Hey!! Sorry it took me so long to write this. TW: this chapter contains mentions of human trafficking.

Trey dropped me off at the store entrance, telling me he had to grab something at the bookstore. I didn't feel bad lying, knowing that my siblings were being suspicious and hiding something. I climbed out of the passengers seat, pausing.

"Hey, uh, can I borrow some money?" I asked, offering a small smile. Trey groaned, but reached into his back pocket for his wallet. He handed me a ten dollar bill.

"I expect you to pay me back," he muttered as I took the bill, knowing damn well I wouldn't. I stepped back and watched my older brother pull away, with a promise he'd be back in twenty minutes or less.

It gave me time to meet Josiah in the little cafe. First though, I did go into the store and buy a box of tampons, y'know, to make my lie a little more credible.

After wasting five minutes in line, I brushed past an older woman, my patience wearing thin.

"Joey," I called and collided with him, wrapping him in a bear hug. "I've missed you."

He hugged me back, his chest rumbling with a soft chuckle. "It's been three days."

I scoffed, pulling away. "Felt like a lifetime," I mumbled. "I don't have much time. Trey will be back  soon."

He nodded, leaning against the brick wall. "What do you need me to do?"

"My dad ... he doesn't want me to dig into anything," I said, shaking my head. "Whatever he's hiding, he doesn't want me to know."

"Shit ... do you think he knows something about your mom? Her disappearance?"

"Maybe - I don't know. Something feels ... off." I glanced around. "I can't do anything without any of my siblings or dad breathing down my neck so I need you to get more information."

Josiah rubbed his cheeks. "Information about what?"

"I found crime scene photos in my dads email, like I said. A woman named Eleanor. I have never heard my parents talk about an Eleanor."

"That's not much help, T," he mumbled. "Got a last name?"

"Nope."

"Fan-fucking-tastic."

"Can you help me or not, Joey?" I hissed, harsh than I anticipated.

"Yes, I'll help. Give me a few hours."

"Can you come over later? To the house?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Should I come through the front door or your bedroom window?"

"Front door."

"Will June be there?" He asked, a mischievous grin playing on his lips. I shoved his shoulder and he chuckled. "I'm kidding."

I snorted. "No, you're not," I said, shaking my head. "I should go before Trey gets back."

"Okay. I'll make copies of anything that seems interesting. Anything else I should look for?"

"Find anything you can about Sons of Solomon. My mom said that Kessler was involved with them, somehow."

"Okay," he said, taking a deep breath. "I'll see what I can find."

"You're the best," I said and we hugged, Josiah squeezing me tight. "I have to go, and remember, don't tell my brothers or sister."

"Tarryn, wait," he called and I turned around. "Are you sure you want to dig further? Maybe ... maybe your dad is keeping this from you to protect you."

"Secrets get people killed," I said. "You and I know that more than anyone else. I don't need protection, I need the truth."

***

"Hey, bub." Matthew stood in the entry way of the living room.

"Can I help you?" I mumbled, closing the laptop to look at him.

"I'm just checking in," he said and gestured to the laptop. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing."

"I don't believe you."

"I'm reading an article," I admitted, not lying for once. Matty hummed, walking over the the sofa and knocked my feet off the cushions so he could sit.

"What is it about?"

I bit the inside of my cheek, hesitating. "Are you gonna freak out?"

Irritation flashed across his eyes. "Depends. Show me," he demanded.

"Don't boss me around."

"Show me."

"Okay, jeez, don't get your knickers in a twist," I mumbled, opening the laptop again and spinning it around.

He squinted, skimming the article. "Serial killers? You're reading about serial killers?" He muttered, sighing.

"That's not all it's about, it's goes into depth about a killers history and it's importance. Like their childhood, parental neglect and abuse, trauma," I said, shrugging. "It's more than a desire to kill."

"I don't understand how you can read this shit before bed. Why are you even reading it?" I stared at him, waiting for him to catch up. "This is about Kessler, isn't it? Tarryn ..."

I groaned, closing my eyes. "Why am I the only one trying to figure this out?" I spit, anger coursing through my veins.

"Tarryn-"

"Why am I the only one acting like something has happened? I am the only one that seems to fucking care!"

"You think we don't fucking care?" Matty snarled, hurt flickering in his eyes. "She's our mom too, Tarryn."

"Well, you certainly don't act like it."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"Sibling squabble? Let me grab the snacks." I turned, seeing Jude striding through the archway.

"Shut up," Matty and I snapped in unison.

Our cousin chuckled, glancing between my brother and I. "Someone is here to see you," he said, and then his stare landed on me, and I felt my heart ease when Josiah appeared around the corner.

He held my gaze and I grabbed my laptop. "We'll be in my room." I didn't bother to look at Matty, brushing past Jude and grabbing my best friends hand.

I dragged him upstairs and into my bedroom, shutting the door. Joey dropped his backpack by the door and I pulled at my hair, pacing around the room. "I found something and you're not gonna like it."

"What? What is it?"

"Do you know the D'Amelio family?"

"Huh?"

"Okay ... I'm trying to make sense of it myself, but D'Amelio is the last name of my father - well, used to be, but look, I found something... interesting." He unzipped his backpack, taking out dozens of papers and newspaper clippings.

"Did you find anything about the woman, anything about Eleanors?"

"No, but just look."

He rooted through until he found a photograph and held it out for me to look and I frowned, seeing three familiar people but have never seen them all together before.

On the far right, my father stood, dressed in a black tuxedo, much younger, with a glass of bourbon in his hand. His other arm was around my mother. She had a navy dress and her hair was styled into curls that cascaded over her shoulders.

On the other side of her, a man with dark hair and hazel eyes smiled. It was Josiahs father.

