The Shadow Circle

Chapter-2

I was only ten when my parents were killed in a car crash. Day by day, every memory I had of them faded slowly into oblivion. I liked to think it happened so I could make more memories with Arianna but the harsh reality was that I was forgetting them. I couldn't remember my dad's laugh. I forgot my mom's smile.

From then on, I had only Arianna. My big sister, my best friend and sometimes third parent. Despite her bad taste in men, she was my idol. She already had a steady job, having graduated from an Ivy League university, but raising a rebellious kid such as yours truly was no easy task.

There was a gap of fifteen years between Arianna and I, it was only natural that she would act more like a parent and less like a sister.

Arianna called me the family accident because I was the unplanned kid.

I thought I was mom's second attempt at a decent daughter after the first one turned out to be a colossal fail.

Either way, Ari and I were inseperable.

True to her word, she was already gone by the time I woke up. My back hurt badly as I stretched my limbs. I had fallen asleep on my homework and the chair was cutting into my back. I was a heavy sleeper that way.

I yawned and looked around my room. Sunlight streamed in through the lacy white curtains, tinting them gold. The sea of papers scrawled over with my hieroglyphic handwriting were bathed in a soft yellow light. Birds were chirping outside and the light made the condensation on the window sparkle like diamonds. I smiled faintly, I loved the feeling of the warm morning light on my skin.

What a beautiful day to make some legally ambiguous decisions!

I flinched in pain as I stood up and stretched. Okay, looks like my back was really unhappy with me. A warm shower would sort that out. I checked my phone. Arianna had messaged me to let me know she was on the plane. I sent her a thumbs up emoji and promised not to burn the house down or summon the devil in the living room.

I had the house all to myself, though Ari will be back soon.

When I was getting dressed, someone knocked on my door.

What. The. Fuck?!

Someone knocked again.

I quickly pulled on my clothes and dialled 911. I hesitated on the call button. Was this the right move? Ari was involved in the Mafia. Questions would be raised. Maybe...

I spied with my little eye...the window. I'll see who it was before calling.

The knock came again.

I opened the window and swung my body onto the ledge as quietly as I could. Arianna bought an apartment on the first floor, so I was an expert of sneaking out. The fire ladder hung about five feet from the window. I stood up on the narrow ledge, I hated this part. I reached out for the ladder while keeping my grip on the window.

My fingers closed around the ladder. I took a deep breath and swung. My feet hit the rusty ladder with a loud clang. Okay, now let's see. I climbed down, taking extra care of where I was placing my feet. The cool metal bit into my bare feet and I winced in pain. I was supposed to be alone, why was someone knocking on the door? Who was knocking on the door?

I took a deep breath as I felt the panic rise. Five more rungs, I'll be fine. I shifted all my attention to getting down safely. Should I call Dean? No, he'd be in the flight with Ari. That left the cops.

Well, fuck.

My feet hit the concrete road with a dull thud. I sighed and threw my shoulders back before walking into the marble lobby of the apartment complex.

Oh yeah, I was still barefoot.

"Mr. Rodriguez," I smiled at the receptionist.

"Oh hello, Ms. Seran. Why are you walking around barefoot?" He asked in a sour voice. Unsurprising, people never liked me a lot.

"Oh, you know practicing to be a Hobbit for Halloween," I said sarcastically. "Did you send anyone up to my apartment?"

"Ms. Seran, a girl with a family as influential as yours should behave with more class," he said, ignoring my question completely.

"Mr. Rodriguez, a man as intelligent as you should stop talking so much. Now, did you let anyone up to my apartment?" I demanded.

"I pity your sister, I truly do," he said and pinched his nose.

"If she has to deal with you, I do too," I said with a wide smile.

Mr. Rodriguez never really liked me. Long story involving a firecracker and the building's annual Christmas tree. The feeling was mutual.

"She has to. Haven't you heard that I'm supposed to tell her everytime you go out?" He asked condescendingly, as if he was talking to a dumb kid.

"I have, why do you think I learned to sneak out from the window in the first place?"

He thought about that for a while.

"Look," I sighed. "There's someone in my apartment."

His eyes went wide. "I'm sorry, Ms. Seran, but I can assure you that I didn't see anything."

"Except I never asked you if you saw anything," I said.

"You need to leave Ms. Seran," he huffed.

"So rude," I smiled. "I will, but not so soon."

Before he could decipher the meaning behind my words, I had already pushed him out of the way and pulled up the security footage on the screen in front of him.

"Ms. Seran! Get away from the computer this instanct!"

Like that was going to work. "Shut up or I'll tell Arianna you let dangerous men in my house instead of calling the cops."

That did it.

I saw an expensive looking Porsche Cayenne drive through the gates and five men get out. Five. That was five more visitors than I wanted. I couldn't see their faces but they were all dressed too casually to be driving a car as expensive as that. Mafia. But Dean was enroute to China with my sister.

So who were they?

The car was parked in the most asshole-like manner possible. If a single car could take up three parking spaces, Douchebag Driver had figured out how. Two men stayed back, one in the car and one leaned out, while the rest walked into the building.

My fingers itched to call 911 and run but doing so could endanger Arianna and everything she had build. Criminals don't call the cops if they have a problem. Criminals call criminals if they had a problem. I reluctantly kept my phone away.

I really didn't like this plan, if it could be considered a plan, but I wasn't going to be waiting for them to find me as if we were playing a friendly game of hide and seek.

Well, I was utterly and completely fucked.

I needed a distraction. Then maybe I could swallow my pride and suck up to Dean Cavilleri's family.

But, first things first, like any other person in my predicament, I googled 'blast radius of Porsche Cayenne' and left to look for the firecrackers I had stashed in the garden last Christmas.

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