Page 25 of Burke (The Haven #2)
E arly the next morning, as Shirley poured herself some coffee, her phone vibrated again, and she sighed, letting it go to voice mail. A few minutes later, she pulled it out and hit Play on the recorded message.
“You’ve got to help me,” Silvia shrieked through the phone.
“He’ll kill me. You’ve got to help me. You have to.
Ever since you left, he’s been so angry and upset, all because of you.
He was counting on that money to get us through,” she screamed into the phone.
“You’ve got to help me.” And then the message went deathly silent.
Shirley stared down at the phone, only vaguely aware she was on the verge of collapsing. Strong hands went around her to guide her to a chair.
She stared up blindly at Burke, who placed her coffee in front of her, then squatted and held her hand. “Easy,” he whispered, “take it easy.” She couldn’t even speak, as her mouth opened and then closed. He nodded. “I know, it’s a shock.”
She grappled with that. “A shock,” she cried out. “How is that a shock? That’s not a shock. That’s like…” And then she just blanked out.
He continued to rub her hands and just helped her deal with the moment.
Timber walked over and joined them, looking concerned.
“Somebody needs to bring me back to earth here,” she muttered.
“Would she do this to set you up?” Timber asked.
She blinked at him in shock, and it took her a moment to realize what he was asking.
“Oh God,” she whispered, her shoulders sagging. “I don’t even know.”
“Right,” Timber declared, “and that’s one of the first things we have to figure out. It comes down to whether this is her just trying to flush you out or if she’s really in trouble. Obviously, if she’s in trouble, she needs help.”
She grasped what he was saying, but it had been such a shock to hear her sister’s panicked voice like that. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I really don’t know.”
“But you are afraid of the boyfriend. Frankie, right?”
“Yes. I’m absolutely terrified of him,” she admitted. “And, for good reason, because he’s definitely frightening.”
“Good enough,” Timber stated calmly.
Burke stroked her cheek. “You need to relax a little bit.” She took several deep breaths, and he nodded approvingly. “Do that a few more times,” he said calmly, “and we’ll go from there.”
She realized he had said we , not just her. Her shoulders sagged in relief. “Dear God, I don’t know what I would do if I was alone right now.”
Burke snorted. “You would have bolted and already been halfway into town, calling her as you went.”
She nodded. “I would have because she’s still my sister, even though I know we have all kinds of problems with her, and she’s pure trouble.” She winced. “I can’t deal with the fact that she might be in trouble, and I am the cause of it.”
At that, both men glared at her, with Burke stating firmly, “You are not the cause of this.”
She sat here, blinking at them, still in a daze.
Toby walked over, slammed his hand down on the table, and snapped, “You are not to blame for any of this.”
“But if I had given her the money…”
“And then what? After you let her take all the money you’ve got, then what?
They would still be broke very quickly, especially considering the rate they’re going through it,” Toby stated, staring at her.
“You need to let go of that guilt. Let go of that misplaced generosity. It seems to me that whole family has had you wrapped up in guilt for a lifetime.”
“He’s right,” Burke agreed, taking her hand in his. “Enough is enough.”
She swallowed at the vehemence in Toby’s tone and then took a slow, calming breath. “Do you think so?” she asked Burke.
“I know so,” Burke declared. “Absolutely no way this behavior can continue, and I’m sorry, but the only way she’ll stop is if somebody stops her. I know that isn’t what you want to hear, but—”
“I know,” she interrupted, nodding. “Intellectually I get that,” she admitted, “and I do understand, but emotionally I’m just not quite there yet.”
“Has your father been jailed before?”
“Yes, but it was quite a while ago.”
“Do you trust him?”
“No, not at all.”
Toby looked at her and then slowly nodded. “You really don’t have anybody, do you?”
“No,” she whispered. “I never have. It’s always been a hard slog to sort out whether they’re lying or cheating or whatever else they’re doing, so I just stayed clear of them as much as I could, but she’s still my sister.”
“She is, but this could be the end of that sibling love.”
She looked at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“If this is a trap, or if she’s trying to flush you out so they can get your money or whatever it is they think they’ll get from you, it’s sure to be a one-way ticket to the end of that relationship.”
She knew it herself and nodded. “Yes, it would be.… It’s just hard for me to believe she would do that.”
