Anton indicates towards the door and Noah’s not stupid enough to hold back again and finally starts making his move. “Oh, and Henley,” Anton says, making me pause in the doorway and look back at him, dreading what he could possibly have to add. “You’ll do well not to broadcast your relationship with me. I have a lot of enemies around here who would all love to know that I have a daughter they could get to. Do you understand me?”
I nod my head. “Broadcasting will most likely get me a one way ticket to hell.”
“Good. The final day of summer, I will be expecting you at seven. We will have dinner together and I will share your schedule and tell you how I expect you to behave. If you are here even a minute past seven, I will come looking and I promise you, I will find you and when I do, you will be punished. Is that understood?”
I give a firm nod, hating myself for getting into this position, but the little girl in my arms makes it all worth it. “Yes.”
“Good. Now leave. I have a meeting to attend.”
Noah and I get out of there as quickly as we possibly can. I dive into the backseat and get Ari buckled in and the door barely has a chance to close behind me before Noah takes off down the drive in his desperate attempt to get us out of here unharmed.
I can’t help but sit as close to Ari as possible, keeping myself wrapped around her as Noah gets us home. As he drives, I can’t help but think over everything that was just said in Anton’s study. My mind swirls.
Is Anton not the bad guy I’ve always assumed he is or maybe he’s just protective of his family? He has no need to show kindness to anyone else and maybe that’s why I couldn’t see it before, but one thing’s for sure, he gave me a life he knew I would be happy living, he found my little sister and returned her to me, and he released Noah from his clutches because Lily had a part in helping his niece to survive.
This doesn’t make sense to me. My whole life, Anton has been the guy in Haven Falls that you have to stay away from, and yes, he’s scary as hell, but tonight he showed a different side of himself. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m about to start going over there for day trips to visit my new daddy. There’s no doubt about it, he’s a dangerous man and I’ll be keeping as much distance as I possibly can, I just don’t think he’s ever meant any harm to me. Though, something tells me he’d be more than happy to smack me around a bit if I was to fuck up.
He had promised, in not so many words, that he had taken care of Kelly and maybe I should be looking into that a little bit more. I mean, she’s an awful woman and I hope to God I never have to see her again, but maybe I should be asking a few questions as to what his idea of ‘making her pay’ is. I just hope I’m not responsible for giving the call for someone to be murdered. That would make me sick to my stomach. Hopefully, he just helped her see the error of her ways without inflicting any sort of permanent damage.
The whole drive back to my place, nobody utters a word. The only sound in the car is Ari’s constant sniffling and by the time Noah pulls up at my place, it’s a parking lot. Everyone is here to see here and check for themselves that she’s ok.
Noah comes to stand by the back door and holds it open as I scoop Ari out of her seat. He stands over us protectively as we make our way inside and the second the door opens; the whole world is there to say hello. Ari instantly gets shy with so many people and the second Violet sees the look on her face, she jumps into protective Mumma mode and has them all backing off.
I make my way with her down to the bathroom and close the door behind me, only opening it when Violet shows up with a bath towel and a change of clothes before promising Ari that she’s going to make her favorite pancakes with ice cream and strawberries on top.
Ari gives her a small smile and before I know it, I’m left in the bathroom with my little sister, scrubbing the memory of the past week and five days from her body.
We stay in the bathroom for a while and I put in every little effort I can to make her feel somewhat human again. I even go as far as to blow dry her hair for her. By the time we’re done, she looks just like the little girl that I remember putting to bed last week. Only now, there’s a darkness in her eyes that speaks of the horror she’s just gone through.