Emerson

Chapter 25.

Emerson's POV

With Valencia gone tonight dinner was back to how it was before. I talked to my family about my day. 

It was strangely nice to talk to them again. I don't mind Valencia staying here especially with her parents bringing some of the worst people alive but it makes some things harder here. 

"There's this new kid," I tell Reece when he asks me if anything new happened today. Most days nothing new happens. 

"Oh, do you have classes with them?" Veronica asks me excitedly. She and Atlas are over here for dinner tonight. 

"Yeah, first two," I tell her, she gets that weird smile again. She gets really excited when I talk to her. 

"That's nice. What's their name?"

"James," I tell her looking around the table for some help. 

"Are you two friends now?" 

"No, he sat with us at lunch and had said like three words to me. Sides' I don't need friends."

"Of course you need friends. Everyone needs friends, that aren't family." She points her fork at me getting a serious scolding tone. 

I don't bother responding anymore and focus back on my dinner. They all get the point and begin talking among themselves. Veronica continues to try to involve me until she only gets nods and Atlas whispers something to her. 

We all are excused from dinner with Knox and Leon cleaning up. I head up to my room do my homework and listen to TV while I do so. I finish my homework quickly and am about to take a shower when my phone dings. I check it to see Valencia has texted me. 

Valencia: I'm staying the night let your dad know.

I sigh. Does she not have his number? 

I text her back and 'ok' and walk to Reece's office. I make it there and hear a faint talking inside. I put my hand up to knock but freeze at what I hear. 

"We should just kill them." 

"No, torture is always better. Make it drawn out and slow. The more painful the better." A voice disagrees. 

"No, kill them quick make their time on earth short. I say a bullet to the back of the head. A classic." 

"Or we could slowly torture them and make it last longer. Maybe poison, make their death slow and painful." 

I press my ear up to the door to hear better. 

"Stop arguing we don't even know where they're yet." 

"Well find them quicker. Let's get this show on the road. I can't wait to get my hands on them." 

"And we will but remember we can't tell Valencia or Emerson. Not yet." A noise of agreement is shared throughout the room. I slowly back away from the door keeping my steps quiet and holding my breath. 

Once I know they can't hear me I rush back to my room. I shut the door quietly, locking it. I pace in my room for 5 minutes running over the conversation. They're going to kill Valencia's parents and they seemed so calm about it. 

They're murderers. 

I walk into my bathroom locking the door. You can never have enough doors between you and killers. My thoughts stampede in my head. Are they going to kill me? How many people have they killed? What will they do to me when they find out I know?

I pace in front of my mirror eventually stopping and splashing cold water on my face. 

I look up in the mirror seeing my frightened face. My eyes are wide and my skin is pale. 

Get a hold of yourself.

I take a deep breath counting back. I repeat this until I can breathe and can hear my thoughts. 

I step cautiously back into my room taking my phone. I sent a text to Reece letting him know of Valencia's plans, there's no way I can look at his face after what I just heard. 

I take out my computer and do what I should have done when I moved here. I google the family. 

Thousands of results come up. Stories about their business, new openings, and public events they've attended. Nothing here so I edit my search. 

Stone family criminal

Nothing much shows up but when I continue searching an article catches my eye. It's an older one from the '20s headlined, "Vincenzo Stone Declared Innocent in Mob Case".

I read the article finding out this man was arrested for possible connections with the mob and was believed to be high up on the chain of command. He was released from jail innocent but some believed that he played a part in paying off various people to receive this verdict. 

I looked further into this Vincenzo guy to find a few more news articles about him and the mob nothing was ever proven. I researched more about our family trying to solidify the connection between us and this man. 

I find it, he's my great-grandfather. He had a son named Julian Stone who ended up starting a series of businesses that were handed down to his sons one of which being Reece Stone. After Vincenzo, the mob accusations go away but I do find a report of Julian being questioned in a case in relation to a hit-and-run. Apparently, the dead man was a known enemy of Julian and the vehicle matched a description of one of Julian's cars. 

Nothing was proven. 

After my research, I come to a sickening realization.

 I'm stuck in a house full of criminals.