and get her fired.”
“It’s not something that normal people would do,” Tiffany noted, “but obviously this sister isn’t on the normal side of life.”
“No, not right now she isn’t. Plus, if she sees that her sister is trying to get away from her, she’ll be on the warpath.”
“Do you want to go in and help her?”
“Yes, but… Shirley’s right in that, if I’m seen, it will start a full-scale war, and honestly, I would probably be the one fueling the confrontation instead of stopping it. Best case is if we can get Shirley out of there and safely here, without Silvia knowing anything about it.”
They were still discussing the pros and cons a few minutes later when Shirley called back. “Okay, I’m already in my car. I just grabbed up everything that I had. I didn’t get it cleaned though, so I’ll probably lose my deposit.”
“Not necessarily, you’ve still got a few more days left in the month,” Burke pointed out in a calm and collected tone. “We could always go back and clean it, if that’s what you decide you want to do.”
“Oh, right, I guess that’s an option.”
“Are you driving?”
“I’m just heading out now,” she replied. “I know it sounds stupid, but I feel as if time is against me.”
“So then move it,” Burke stated, “and move it fast because you don’t ever ignore those warnings.”
“I’m not,” she replied, “and I’m already on the way, but it just feels as if they already know or maybe they’re coming after me already.”
“Then drive,” he said urgently, “just drive and get the hell out of the city. If you see them and you can lose them,… do so. Don’t get yourself boxed in somewhere. If you can’t, don’t worry.… Call us. We’re here.”
“Yeah, you say that, but I don’t want to bring them to your doorstep.”
“Bring them anyway,” Timber stated calmly, his voice a resilient timbre. “We’ve dealt with those kind of people before.”
“You might have, but this one?… Well, he’s…”
“I know. He’s bad news,” Timber confirmed. “So just keep driving.”
“And drive fast but safely,” Burke added into the phone.
She laughed. “I’m already on the way,” she muttered. “God, how did my life come to this? I’ll hang up so I can focus on driving.”
“You do that,” Burke agreed, “and, if you run into trouble, let me know.”
“If I run into trouble,” she explained, “it’ll be coming from them. So, it probably won’t be trouble I can get out of easily.” And, with that, she disconnected.
“Well, shit,” Timber muttered, staring down at Burke’s phone. “Is she prone to melodrama?”
“No, not at all. It just shows you how much her sister and that boyfriend terrify her.”
“At the moment, it’s starting to terrify me too,” Timber muttered, staring off in the distance.
Burke got up. “I’ll head in her direction and confirm she gets here.”
“You do that. I’ll get one of the bedrooms set up. If you run into trouble, you know what to do. Don’t be a hero, call us, and we’ll send reinforcements.”
And, with that, Burke grabbed his keys, stepped into his vehicle, and drove down the driveway toward the main road.
If nothing else, he would meet her somewhere along the way and could show her where the turnoff was.
He also didn’t want her followed. It was one thing to bring trouble into the world and have it follow them, but it was another thing entirely to bring an asshole like Silvia’s boyfriend into the animal refuge and have to deal with him too.
With that thought firmly in mind, Burke picked up the pace and drove faster.