I’m just waiting to hear how my parents will officially point to Zack, Spence, Max and Liam as my ‘kidnappers’ and they’ll get the police involved and everything like that. I’m just waiting for the rest of the problems to unfold, for the real bad things to start.
Can I do it? Can I keep standing up to my parents if they start threatening Zack, Spence, Max and Liam? Will I be able to stand up to my parents when they start to ruin everything the guys have built? Threaten their jobs? Threaten their families? Threaten their future? Will I be able to let my parents ruin their lives?
Then I spot an email from Audrey in my inbox, with a very interesting title. ‘Where are you and why are your parents standing in the middle of the cafe?’ Glad to know she’s still taking her job seriously, emailing me while she’s supposed to be working.
I’m not sure what to expect when I open the email. On the one hand, Audrey has a tendency to exaggerate. On the other hand, my parents can be absolutely horrible. But if Audrey has no idea what has happened to me in the last weekend, it means that the drama hasn’t reached the human world yet, and that makes me a little less nervous. Though that quickly fades when I open the email and read it...
Fuck. Oh, fuck no.
32 Zack
I disconnect another call with a client while Max and Liam are looking at me with amused looks. “What?”
“Nothing.” Max laughs as he looks around the store, grabbing a shirt, before he discards it. “Interesting to see you change into some... I don’t know... Some really professional guy, when you get a call.”
“’Really professional guy’,” I mock him. “Fancy words. Very fancy. It’s called ‘doing my job’.” Then I put my phone away. “Not everyone can just take time off because they want to.”
This has been the third call today. Some clients were a little confused and worried, but once I promised them that I’d take care of things and that this would not influence anything with their contracts at the company, they calmed down. Luckily, it seems that the whole mess hasn’t had too much of an effect on the business... Because that would have made things a lot worse with my dad and all.
I’m pretty sure we’re almost done with the shopping by now, and I really want to get back to the house. To be honest, I suspect that this town is a lot busier during the summer months, but there are still quite a few people out and about. I can scent humans and shifters, all mixed together and it’s making me nervous. I just want to get back, back to Cyra.
We all went to bed pretty soon after Cyra did last night, we all needed the sleep, and I definitely feel loads better today after a good number of hours of sleep. But it has also made me more nervous. We still don’t know what we’re going to do or where to go from here.
Even if we can deny everything Cyra’s parents are saying on TV or in articles, what’s the use? Who is going to listen when her parents started speaking first? Even disproving their lies, nobody would pay attention to it. Nobody would remember that they were all lies, they would just remember her parents’ tears, how upset they were. That’s how this all works, this is the interesting part, the drama, but once this is over, all the attention will be gone and nobody will remember the end results.
My phone rings again. I almost ignore it, so done with calls for the day, but then I spot the name on the screen and I quickly pick up. “Yeah?”
The ‘fixer’ on the other end keeps his voice low. “You wanted to know if her parents visited her work or her apartment?”
“Yes.” I nod, my heart beating fast and anger already rising in me.
“I just spotted them at the apartment, but they didn’t go inside, just waited outside. Then they went to her workplace, the cafe, talking to the waitress there. She apparently didn’t give the right answers the first time, so when the girl brought the drinks they’d ordered, they made a huge scene. The girl is upset.”
Fury floods me and I bang my hand into a nearby wall, needing to let this energy go. Audrey doesn’t deserve to get crap. She’s sweet and apparently a pretty decent friend to Cyra. She definitely does not deserve Cyra’s parents all over her.
“Anything else?” I force the words out. I wish I could just rid the world of Cyra’s parents and people like that, but that doesn’t seem like the smartest idea if I want to stay at Cyra’s side...
“That was all.”
“Thanks. Send me the pics of her parents and let me know when they go to the apartment again.” I disconnect the call before he can say more.
I was right to station someone at Cyra’s place. I knew her parents would try to find her there, that they would disprove their own damn lies soon enough. Of course they would show up at her apartment, because they knew where she was all along. Though, they could probably explain it away by insisting they got the location from a detective or whatever.
But every little bit will help. And that’s all we’re going for right now. Small steps, hopefully making a big difference in the end.
Because my heart broke when Cyra said that she just wanted to live her own life, make her own choices. I understand that need, that wish, and if it’s hard enough for me to fight for it, I can’t imagine how hard she’s been fighting all her life. She’s so strong, so, so strong, for still being willing and able to fight, and I know I have to step up. I have
