FALLEN: A New Adult Romance (First of the FALLEN Trilogy)

The Sins of The Brothers

He doesn't answer me, which scares me even more because I see another way to look at things. Blood freezes in my veins when I lean more towards him, demanding his sight to cross mine.

"Si? What did you do?" I ask again calmly, but being terrified inside because I know just how impulsive my brother can be.

His eyes don't leave mine for an instant until he shakes his head and looks down. He only looks up to find Ronnie. Still not answering me. I'm losing my patience. Anxiety is killing me right now. I want to know what happened, what can we do to fix the situation, and when can we fix it.

"Can somebody please answer me!? What happened!?"

"Ronnie called me the night of the argument when Steeve happened to see if I could come over. She told me that Steeve had stormed in the restaurant looking for her to talk trash about you." He finally explains, Ronnie quickly adds something.

"George threw him out of the restaurant and banned him for life."

William and I both look at her and listen to them without saying anything. I don't even know how to feel about that. I've known about it for a while. But I was dealing with so much that I had pushed it aside without ever really dealing with it.

"When I got to Nando's, she was crying. The restaurant had fired her, and her car had been vandalised."

"They fired you?!" I react instantly, not remembering this part of the story. I look now at Ronnie, but Simon continues. I don't know if it's for the better or for worse...

"They did. It appears that he had done the same thing in the past, and the boss didn't want it to happen again. And it happened. So they fired her because it had upset and scared the clients. I let the dust settle and handled it with the manager. I made sure a picture of him was put on the door to keep him from entering. I've also gotten her the job back. She had no right to be a victim twice, and certainly since she hadn't done anything wrong. I contacted the owner of the building and told him to throw Steeve out. I told him he was banned from the Nando's and was seen harassing and abusing an employee. The owner didn't need much more encouragement. It appears he didn't pay last month's rent on time."

"Good riddance." William lets out, smiling at his brother. But I don't know if we can smile just yet.

"Are you saying we are done with him?"

"He has until the end of the month to leave, but after that, I don't think we'll hear from him again. Thankfully we have the law on our side, and we have footage of him keying Ronnie's car. If he ever comes back to haunt us, I've told him that he was going to jail. Maybe I exaggerated a little, but he doesn't know that." Simon smiles at his twin and Ronnie, taking her hand on the table to give it a little squeeze.

I will not lie. I'm incredibly thankful to my brother for handling this situation both for my sake and Ronnie's sake, but thinking of throwing Steeve out on the streets isn't an idea that pleases me. Maybe it's because there's a part of me still manipulated by him, or a better and kinder part of me that finds it a little extreme. I don't let this thought bother me so much. I'm happy we can finally move on from him and move forward.

And yet, just as I felt somehow a little bit freer, another thought popped into my mind. It makes me sigh and sad that we can't savour this victory a little longer.

"What about Marcel?" I ask gently, not wanting to ruin the mood, and for Ronnie, it doesn't, but I don't like the way a shadow appears in Simon's eyes. What has he learned? What does he know?

"Marcel? What has he done now?" Ronnie jokes with a smirk on her lips, but depending on what my brother will tell me, it won't be of laughing matter.

"Killed his father," I respond and look thoroughly at Simon to see if he will agree to this statement or not, but the others' reactions are immediate.