"That's ... but that's not," I trailed off, confused. "I don't understand ... our parents knew each other?"

"Yes but their relationship went deeper than that ... they weren't just business partners ... my parents and your parents grew up together. Went to high school together, spent their college years in the same city, built a company."

I didn't know what to say. "Why didn't they ever say anything? We've known each other since we were eleven. What happened?"

"My dad went to prison," Joey mumbled, holding up old newspaper articles. "Apparently, our parents had a falling out and my dad was arrested and charged with drug trafficking into the U.S."

"How old were we, you and me? I don't remember any of this," I murmured, glancing through the articles, heart pounding.

"I was only five when the FBI and DEA busted our door down," he said with a pained expression. "After his trial and sentencing, we - my mom and I, we moved to Arizona with my grandparents. I was eleven when we moved back to Ohio."

"How would this be connected to my moms disappearance? Or Jed's murder?"

"Look at who funded their company," he said, pointing towards the bottom of the article.

"Oh shit. Solomon Ivan D'Amelio," I said, my mouth dry, not believing my eyes. "It can't be a coincidence. Your grandfather ... he must be what my mom meant by Sons of Solomon. Do you think he, I don't know, somehow-"

"No. My grandfather died three years ago," Joey said, shaking his head. "Look, there's more about rival companies, funding from the police, corruption, coverups ... our parents were involved with some sort of group."

"Are you saying that Sons of Solomon is a gang?"

"I'm saying it's a possibility. I don't know if they'd consider themselves a gang, maybe like a crime family or organization. I mean, it's obviously it goes back to my grandfather, but why they never told us, it doesn't make sense."

We were in too far, my mom had said.

"What does it have to do with Paul Kessler?" I asked and noticed his face drain of colour. "What, what is it?"

"I was reading through stacks of police reports. Paul Kessler had been involved with a woman named Ruby Thorndyke, a woman that owned a modelling company that had numerous events and contracts with your fathers insurance firm."

"Okay ..." I said, not clear where he was going with this.

Josiah ran his hand through his dark, curly hair. "Ruby Thorndyke was arrested and charged with human trafficking, Tarryn. This is how Kessler found the women he raped and murdered ... it's how they caught Kessler in the first place."

"And my dad had contracts with this company owned by Thorndyke ... and given that my dad is involved with racketeering, he must have known about the women and girls being -"

I couldn't finish, the mere thought of my parents involved with a human trafficking business made me sick.

"This is so messed up," I cried, tugging at my hair. Josiah moved quickly, and seconds later he stood in front of me, gathering my wrists and carefully pulled them away from my head.

He leaned down so we were eye level. "This doesn't mean that he took part, Tarryn. Obviously your parents were working with the police. They had to be."

"My dad said he didn't know anything about it," I mumbled, thoughts racing. "He lied."

"Hey, it doesn't mean anything. You can't assume he was involved with trafficking. We need to keep digging, okay? It might get darker the deeper we dig, but you wanted the truth, right?" I nodded, trying to calm my heart, a wave of dizziness rolling over me. Josiah let my hands go, wrapping his arms around me.

"I don't know what to do," I mumbled into his chest. "My brothers and sister, did they know? Have they been lying to me too?"

"I don't know, I don't know," he said, and I closed my eyes tight.

***

Someone shook me awake. "Tarryn, wake up."

I moaned, pushing the hands away, rolling over. However, the person was relentless. "Get up, we have to go. Now."

"What? Why?" I complained, lifting my head slightly.

"I don't have time to explain right now, bub," he said, pulling on my arms, hauling me to a sitting position. "I need you to trust me. Get dressed. You have five minutes."

I blinked, groggy, and stood. Carson seemed satisfied and left without another word. I heard arguing downstairs and it sounded like June and Skyler again. I rushed around the room, pulling on a pair of grey sweatpants, black t-shirt, and burgundy hoodie. I stuffed my phone into the pocket as Gilbert meowed from the end of my bed. I scooped him up, glancing at the alarm clock on the nightstand.

I hurried towards the stairs, exhausted. I spent half the night thinking, trying to make sense of everything.

"What happened?" I asked, reaching the bottom step, taking in the scene before me. It was total chaos.

June was crying, hiding her face with her sweater sleeve as her shoulders shook. Trey tried to comfort her but was failing miserably. A dreadful feeling settled in my stomach as I watched dozens of officers in uniform flooding in and out of the house.

Josiah stood next to Matthew, talking in hushed voices, and I wonder how he had made it down here before me. What caught my attention was Skyler and Carson talking to a man, grey beard and glasses, who had on a dark navy jacket with FBI printed over the chest.

Gilbert squirmed in my arms, hissing and snarling as unfamiliar people brushed past us. "WHAT IS GOING ON?" I shouted, making my presence known.

Carson and Skyler whipped their heads at the sound of my voice, my oldest brother veering from his place in front of the agent and walked to me. "Hey," he murmured, taking a gentle hold of my forearm, "come on, let's go outside."

"Is everything okay? Did they find mom? Where's dad?" The questions tumbled out but Carson ignored me, hustling me out of the house and onto the front porch. I sucked in a breath, seeing the blue and red flashing lights.

Carson turned and placed his huge hands on either side of my face, forcing me to look at him. "I need you to listen and stay calm, can you do that for me?" I nodded, panic rupturing in my chest, despite his request.

"Dad was shot."

***

I know this chapter was full of information but remember that Josiah and Tarryn aren't exactly unfamiliar with crime. Tarryn likes true crime, so she'll be better at putting things together than some.

I hope you liked this chapter. Please tell me your thoughts, I'm dying to know what you think now about their father and her mother. 

Thank you so much for reading - charlie 🧡