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“The person I’ve been talking to on the phone for four weeks, I’d say. What’s going on, you lot? This is weird.” No one says a word. “Fuck this. I’ll go get her,” I state and get up.
“Wow, Kellen. You have some serious balls on you to go in there,” exclaims Jude.
“Well, start talking then. Because that is not your sister.” I point towards the door where the animatron has just gone through. “Why have you let it get this far?” I ask Jonno. “I thought you told me she was okay, you were checking up on her.”
“I was, but she’s been acting normal. I know she’s doing something, but I can’t find out what it is. She’d act a bit oddly, but then she’d be fine.”
“She’s fucking played the lot of you, because that person is not Evie.” Xander is standing up now and aggressively raking a hand through his hair. “You need to sort this, Marcus. This is your fucking fault. Again!” he shouts, looking a bit crazed.
She walks back in, head high, shoulders square, with a stack of envelopes in her hands. Big ones. I look at her face, and I know. Fuck me, she’s gone. She looks exactly like the time we carried her stuff out of her house to Greystone Farm to live with Ma & Pa Greystone—terrified but determined.
I eye the envelopes. “What the fuck are those?”
She ignores me and gives one to each of her brothers as they stare intently at her.
“No, Evie. Don’t do it,” Jonno quietly pleads with her.
She smiles at him. Fucking smiles. It’s so sad.
James starts to cry, silently. I see the tears. Bucky is sitting still like someone has turned him to stone.
Jude has ripped his open and he’s standing up shouting at her. “NO! NO! NO! You can’t, Evie. You can’t do this.” Shaking the papers at her, he makes a grab for her, but she steps back and puts her hands out, shaking her head at him.
Her voice rings out clear and true. “I can, Jude. And I have. James, Bucky, I’ve given you my shares in the property company with Jude. He has the casting vote at fifty-one percent, but you both own the rest.”
Isobel bursts into tears and moves towards Jude to comfort him. I see the snarl on Evie’s lips. Fucking hell, this is a disaster. I didn’t realise the extent of the hatred she had for Isobel until today.
“I’ve resigned from both Jackson’s and Jonno’s companies, but I’m keeping my shares because you do make a lot of money, boys. But should anything happen to me, again, Bucky and James inherit. James, I’ve given you this house. The deed is here for you. Bucky, I’ve given you next door. The deed is in this envelope.” She puts both envelopes down for them.
James is starting to pull at his hair, his leg bouncing in agitation. His face has lost all its colour. Stark white and waxy. This has gone far enough.
Xander is glaring at me, but his face noticeably softens when he turns to Evie. He may be my best mate, but he’s always been her advocate between the two of us. “What the fuck are you doing, Evie? This is madness. Why are you doing this?”
She ignores him as if no one spoke. Fuck! Xander is staring at her and goes to move into her space. “Coming in to try to fuck me again, Xander?” That deadly voice in full throttle. All three of her brothers look up at that.
“What the fuck did you say?” Jonno asks.
“Bothered now, Jonno, are you?” She sneers at him.
Oh dear, I see exactly what she’s been doing for four weeks. Simmering. With rage. Against them for not supporting her. Me, Xander, everyone that put her in that position at that party. But probably mainly me. Jonno looks at her in amazement, and I hear a whimpering noise from James.
“You want to know what he did?” She points to Gabe, who has gone pale. She smiles in disgust. “No, you don’t. Because you never fucking asked. You okay, Evie? All alright, Evie? Course you are, you’re resilient, Evie. Bounce back, Evie. Because let’s face it, you wanted to fuck Kellen. You wanted it.” She’s screaming at them. “You never once looked at me, not once. Or you would have seen.
“You,” she points at Jude, “were too busy fucking that bitch to see me. Too busy thinking of your own cock to question why did Evie leave her son at that party full of people she totally hates. Why?” She looks around. “Nothing? Got nothing, boys? Well, I’d like to say it’s been great and let’s all move on. But for certain, that is not going to happen.”
“You’re leaving us?” Bucky whispers the horror on the boys’ faces.
She looks at them both sat there, looking young and lost, and I think she might break for a second. I see her kneel down in front of them both. “I will never ever leave you both. You are mine, you belong to me, no one else. James, look at me, son. I am not leaving you. Bucky, look at me, baby. I love you and I will never leave you. You can come with me, or you can stay here. I have rooms set for you both, but either way, I am not leaving you.”
It’s total pandemonium, everyone is shouting at once. Jackson and Jonno have grabbed her and are pulling at her, trying to hug her to them. Jude is standing poleaxed with Isobel, who’s now sobbing quietly. Bug has said nothing and has tears in his eyes. It’s the total destruction of a family.
I know I was the catalyst of it, but she’s done it. She is total carnage, always fucking has been. Dynamite when a firework will do. A deluge of rain when a drizzle would have been sufficient.
I close my eyes. For the first time in my life, I know I’ve lost. I gambled and lost. So fucking selfish, I pushed her so hard she’s broken her ties. Ties that she loved. Sure, she’s the deluge that will drown them all. But I’m the cyclone that caused the destruction, and I'm now having to watch my sons pay the price, caught up in the whirlwind.
I knew she was not right. I fucking knew it, but was too scared to come earlier. I should have come earlier. Xander kept begging me to. I thought he was exaggerating when he kept saying something was off, wrong. That she wasn’t herself. But because she hadn’t gone all guns blazing and called me out in a massive fashion, I was happy to take the fake smiles and cheery voices she put on at every call.
Because I just didn’t want to deal.