Timber looked over at Burke, who shook his head and added, “It’s not hard for me to believe it at all.”
She looked up and winced. “I know, but that’s because she’s already caused you some difficulty,” she murmured. “She’s never hurt me.”
“ Yet ,” he clarified, “but she’s done a lot to hurt your circumstances… or tried to.”
She sighed. “I really don’t think I can deal with the fact that you think she might be trying to trap me.”
“It’s a possibility, and it’s also a possibility that Frankie’s trying to trap you. You said you didn’t trust him, right?”
“No, I don’t. Not at all.”
“Okay, so do you think that Frankie would use Silvia to get to you?”
She frowned as she thought about it. “Yes, I think he would, but I don’t know what he would want from me.”
“You took the money away, right?” Timber asked.
“I didn’t take it away,” she clarified, with a sniff. “I removed her ability to access it.”
“Is there any doubt that the money isn’t just yours?” Toby asked.
“No,… God no,” she declared, staring at Toby.
“Burke already knows this, but I’m the one who earned it.
It was in my bank account, and Silvia’s name was never on it and was never intended to be on it.
That’s just my checking account, not my investment account.
I don’t know what they would do if they knew about that. ”
“And you already know that she was quite prepared to steal from you.”
“Yes,” she confirmed, “and honestly, I’ve gotten accustomed to that because she’s done it before.”
His jaw worked as he heard her, and he glanced over at the others. Toby just shook his head, got up, and poured himself another cup of coffee.
“I guess I’ve been normalizing that the whole time, haven’t I?” she asked.
“Yes,” Burke stated, “you have been, and you’ve probably been doing it because it’s family , and because it’s family, we tend to tolerate all kinds of stuff we wouldn’t let others get away with.”
She closed her eyes and nodded. “So, what am I supposed to do now?” She stared down at her phone. “I can’t ignore this.”
At that point, Timber stepped forward. “Then you meet her, but you do not meet her alone, and you do not put yourself in any position where you could be taken captive.”
She stared at him in shock. “Are you saying you think they would hurt me?” she cried out, staring at him in horror.
He looked at her, his face grim. “I remember how stressed and frightened you were when you initially got here. And it’s a very slim line to kidnapping you from what they’ve already been doing.
If holding you captive means getting access to your bank account, your investments, or whatever else they seem to think that they’ll get access to, it’s a pretty minor step, considering the various illegal acts they’ve already been committing. ”
“But…” She stopped and frowned.
Timber continued. “Just because they haven’t been caught doesn’t mean that what they’re doing is legal.”
“No, I know that,” she whispered. “I do realize that much.”
“Then you need to take it one step further and to realize that the worst-case scenario is that they could literally use you for their own benefit, and that is not something you can afford to have happen.”
“No, I can’t.”
“And you already know you don’t trust Frankie,” Burke added, “and, if he has a good grip on Silvia, then you really can’t afford to meet them at all.”
She winced, then suggested, “You can phone them. You can see what the problem is and whether you believe her or not, and then we can go from there.” She pulled out her phone and started to hit Redial.
Burke grabbed her hand to slow her process. “You need to remember all the things she has already done, not just to me but to you.”
“Why?”
“So you don’t just cave when she starts to cry,” he replied. “I know myself how good she is at making you think her world is completely collapsing and that you are the only one who can help her.”
“I need to help her,” Shirley stated, staring at him steadily.
“I don’t want to get in Frankie’s clutches, and I certainly don’t want to have any problem with him.
” She winced at that thought and then shrugged.
“If she’s not lying, not making this up, then it is quite possible that he’s hurting her, and that is something I could never forgive myself if I ignored it. ”
“I get that, but remember all that she is and all that she has already done. That’s all we’re saying,” Burke repeated, as Toby and Timber nodded.
“It’s a plea for help, and, as much as I don’t trust her—God help me, I know I don’t trust her—but how am I supposed to get past that level of pain? If it was your brother or sister, and you didn’t trust them, but they were crying out with a call for help, what would you do?”
Toby nodded. “I would contact them and see if it was for real,” he said, “but I wouldn’t go by my own judgment on something like this because I would know I was too emotionally attached and couldn’t be objective.”
She stared at him and winced. “Right, message received.”