"Did you?"
I slip my arms around her. "It was like a movie, the whole time. We were adventurers. I thought I was the hero of my own story. I"m not a hero."
Her arms tighten around my ribs.
"Not yet."
"I don"t know what to do. Tell me what to do."
"My mother needs to know. It will hurt her. She still needs to know."
"You want me to-"
"We both need to. Together. Then I"m going to stab your father to death with a potato peeler."
"Okay, wait, what?"
"I don"t want to go back yet," she sighs. "Not yet. Please. Can we just sit out here?"
Back to the bench. I sit down next to her and hand my head. This has been brewing for a long time. Something broke a while ago and it"s been chafing between me and my father. This is the last straw. We had a code, or at least I thought we did. He had a reason of his own to take up with these people, I just don"t know what they are.
"Are you okay?" she murmurs, taking my hand in hers.
"Am I okay? After what I just told you?"
"Yeah. Are you okay?"
"No. I was scared, Diana. I didn"t want to hurt you."
"I know. I believe you." Her hand cups my cheek and she turns my head to look at her. "It sounds like your father tried very, very hard to make you into a bad man. And he failed."
"Diana, I don"t-"
"Shhh. How old are you? Really? Did you lie to me about that?"
"No, I... I have work to do, don"t I?"
She nods. "I don"t trust you yet... I do but I don"t. It"s complicated."
"I know. I really am twenty years old. I"ll be twenty-one in October."
"You weren"t born on Halloween."
I smile, sadly. "No, the seventeenth."
"You have a long time to make up for it."
I look at her. Really look at her. There"s more to Diana than her curves, her warm, pretty face, even her wonderful mismatched eyes. When she looks at me like that, it"s like she sees something I don"t even see in myself, when I look in the mirror.
The sun is setting. It"s time to go back.
She grabs my hand.
"Let"s go."
The walk back to the house is full of dread. It"s like there"s lead weights on my shoulders. The perfect moment is ending. It"s time to step outside the snowglobe again. I try to pull my hand free of Diana"s grip. I figure walking back into the house holding hands is a bad way to start this off. Her hand squeezes mine, and she won"t let go. In my heart of hearts I"m glad she won"t. She opens the door and we step inside. The party is still going. My father is drinking a flute of champagne, leaning on the kitchen counter. He looks over at me, and his eyes snap to our hands, still twined in each other. I shake loose of Diana"s grip and feel like I"m letting something important slide a way.
"What are you doing?" he demands, softly. "You-"
"Shut up," Diana hisses, "Don"t talk. Apollo told me everything."
I don"t know what"s going to happen. I guess a million things could. He could attack me, he could try to spin some kind of a story to Diana"s mother and claim that I"m crazy and trying to drive a wedge between them so I can get my hands on Diana, it could be anything. The last thing I expect is for him to turn tail and run.
He does exactly that. He hurls the gla.s.s at me and bolts. I slap it out of the way and barely hear it shatter. He runs into the living room, heading for the front door, barreling through the guests. I charge in behind him and tackle him, hard. We go down on the carpet in the sitting room, and he drives his elbow into my gut and kicks at my legs, and the wind goes out of my lungs. He almost gets loose, until I get my hand on his belt and drag him back with all my might, bellowing in wordless fury. We roll.
He lands on top of the coffee table. In a movie, it would crack in half and the legs would bust out from under it. In real life he howls in agony as the edge drives into the small of his back and the force of the impact tips the table over and dumps him on the floor. He gets to his knees, takes a clumsy swing at me, I duck out of the way and drive my fist into his stomach. Somebody grabs my arm.
"Stop!" Diana"s mother shrieks, "What the f.u.c.k are you doing?"
Holy s.h.i.t, she said f.u.c.k.
The entire scene freezes. I must have taken a punch to the face without even realizing it. I feel my split lip now, and a touch draws blood. My lips pull back in a sneer.
"Apollo," Diana cries out, clutching her mother"s arm. "Stop."
"Party"s over," I grunt, "Everybody get the f.u.c.k out. We need to have a family meeting."
"Everyone," Carol says, sounding rather dazed. "Please leave. I"ll call you all later. I"m sorry about this. Please. Go."
The burly security chief puts his hand on her shoulder. "I"m going to go check on some things over at the exhibition hall."
What he really means is I"ll be around the corner if you want me to kick their a.s.ses.
He"s the last to leave, glaring at me like I did something wrong. It"s not like I came in holding my stepsister"s hand and started wrestling with the groom in the middle of the reception.
Oh. Right.
Dad sits up, glaring at me.
"You stupid little s.h.i.t. Do you have any idea-"
"Be quiet," Carol hisses.
Dad goes quiet. I never take my eyes off him. If he makes a move I"ll f.u.c.king destroy him.
"Is it true?" she says, her voice on the edge of cracking. "Did you really do all this to get the combination to the vault?"
