Amnesia

42. Daddy Issues

In the morning, Marcus called me to his office. I took my time getting there though, eating breakfast, getting dressed, walking slowly, with Leon at my side, and taking detours to the office before I finally got to the door.

"When I call you, you are supposed to come immediately," Marcus scolded when I sat down in the chair in front of his desk, telling Leon to sit next to me.

"Why should you be given any royal treatment from me?" I asked. "You never made me do that before. Why should now be any different?"

He took a moment to calm himself before saying, "I was worried about you."

"Really? You never seemed worried any other time when I went out to do a job."

"You disappeared for half a year."

"Oh my God has it really been that long? Wow." I counted back in my head. "But if you were so worried, then why didn't you send someone to find me?"

"We did."

"Yeah, a month or two later. Even then it was to find someone else to find me. You couldn't send Miles to get me?"

"I sent more than just Miles."

"Where? Everywhere in Chicago?"

He didn't respond, answering my question.

"So you didn't think that maybe I could be somewhere other than Chicago?"

"Well not London for God sakes! I didn't think you would be across the Atlantic Ocean! And I couldn't make it obvious that you were missing. That would alert other gangs to search for you and demand something from me for your return."

"Of course the gang comes first! The gang always comes first! Oh, no worries what they might do to me."

"Scout!"

Leon growled at him.

"It's just like with Mom. Instead of making sure that she and I were home safely, you had to help try to fight with the gang. And look what happened there!"

"Karita! Can't you see that I'm just as hurt as you are about that?"

"Being sorry doesn't bring my mother back."

"It doesn't being my wife back either."

"You should have thought about that before you left us in the alley while you went out to fight."

He stopped talking, knowing I wasn't going to let this go.

"So how did you get to London?"

"I was kidnapped."

"Where did they keep you?"

"In the house."

"Not in a cell of some sort?"

"No. They didn't know who I was, well, all except Owen."

"What'd they do to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did they hurt you at all?"

"No." Okay, technically that was a lie, but it wasn't like what Marcus was referring to. "They actually treated me nicely."

"Are we talking about the same people here?"

"No. You are thinking about the people who you always are arguing and fighting with. I'm talking about how they are when they aren't fighting."

"What's with you and Devan?"

"Is there a problem?"

"You seem to be a bit friendly with him."

"Miles said the same thing."

"I don't like it."

"Of course you don't. That's why I was never allowed to have any boyfriend. If only you knew."

"If only I knew what?"

"All of what I've done."

"What have you done?"

"I'm 20 now; I don't need to tell you about my sex life."

"What did you do these past months?"

"With who?"

"Devan."

"Nothing... not until last night."

"What?!" Marcus stood up.

Leon jumped to his feet and barked at Marcus.

"You're concerned now?" I asked. "You didn't seem concerned the whole time I was gone."

"Well maybe now would be a good time to tell you that you're marrying Miles."

"What?!" I was on my feet now.

"When you take over the gang, I need you to have someone at your side who knows about the place and knows what to do."

"I won't do it. You can't make me have an arranged marriage."

"It's too late. Now, since I still need my money back, I will be sending Devan away. But you need to show that you have no feeling towards him."

"What?"

"And you don't need to convince me, you need to convince him."

I was in shock.

"You have two days. And if you just tell him to play along, I will know. And I don't like lies. If you do that, I will kill him."

He sat down, meaning that I was dismissed.

"Leon," I called him with me as I walked back to the Loft.

"Scout!" Sarah ran up to me when I entered. "Devan said that he would teach me how to fight!"

"How to fight?"

"Yeah, like with fists." She swung her hands around. "He showed me how I can break someone's nose!" She ran off.

Devan stood down the hall laughing.

"Owen won't be happy about that," I told him.

"I don't think Owen could stop her from doing what she wants. She is like a little rocket with a set target." He followed me to my room. "So what did Marcus want?"

"To tell me how he dearly missed me while I was missing."

"We're you two ever close?"

I shook my head. "I always blamed him for what happened to Hailey."

"Is Hailey your mum?"

I nodded. "I was pretty much raised by the other people in the gang because I never wanted to be near him."

"Why didn't you leave?"

"I didn't know anything else. I didn't know where I could go. Plus I liked some of the people here."

"Anyone in particular?"

"I guess Miles. He is the closest to my age. We did everything together, training and fighting. And now Marcus wants me to marry him." I had not meant to tell Devan that.

"Marry Miles?"

I nodded. Too late to take it back now.

"How much older than you is he?"

"Eight years older."

"Have you ever done anything with him?"

"No. He always asked, but I always declined because then working with him would be weird. Plus, I never liked him in that way."

"Hm."

"Could you teach Leon to protect the girls?"

"Sure."

When he closed the door behind him, I fell onto my bed. How could I convince Marcus that I didn't like Devan at all, while getting Devan to believe it without hurting Devan? I thought about it all morning, but couldn't think of anything.