Little Writings

The End

Everyone in the room was silent. Carly's eyes flitted around to each of her family members, studying their reactions just as she'd done with Pete. She held her breath, anxiously tapping her fingers against her jacket. Was I wrong to show them this? Should I have kept it a secret for Pete's sake? Everything in her head said she'd done the right thing, but it didn't stop the guilt that tore apart her chest.

Audrey was beyond pissed. Her eyes held such fire the teen wondered if it could set the house aflame. Julia looked shocked, sitting down and simply staring. Taylor's eyes were narrowed slightly, leaning against the wall frame, while Otto just seemed..betrayed. Maybe a little heartbroken, either for what could've happened to the money or for Pete. However, he seemed forgiving, nonetheless.

"He was going to betray us." Carly snapped her head toward the direction of her grandmother, watching with wide eyes as Audrey lifted herself to her whole height. "He was going to steal the money! Can- can you believe that?! I always knew I didn't trust him. He's the son of Maggie! How trustworthy can he be?" Otto rubbed his hand across his wife's back but she slapped him away. "Where is he? I need to talk to him. I need to make sure he knows we know."

"Audrey, let's think about this," Otto countered. "He said he could have, but he didn't, right? Besides, you heard the last part-"

"Yes, Otto, I heard the last part." She curled her lip. "It doesn't change my mind about him."

"Whoa, shouldn't we not be so quick to judge?" Julia scowled at her grandmother. "You did pawn collateral, right?"

"That's not a betrayal to the family!" Audrey's hands slammed down on the table and everyone went silent. Carly looked away awkwardly.

Taylor had been quiet this whole time, then seemed to have a revelation about something. "Wait. Wait." He straightened up. "Vince." The policeman looked at his sister, Julia. "Remember when I kidnapped Pete to take on a camping trip? Yeah, he totally freaked out- I mean, like, terrified for his life. He kept begging for mercy from Vince. When I asked him he..." Taylor looked away, scratching the back of his head. "He told me Vince was the husband of the woman he was seeing. But honestly? I don't think that's true now... I think he's in a lot more trouble than he let on."

"Why wouldn't he come to us?" Otto whispered. "Doesn't he trust us? We could've helped him."

"He's just like Maggie. Runs away at the sight of danger and confrontation." Audrey turned her back to them, taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

"You do realize that whatever he's doing, he's doing it tonight." All eyes turned to Carly. She crossed her arms, furrowing her brows. "Who cares what he said he was gonna do? His friend is dead and he wants revenge. We don't have time for arguing."

"Who cares?" Audrey scowled. "I care! I care because we can't just let it go when family admits they wanted to steal from you."

"Well you know what?" Otto staggered up, looking determined. "To hell what Pete was going to do. We need to help our grandson."

Julia and Carly nodded, Taylor looking uncertain and Audrey still pissed off. "And what do you propose we do to stop him?" her grandmother spat out.

"That's true. We don't even know where this Vince person is," Taylor agreed.

The teen smirked, her eyes flickering over to her sister with a knowing gaze. "Well, you know how Julia helped me plant the bug on him? I don't think I mentioned-"

She clicked another tab on her computer and turned the screen around for everyone to see.

"We don't need to guess. It'll show us where he goes right here."