"What?!" Celeste had exclaimed, covering her mouth, tears continuing to flow from her eyes, all the way down her cheeks. Bran had taken over from his father, carefully squeezing her shoulders, consoling her. Even in his eyes, it was apparent that he too was broken and grieving.
"I'm really sorry but it's the truth. Craig's been involved in a life similar to mine and Cassie and Brie knew about it. The reason he was staying with us was because people were trying to hurt him and it turned out to be the very ones that tried to execute me." A quiet voice confides.
"And what about Brie, she wouldn't just disappear without saying anything to anyone, so that means she's in danger right?" Bran questioned, his brows were creases to create a frown. Raye could see the emotions emanating from glossy grey eyes.
"Yeah," she responds, staring at the floor of her apartment all the colour drained from her face. Listening to the cries and the displeasure from her in-laws really tore her apart. She felt like the villain and each second that went by it was proven that she was.
Her heart was breaking apart piece by piece, her eyes watered, her body felt tired and shaky and she felt queasy.
"I'm absolutely sorry," she mumbles and Brian paces around her, a hand in his pocket.
"Seems like I waited a little too late to render my assistance," he speaks and the vicinity between them all went quiet. The man's wife and two children were waiting for him to elaborate for they had no clue what he meant by those words.
"I tried to help them you see, searching deep within this old mind to find what could be of use," his voice was gentle but he still appeared lost. He looked around the sitting area, everyone sat in couches except for him and his daughter in law.
"I didn't want Brienna and the rest of us having to look over our shoulders for the remainder of our days because of Rachel, so I offered to come up with a strategy to help them fight their adversaries. They weren't to do anything but ignore the Irish and mind their own business or it was what they were expected to do.
On the backside, the Irish would've been infiltrated and ratted out to the feds slowly and they'd do their jobs for them. While it seemed like the cops were onto them because of their own shortcomings they would've been on the side bestowing what was just."
Luca sat there and remembered when Brian had mentioned it to him, which was just a short while ago. He was actually impressed and for a moment and believed they were going to follow through. He felt like they were going too only for those sons of bitches to strike first.
"You were going to get involved in this?" The man's wife asked, appalled that he would even contemplate such a thing. She was a mixture of livid and confused.
"They were getting frisky Celeste, brazen with their targets. They sent things to our house. They wanted us to know that they knew who we were. It was only a matter of time before they did something worst."
"So we're all in deep shit?"
"Yeah," Luca replies, staring at Bran, the one who asked the question. He looked nothing like his siblings at all. He was bigger and hairier, taller.
"And what about Brie?" Cassie's husky voice was barely audible. She sat in a chair next to Charlie who said nothing but observes the whole time. Cassie wipes at her runny nose, a lack of zeal had left her eyes looking droopy. "I'm convinced those assholes did take her, so what are we going to do? How are we getting her back? Do they want money?"
"They don't want money," Raye answers scratching her head. She was moving and speaking on autopilot. She felt like an empty vessel the more she thought about Brienna. Her heart couldn't bear thinking of the girl getting hurt at all. If she did Raye had no clue how she was going to cope with that.
