“Now, let’s just calm down here,” the officer says, holding up a hand. “We have no reason to suspect a crime has been committed. I understand you’re upset, Ms. Dolce, but panicking right now won’t solve anything.”
“You can search my house,” Mr. Darling says, glancing between Daddy and the policeman. “Anything I can do to put your mind at ease. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to be left wondering where your child is.” If Mr. Darling really did try to steal some of Daddy’s ideas, I can see why he’d be uncomfortable meeting him again after all this time. Though I have to say, he didn’t look one bit guilty. In fact, he seemed genuine in his offer to help the cops out.
Maybe Devlin’s douchebaggery comes from the other side of the family.
“Now, that’s not necessary,” Officer Gunn starts to protest to Mr. Darling. “And you know your father…” He looks both guilty and nervous, as if someone might be secretly recording his words to use in court against him.
The corners of Mr. Darling’s mouth tighten. “We don’t mind,” he says. “You have my permission. Anything we can do to help.”
Right. Of course the police know the Darlings. They know they have nothing to hide because they’ll help them hide it. The cops must be in their pockets. They run this town. Everyone has told me as much. Suddenly, I see how hopeless this is, and it’s all I can do not to break down in sobs in front of Devlin and his whole family. But I won’t. Not because Royal doesn’t deserve my tears, but because Devlin doesn’t deserve to see one blink of true emotion from me. I gave him everything. I won’t give him this, too. I won’t let him witness another weak moment from me.
“No need to go searching anyone’s property,” Officer Gunn says. “But if you don’t mind, son, is there anything you can tell us that we might not already know?”
Devlin’s eyes snap away from the horizon for the first time, and I know he wasn’t as uninterested as he looked. He’s alert, even if he was staring off, pretending not to care what was happening. He turns his attention to me. His gaze rakes down my body with obscene thoroughness, as if he’s still seeing me lying naked on his bed, offering myself up like a sacrifice.
“I don’t know anything about it,” he says, a smirk toying with the corner of his lip. “I wasn’t here last night. I was with Crystal… All… Night.”
Now I see it all so clearly. I sacrificed my virginity to be his alibi.
The weight of his words sinks in slowly, and I watch King and my father stiffen.
“Crystal?” Daddy says.
I nod once, my face flaming with a mixture of embarrassment and pure, incinerating hatred. I stare at the ground, at my feet clad in a pair of designer heels that once meant something to me, even if only an escape, a momentary high when I punched in the credit card number and hitPay. The pointed toe of my shoe aims like an arrow straight at a single drop of blood.
My head swims, and I sway on my feet. Someone’s going to pay for this, alright. Maybe all of us. But we won’t be the only ones. I won’t rest until my brother is back with us, and the Darlings are broken worse than I am, crushed into a thousand tiny pieces, exposed for the filth they are. I will make them wish they’d never heard the name Dolce. If it’s the last thing I ever do, I will make them pay.
three
Crystal
Royal is the better part of me. I need him more than ever right now, when it feels like the better part of me is gone, like everything good in me was a lie. What if it was all a lie, the Dolce daughter, the mafia princess, the good sister. What if that was never me at all? Maybe Royal’s goodness made me believe, but now I can see clearly. Now I can see the truth. What if I was always bad, so evil that I made another girl’s life so unbearable that she didn’t want to live anymore? What if this is my punishment?
“Crystal, put your phone down,” Daddy says, stepping into the kitchen and closing the door behind him. “You got some explaining to do.”
I shove my phone away and fight the urge to cover my face and hide. I’ve been sitting at the table with my brothers for fifteen minutes, waiting for Daddy to finish with the cops.
Now, I watch as the police follow the Darlings across their lawn. Relief washes over me. I know they’re not going to find anything, that Mr. Darling isn’t stupid enough to invite them to search his house without a warrant if there’s anything even slightly suspicious in there. Still, it gives me a bit more confidence in the police force around here. They’re covering all the bases.
And if I’m being completely honest and unbiased, I don’t think Mr. Darling is involved. Sure, he seemed tense around my dad, but Daddy can be intimidating. He’s tall and dark like my brothers, and he’s got a commanding presence that has me sinking lower in my chair and wanting to disappear.
“What’d the cops say?” King asks, watching them enter the Darlings’ house next door.
“They don’t think a crime’s been committed,” Daddy says. “But they’re going to follow up on any leads we gave them.”
“Royal wouldn’t run off like that,” King says, shaking his head. “Not without telling me.”
Daddy sits down at the table and turns to me. “Now what’s this I hear about you and that Darling boy? You been sleeping with the enemy?”
“No,” I say quickly. “I wasn’t—I haven’t been… It was a mistake.”
“A mistake?” he asks, his glower growing more fearsome by the minute.
“Do you like him?” King asks incredulously. “Devlin Darling? I thought the plan was to replace them, not hook up. What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t,” I say, tears threatening behind my eyes. I should have known better than to give in to what I wanted. I should have known that I couldn’t stop being a Dolce daughter for even a single moment. That my actions, my choices, would be scrutinized and discussed at the table like it’s family business. I should have known that no one would ask how I’m feeling, or what I want now. The only person who would have asked that is gone.
The men in this room are family, and I love them, but they only see how this affects the family. The don’t care that it’s my body and my decision. They don’t agree that it’s my decision. All they see is how this will look, how it reflects on the Dolces.Dolce daughters don’t spread their legs for random boys. Especially not Darling boys.