"I have the combination. I need the rotating encryption key." He never looks at her. He glares at me instead.
What comes next, I was not expecting.
Carols starts crying. She gasps for air and starts sobbing, falls on Diana"s shoulder and starts sobbing like a little girl, complete with screams. Her anguished gasps and moans of sorrow slice through me like a knife. Diana glares at me, but only for a moment.
"Look," I growl at my father, "Look at what you did."
He looks at Carol, and Diana, and looks at me.
"So f.u.c.king what."
"You miserable piece of s.h.i.t," I snarl.
"You go down, I go down," he says. "You think you can do anything to me without going up the river yourself, you stupid little fool? I always knew you were mad for c.u.n.t but I didn"t think you"d get so stuck on one you"d f.u.c.k us both over. You realize I"m going to have to do this the hard way now."
"What hard way?"
"You should have searched me."
The gun comes out so fast, his hand blurs. I barely have time to move.
He aims right at Diana.
"Don"t move. You so much as twitch and I"ll blow the little tart"s brains all over her b.i.t.c.hy mother. And shut the f.u.c.k up, Carol."
To my surprise, Diana"s mom goes quiet.
"n.o.body. Move. Understood?"
I nod.
"Don"t f.u.c.k with me. My life matters much more to me than any of yours. Especially you, traitor. I taught you everything."
"You ruined me. I"m a piece of s.h.i.t because of you."
"Whatever. Now, let"s all do exactly as I say. You two," he shakes the gun at the girls, "By the front door. Slowly. If you try to make a run for it I"ll f.u.c.king shoot you."
Diana nods. Carol stands up, and her eyes never leave him as they walk to the front door and stand there. I think about lunging, but he just knows. He looks right at me.
If looks could kill, he"d be a greasy smear on the floor.
"You"re not my father. You"re just some guy that f.u.c.ked my mother."
"To think I thought you had some potential. I started buying higher quality rubbers after you, by the way," he says, almost casually. "Get up and go over there with them. No sudden moves. Try anything and I"ll empty the f.u.c.king gun into that little b.i.t.c.h"s back. Understood?"
I nod, and rise to my feet. I keep my hands away from my body, and my eyes on the gun. He"s smart not to point it my way. It wouldn"t stop me. If I go at him now, he"ll shoot Diana. Just the thought makes it feel like my bones are grinding together.
He has his finger on the d.a.m.ned trigger. I walk over and shield the women with my body, for all the good it would do. The gun dips as he leans on the table to get up, and I think about it. If I took him by surprise, hit him at the right angle...
He"s taught me all my moves. He sees me thinking it and he knows exactly what I would do. What the f.u.c.k am I supposed to do about that?
"Good," he rasps, clutching his side.
Might be a broken rib. It could slow him down, make him weak on that side, if I- d.a.m.n it, he sees me looking.
"This is what"s going to happen. Diana is going to open the door and you two will walk through it. If you run or raise any kind of alarm, I"ll shoot her in the back, right above her pelvis. Long, unpleasant way to die. Understood?"
I nod, and look at Carol. I don"t know what to make of her. She"s gone still, like she"s just accepting it.
"Do it."
Diana steps to the side and looks at me the whole time she slowly opens the door. I take Carol by the arm and lead her out, my heart pounding as I wait for Diana to follow. She steps out, and then my father lurches behind her. He"s pulling his right leg a little. Not bad, just a little. Not enough for me to make a move. He"s watching, always one eye on me.
"Close together. No running, no sounds. We"re going to walk over to the loading dock and inside the building. Carol, are you ready to open the vault for me?"
She doesn"t hesitate. "Yes. Take whatever it is and leave us alone."
"I"m taking the Lost Vermeer."
"I don"t care. Just don"t hurt Diana."
Diana flinches at that.
"Let"s move," I whisper to them. I take each of their arms in my hands and walk between them.
"I"m going to get us out of this," I whisper. "I promise."
"I know," Diana whispers back.
"Quiet," my father growls.
It"s not a long walk. d.a.m.n it, why couldn"t someone have hung around? The security guy was supposed to be close by. If I could get his attention...
Dad will shoot Diana. No, I can"t risk that. It"s dark out, now, but the path is bright, lit by high pressure sodium lamps. He has one eye on me but Dad has his head on a swivel, looking everywhere. I walk slowly, forcing Diana and her mother to do the same. I don"t know what he"ll do if he thinks we"re going to try to bolt. Finally, we reach the loading dock.
"Stop. Do exactly as I say."
I freeze, and the girls stop on either side of me.
"Carol. Go up and open the gate."
She nods, walks up the ramp, and opens the gate.
"You two. Inside. Stay still, Carol, or I"ll paint the wall with Diana"s brains."
Carol freezes. I lead Diana inside. She"s shaking like a leaf. She must be terrified. Once I"m in Carol follows, and then my father.
"Open the vault."
There it is. I"ve never actually seen it.