Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 15

Sebastian’s little sister was an enigma; when he wasn’t actively paying attention to her it was like she blended into the background and he forgot about her for a while.

Not that he expected himself to adapt to her presence in the few days since learning she existed, but he was usually better at keeping track of his surroundings.

After their mother had gone missing everything had changed. Their father, once a kind, caring man, changed almost overnight.

The police couldn’t find any lead on where Annie had gone and it was killing him inside.

It was then the shift happened. Suddenly, Samuel wasn’t happy with the family’s wealth, with the fake power that came with having money. He needed to find the mother of his children and if the police couldn’t do it he would find someone who could.

That was the beginning of Samuel’s descent into the shady underbelly of the city as he searched for someone willing to do what needed to be done, price be damned.

But finding someone capable and willing to do it for some rich snob wasn’t as easy as planned, and so Samuel began cultivating a reputation over the years; a reputation that quickly grew as he sunk his fingers into different questionable businesses.

Sebastian and his brothers had to be kept safe while Samuel grew his empire, and that was accomplished through training.

He and his brothers had all been training in hand-to-hand combat, how to fight with a knife, and the use of a gun. Sebastian had a talent for fighting and flourished in this change.

Nowadays people knew him in the underworld; messing with him brought about harsh consequences. He came off as a reserved and quiet man, but when he was pushed it was game over.

Gabriel hadn’t been as keen on the lessons, his laid back attitude frustrating many an instructor. He cared for little outside cars, even as a child, and now with the chop shop he ran, hidden within a legitimate auto repair business, he preferred to keep his hands covered in grease and little else.

From what Sebastian was privy to, the legitimate business side of the operation was lucrative and something Gabriel planned on expanding someday down the road. He was almost twenty-one and wanted to take his time building up that side of the business.

Had the police been through to make sure he wasn’t the one dealing with stolen parts? Most definitely. They had their noses so far up the Devreaux’s asses it was difficult to get things done, but their father had his way with the blue boys.

Any attempt to collar them with a crime would soon be followed with the charges being dropped. Whether this was because Charles Montague intervened and squashed whatever case they had, or Samuel pulled on some of the many strings he’d cultivated over the years and had someone without any apparent connection to their family take the fall.

Auntie Pat, though, was another matter entirely.

She detested Samuel to the level of obsession. Even with the knowledge that Annie had survived for eight or so years after disappearing — the coroner’s report said as much — she was still stuck on her original theory.

Which didn’t work with the timeline of their descent into the dark corners of the world. She was of the opinion Samuel was some crime lord from day one when that was anything but true — the disappearance of his wife had brought about the desperation needed to forget his morals and jump in head first, bringing his boys along for the ride to keep them close, to protect them. Ignorance would get them killed, he’d thought, and Sebastian agreed with this when looking back.

It had given them something to hold on to when their world had fallen apart, something to focus on and strive towards.

Having Vivian in the house had been almost like welcoming their mother home. Samuel’s demeanour had changed from the aloof father that rarely spoke to someone Sebastian didn’t recognize.

It wasn’t a bad change, per se, but it was startling.

Laurent wasn’t taking it well at all, his outbursts becoming more frequent and focused on their sister. He blamed her for everything when none of this could possibly be her fault. How did she make their mother disappear when she’d been less than a fetus at the time?

Sebastian watched the girl fiddle with her glass of water as she looked around the room without any real interest. She had closed herself off from the world, that much was obvious, and their father was working to find out why; why did she distance herself so much from others? Why did she never speak of the time before becoming Vivian St Peter?

Who was she before she became Vivian? Where had she been? Had she ever known their mother or had she been abandoned at birth and someone took her in? Was that the person who’d left signs of abuse she’d been found with?

Sebastian had also been privy to the two folders of information regarding his mother’s body and Vivian’s time since being found and both brought up more questions than answers.

They all wanted answers, and only Vivian could fill in some of those holes, but the notes in her file spoke of a girl with a will of steel, who was unafraid to say nothing. It was a stubborn streak they’d all inherited from their parents, she just expressed it with silence while the men got into arguments.

Only time could crack the walls she’d barricaded herself behind, and even then there was always the possibility Vivian would never allow them in.

Samuel had instructed they get to know their sister, and attempt to earn her trust, but not through backhanded means. It was obvious if anyone managed to gain her trust, anything that might damage it would cause her to close herself off again, even more than before.

Their father wanted them to have a genuine connection with the girl, but finding out what happened to their mother, his wife, was at the forefront of his mind.

Sebastian’s first thought was to interrogate the girl until she cracked — in ways the police, child services and the like would have never condoned — but knew putting that out there would earn the ire of his father.