Page 25 of Like An Animal

THE SHADOW

T he Bastards agreed to my deal, but the moment anyone realized I wasn’t in Newark anymore, my grandfather started blowing up my phone. He tried getting answers about where I was and what I was doing, but I was vague.

He made his feelings concerning Bronwyn really fucking clear early in the game.

He thinks I’m better off staying as far away from her as possible and I didn’t argue.

What was the point? He couldn’t change my stance and I knew I wouldn’t be able to change his.

He doesn’t have to like her. However, he will respect my decision, especially if he plans to hand the reins over to me.

If he wants to back out and give the control to someone who isn’t me, fine. I’ll take Bronwyn and walk away. She’s what really matters and I think he knows that.

Maybe he has convinced himself that I’ve moved on, even though there has been no one else in my bed or my heart.

I hang up the phone as I walk into Arnold’s house, bathed in darkness.

That’s the fifth call I had to pretend I was too busy to deal with. Soon, he’s going to get suspicious if he’s not already.

So what if he does?

It’ll be no skin off my back.

I’m grateful to my grandfather for helping me avoid prison and taking me under his wing after what happened in Grove Hill, but I can survive without him and the organization. I can’t say the same for my little ghost.

I make my way through Arnold’s dark house and walk into his office, where he sits behind his desk, typing away at his keyboard.

“You got something for me, Arny?” I ask. He texted me a few hours ago when I was on the plane to say he needed to show me something. I don’t know if that’s a good sign or not.

“Yeah, boss. Come on.”

He nods to his screen and I walk over, looking down at the screen.

“I found your girl. She’s operating under a fake identity out of Kentucky. Winnie Parker. She must’ve had some talented people covering her tracks.”

“Covering her tracks? How?” I press and he nods.

“When I ran her photo through the database, it popped up with two identities–Winnie Parker and Bronwyn Durst. Bronwyn went off the grid five years ago. Although the identity of Winnie Parker was created five years ago, it wasn’t used until almost a year after that.

When the documentation was falsified, it was used to start a bank account that had forty-five million dollars deposited in it by a woman named Cheryl Parker.

” He pulls up footage on his computer of a middle aged woman walking into a bank and Arnold clicks on his mouse, pausing the feed. It zooms in on the woman’s face.

“She looks vaguely familiar,” I admit, unsure of how or why.

“She should. She’s Bronwyn Durst’s only living relative. Bronwyn’s mother, Charlotte, was Cheryl Parker’s identical twin.”

It’s so strange that Bron never told me that she had family outside of David. She made it sound like she had nowhere else to go, but that’s not true.

Why didn’t she ever move in with her aunt when shit got bad with David?

“Is she with Cheryl?”

“Negative. Cheryl was reported missing shortly after Winnie Parker popped up in Kentucky. I checked. Cheryl isn’t there with her.”

“Then, who is?” I ask, getting the sense that he’s not telling me anything.

“Based on the public records, she has a four year old daughter named after her mother, Charlotte Parker, and she got married four years ago.”

It’s not the kid part that throws me off. No, no, no.

She.

Got.

Married.

We were supposed to get married.

Us!

Not her and some fucking random schmuck in Kentucky. Rage boils in my blood as my eyebrow twitches.

I was supposed to be her husband, the only one she ever fucking had. I’m going to have to correct that and after I do, I’m going to remind her why ever marrying anyone else was a bad fucking idea.

I never thought it was possible for my little ghost to incur my wrath, but she just did it.

“Is the husband also the child’s father?” I ask, barely managing to not grind my teeth.

Arnold slowly shakes his head. “Impossible. I looked into him. They never crossed paths before she went to Kentucky and she already had the child when she arrived. He’s just a small town accountant.”

That barely makes things better for the fucker. He’s still going to die because he took something very vital from me, but that also means I’ll have to track down whoever knocked her up and kill them.

No.

One.

Touches.

What.

Belongs.

To.

Me.

Period.

“Send me all the information you have on her, Arny. Appreciate you, man.” I gently pat his shoulder before heading for the door.

“No problem, boss.”

“You’re looking for her, aren’t you?” My grandfather mutters through the Bluetooth in the car as Xavi sits next to me, typing away on his phone.

I don’t say anything.

“Goddamn it, Jeremy. Just leave the girl alone. She is not built for this life.”

“And that’s your opinion. I just so happen to disagree with you.”

