BANGERZ 2: WORST BEHAVIOR (2015)

26. Ultimatum

At first, I just blink. This - this can't be. I'm convinced that I'm not seeing things clearly in the dim light, or I'm dazed and confused from the riot, or I'm just straight up dreaming. There's no way this is real, because it doesn't make any sense.

But several minutes pass and nothing changes or clicks. Tony di Angelo, an Italian patriarch kind of guy, tanned and brawny and dressed formidably in a suit, is standing across from me in my living room. He's holding my brother around the neck, as if carrying a coat over his arm, and pressing a gun to the side of his head.

Danny has both hands on Tony's arm, like he's tried to escape, but he's as still as a statue. He must simply be supporting himself. He's looking straight at me, too, with an emotion so great I can't even name it. Or maybe I just don't recognize it. I've never seen my brother cry - he held it together in public at our parents' funeral for my sake. But now, his eyes are so glassy that I can see my own reflection in them.

I don't move or speak. I can't reconcile the horror with the normalcy. There's a half-eaten bowl of popcorn and a Coke sitting on the coffee table. My Econ textbook is still in the armchair. The quilt I curl up with, the one with the frayed edges and impenetrable coffee stain, is thrown across the back of the couch. The television screen is frozen on a paused movie scene.

And then there's the man who killed my parents holding my brother at gunpoint on the area rug.

"Well, now that the whole family's here," Tony says at last, "we can have a little talk."

"Tessa, get of here - " Danny says hurriedly, but Tony tightens his hold around his neck, cutting him off.

Tony glances up at me as if he did this especially for my sake.

"How - how did you get in my house?" I ask woodenly.

"Come on, Tessa," he scolds, using my name casually. Danny is surprised - he doesn't know that Tony knows us very well. "I know how to break into a house. You missed my dramatic entrance. The alarm went off and all that jazz. I had Danny disarm it immediately, of course. Can't have the police showing up while we're handling business here."

He nods to the wall beside the front door, where in my periphery I see the trap door on the alarm keypad hanging open. Someone - Danny, against his will - entered the access code. There is no blinking blue light or piercing siren indicating an intruder in our home.

"I'm surprised I got here before you did," Tony goes on mildly, handling my brother like some pitiful little puppet. "Then again, you were in East Bay not too long ago, weren't you? At a certain abandoned subway station? I wasn't coming from that far. Lucky for you two I was... in the area, more or less. Once I had the address you were an easy find."

This is ludicrous. I'm pretty sure I stare and gobble air, fumbling for words for so long that he must begin to question my intelligence. Tony is speaking to me in that coddling tone as if I'm a small child. But there's a smug lilt in his voice that makes my stomach coil unpleasantly. He has something terrible in store for me, and I am caught unaware. Quavo has the same habit. Suddenly I feel like I'm the one captive again with Quavo and Johnny - my thoughts catch at his name.

At some point I find my voice. "B-but how do you know where I was? Where I live...?" Paranoia rises in my chest at the possibilities: Mr. McCann is still keeping tabs on our family, Tony acquired this information from him before he was fired... or Chris told his father after he learned it from the only person who would tell him - Nina.

"I think you know, Tessa," Tony replies, sly and slimy. Like a snake. "But I'll answer all your questions if you just do what I say."

"You said you wouldn't hurt her." Danny sounds awfully calm. It's echoed in the steady gaze he's giving me. I think - or I hope - I understand the message he's communicating. Strong and determined, even in the face of danger, if it means protecting me. It runs in the family, I suppose - but I'm stunned at the realization that everyone thinks I'm so worth saving.