The Worst In Me

21 - Owen

Her eyes are a deeper green than I imagined they'd be. Of course I was told of her appearance—and adamantly informed of her beauty—but I never expected her lips to be so full and her cheeks to be so naturally rosy and her eyes to be so... piercing.

But none of that matters.

She threatened my family, and I don't take kindly to threats. No matter how almost gut-wrenchingly beautiful they are.

"So you're the bossman," she looks me up and down, and I almost want to squirm at her gaze, which really fucking surprises me. "I expected you to be... older."

"And I expected you to be taller," I say, emotionless. It doesn't matter how strangely worked up this girl—woman—makes me, I learned to perfect my cool facade many years ago, and it has not yet been broken. Not since that day.

Truthfully, I didn't expect her to be taller. The guys mentioned to me how tiny she is, and compared to the lot of us, she's even more dwarfed in size. We're all quite tall, with Axel, Corey, Brandon, Silas, and Raven being the tallest among us.

"Well, I guess that's where assumptions get us." She steps further into the large office, a place I like to call my own. We don't usually use this mansion; it's really just a precautionary measure for situations like these. And we would've seen this whole thing coming much sooner if all the cameras had been updated sooner.

All of us stay at the same luxury apartment complex, having bought the whole building out. In there, along with our multiple secret meeting sights, such as the one Sang broke into, The Layer, there are a plethora of cameras. All of them were installed specifically by Victor and Corey, the tech guys of our family. But it just so happened that just when Sang stole files off of Corey's computer and broke into The Layer, the cameras were all in the process of being switched out for new ones.

And to do this, I was told, we had to cut off footage from every camera, as that was the most efficient way to do so. I didn't question the guys, because of course they know what they're doing in that department much better than I ever could. But I do know that if we were to have anticipated someone infiltrating us and our operation, we would've done it in a less efficient, but equally as covert, way.

Alas, now we are here, and before me stands a woman who almost ruined everything.

Sang makes her way over to the sofa and sets her brother carefully down onto it, wincing as she does so. I presume she's still sore from her fray with North and Silas; although, despite their pride, they confessed that she "completely whipped [their] asses." So maybe it's something different.

I was going to have Doc do a thorough check over her to make sure she's without injuries, but something about that seemed wrong to me. Maybe it's because she's a threat to our family and we shouldn't be going out of our way to help her. Yes, I tell myself, that's surely the reason.

After setting him down comfortably, she looks back to me, staying upright and standing for this conversation.

"Have you fed him?" she asks, nudging her head towards Noah. He is a cute kid, I'll admit. And to keep him entertained, I let him watch the television downstairs. The first channel that popped up was Spongebob Squarepants, as Raven uses that to better his English for whatever reason. I was quite shocked to learn that he'd never even heard of the show before, for I know that it's very popular with children.

He informed me that he doesn't have a TV at home, so he never gets to watch it. That made me even more curious, and, I'll admit, even more intrigued with his older sister. I tried to question him more, but he immediately clammed up, almost as if afraid to speak about it and other familial matters. Either that, or he was ashamed. This little kid—whom I've been adamantly reminded is almost four, by the young man himself—is hiding something big. And I want to know what it is.