I’m not paying attention to what he responds with because my little ghost walks out of the house I’ve been sitting outside for hours, the long dark hair I remember cut short to her shoulders. A soft tan covers her skin along with a flowy black sundress.

The small child bounces down the porch steps behind my little ghost, bouncing her head back and forth. The little girl looks nothing like Bron, except for maybe the dark hair up in pigtails.

Little Charlotte smiles in a way I don’t think either me or Bron are capable of. She’s a happy kid. My little ghost managed to do what neither of our parents were able to—keep the child safe and happy.

Bron takes the child’s hand in hers as a man walks out the door, leaning against a pillar on the porch.

The heat rises in my blood as I look at the fucker that must be her husband. He waves at them as Bron helps her daughter into the car. The fucker takes a sip from his steaming mug before walking back into the house. He closes the door behind him as Bron gets into the driver’s seat of the car.

“Who’s the suit?” Xavi asks and I hang up on my grandfather.

“A dead man.”

He shrugs as my little ghost pulls out of the driveway and I follow behind her. I keep enough distance that she shouldn’t pick up that she’s being followed.

I need to get a feel of her routine and how connected her life is with this town before I make my move. It won’t change that she’s coming back to Jersey with me, but it will give me an idea of the pushback I’ll receive from people who know her.

It’s good to be prepared.

We follow her out of the neighborhood and notice a change in her driving. She’s not being steady. Instead, she’s jerking the wheel and slamming on the brakes.

“Woah. What is she doing?” Xavi groans.

I’d like to know that, too.

Suddenly, my phone rings and I glance at the BlueTooth screen to see Arnold’s name flashing. I answer quickly.

“What do you have for me, Arny?”

He usually only calls me when he has something, but I haven’t given him any more tasks.

“Boss, you’re going to want to hear this. I tapped Bronwyn Durst’s calls and she just got off the phone with a New Jersey number.”

Jersey? Who the fuck does she know from there? Except me of course.

“Hello?” My little ghost’s voice comes through the speaker.

“Bronwyn.”

It takes a lot to shock me, but when I’m greeted by my grandfather’s voice, it makes my jaw drop.

Why the fuck is he calling her?

“Mr. B., hi. What’s going on? Is it Jeremy? Is he-he-he okay?” Her voice cracks with worry.

“I don’t know. He’s gone AWOL.”

“AWOL! You said you would keep track of him! How could you just lose him? Are you sure he isn’t just partying or something?”

“Ms. Durst, we can’t find him. All we can assume is either he knows where you are and is coming for you or he’s trying to track you down. If I were you, I’d find a rock to hide under until he gives up.”

I can’t believe my grandfather has been in contact with her and more so, is helping her hide from me. Too bad for him that I already have my eye on her.

I’ll deal with him when I return home.

“How long do you think I have? I’m about to drop my daughter off at school.”

“Could be hours. Could be days. Hell, he could be wherever you are and you not know about it. He was missing from his bed this morning. Godspeed, Bronwyn.”

The recording ends with a click and my jaw ticks.

That’s probably why she’s driving erratically. His call freaked her out. She should be scared. If she wasn’t, she would be an idiot. She’s not going to like a lot of what I have planned for her, but she’ll adjust.

“Thanks, Arny.”

“No problem, boss.”

I hang up the call and feel Xavi’s eyes burning into the side of my face. “You good, bro?”

“No,” I admit. I won’t be until I have her chained up in my room with her screams echoing throughout the compound.

“What are you going to do about the kid? You’re not going to kill her, are you?”

My head snaps around from the shock of his question. What the fuck? I don’t hurt kids, not in any way. Kids are the one place I won’t go. Plus, I don’t believe in punishing a child for the mistakes of their parents.

I’m a product of why that’s a bad idea. I was punished for the fact that my mother didn’t go straight to my grandfather with what she saw. He didn’t mean to punish me, but that’s exactly what happened. It’s not pretty and makes him uncomfortable to think about.

I was punished for a small mistake my mother made when trapped in her grief over what she witnessed. She took me home, held me and cleaned me up when she should’ve taken me anywhere but there.

“No. What makes you think I would kill her kid?”

He shrugs, a frown on his face. “Your grandfather would.”

“Well, I’m not fucking him, am I?”

He frowns. “No, you’re not. The time for you to take over can’t come fast enough. You’re both ruthless, but at least you have morals.”

I have very few things I won’t do, but it’s still more than my grandfather’s list.