Only Mine

Chapter 17

"Was that really necessary?" I said.

"Let's please not start. I've had a terribly long day," Jean huffed back in annoyance. He looked around the lobby, as if trying to locate something. "Where is Alceste?"

"I wouldn't know. I just came home," I said. His question wasn't aimed at anyone in particular but I assumed it was a good thing to stay far away from his path of destruction.

"Where is he? He should have reached by now!" Jean yelled in frustration. Lorenzo entered the lobby from the side door and bore the wrath of his Boss. "Get Alceste here. Now!" he barked.

"What is all this commotion?" came Anna's voice from the top of the staircase. She was wearing a set of pajamas with a nightgown firmly tightened above it. Her hair was coiffed in a high bun and it was clear from her face that she had been asleep.

"Have you seen Alceste?" asked Jean.

"No. He's not here. Is everything alright?" Anna asked. Her voice was laced with panic. She started rushing down the staircase to get closer to her brother. He looked agitated and wondered if this had anything to do with Alexa's murder.

"I need Alceste here. Now!" he replied in his usual caustic tone.

Anna took out her mobile phone from the pocket of her robe and frantically started dialing Alceste's number. She kept dialing it till her frustration caused her to throw her phone across the room. "I'm not being able to get through to him. Do you know where he is?"

"Renz, you got any update?" asked Jean.

"Looks like he just entered your driveway, Boss," replied Lorenzo. He raised his phone to a live feed of a dark blue Mercedes sliding into the gate of this house.

"Good. Get me a clean bowl of water, would you?" Jean asked Lorenzo as he stared at his dirty hands.

"Jesus, Jean. Where have you been?" Anna gasped.

I looked at Jean's hands. The wet blood had started drying on them and the blood spatters on his white shirt burned bright under the luminescent lobby where everything was spotlessly white.

"Work," Jean replied.

"Oh for fuck's sake. Jean, what the hell is going on?" Anna asked.

Jean opened his mouth to retort with a snapping remark when Anna spoke over him, "Enough with the facade of protecting me. I'm a goddam Renauld. I'm your sister. I can handle anything. If you're in trouble, it's my right to know. I am demanding you tell me!"

Jean looked at his sister, with her wild eyes and frazzled hair. She reminded him so much of their mother. They had the same chocolate brown hair and light blue eyes that reminded him of sunshine, water, laughter and love. His mother was a beautiful and gentle soul who had departed this world a little too soon. But the similarity between his mother and sister ended there. Where his mother was emotionally weak, Anna was anything but. She had the resilience and strength of a Renauld. They had inherited this from their father. Jean wanted to keep Anna out of this. The Renauld bloodline ended with the two of them. His soul had already been damned to Hell and his life sentence was left to the will of the Gods. He didn't have a long existence given his current occupation, but he'd be damned if his sister befell the same fate.