Page 9 of Fixation of the Mind

My idiot brother had other ideas, of course.

Rion leaned forward, his face covered in the false bravado he liked to use when he was feeling too much. He laughed up into the air and settled back into his chair like he didn’t have a care in the world. “No. I’m serious. If we told you the truth from the get-go, you would’ve run out that door and tried to hide as fast as you could. We chose the safest route for you.”

Roux’s eyes flicked to Rin, and a smug smile crossed his lips as he settled back into his chair. If Roux was smiling, that meant only one thing. Shit was going to escalate. He had a sixth sense about these things.

Rin pushed her mug aside, folding her hands and leaning onto the table like this was any old conversation, but when her eyes flicked up, a shudder ran up my spine. I didn’t know how he could stand to have her look at him like that, but I would like to not be in the crosshairs.

In a scarily calm tone, she answered, “Safety, huh? In the last couple of weeks, I have almost been crushed by a bookshelf, run over by an SUV, and kidnapped by a rival family. What about any of that screams safety to you?” Rion opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, she cut us down with just one sentence. “If safety was the goal, why did you come back into my life?”

The temperature of the room dropped. A cold, dead kind of loneliness skittered across my skin, and I closed my eyes, trying to shove it away from me. The deep, dark desires I had for her came to the forefront. My short nails dug into my forearm so hard they started to bleed, but it felt good to have the release. Something needed to keep me grounded, keep me sane enough not to scoop her up and lock her down in that basement. That would be a bad thing… a very bad thing.

But would it, though?

Biting my lip to bring me back to the present, I cut through the tension. “Rin, what if I told you we would answer any of your questions now, truthfully, good or bad?”

I could feel my brothers’ eyes boring holes into my head, but I needed to do something, which was why I kept facing her, waiting for her answer.

She took a few deep breaths, the anger slipping from her eyes. It was replaced with hurt as she whispered, “Everything. I want to know everything you lied to me about.”

“Even if it hurts you more? Sometimes the truth is not a happy thing.” Roux’s rough voice rang out clear as he glared at Rin. Why the fuck did my brothers keep pushing her?

Rin glared up at Roux. “While the truth might not make me happy, might actually make me hurt worse than I am now, at least I won’t be made a fool. At least I’ll know what's real. That's more important to me than the lies your happiness goes hand in hand with.”

Before I could come up with a strategy of what we were going to tell her, Rion blurted out, “Since you already know about our passionate personal secrets, I guess I should tell you that the scholarship you received does not exist. We pay for your tuition, books, housing, and the AMEX that you barely use. That was all a ruse to get you here.”

I could see her wheels turning in her eyes, like she was cataloging all the instances she could pinpoint up until now. After a few seconds, her whole face relaxed, her shoulders and neck released their tension, and those eyes began to droop. Her aura changed from red-hot anger to sad and somber disappointment. It was worse than having her venomous tongue pointed in our direction and it had me wishing we could go back in time.

An eerie silence took over the room until her quiet voice asked, “So you knew about Vivian? A-about what happened that night?” Her body trembled, and an immediate need to take care of her rose in my chest. Should I turn up the heat? Should I get her a blanket?

“Who do you think got you out of there?”

Roux’s words had her snapping her head to him, wide eyes filled with unspilled tears. I glared at Rion, hating that they were trying to push her to prove a point. He looked unfazed as he stared her down like he had known this was going to happen and was just waiting for her to realize he was right. I bet his crazy mind thought she’d stay with us and choose to be blissfully ignorant if only he could prove her wrong. I almost laughed at that thought.

Did he not remember the fierce young girl that went against all odds to do what she thought was right all those years ago?

One tear fell down her cheek before she closed her eyes for a second. Rion shifted in his seat, crossing his legs as he looked at her, his lips twitched as he suppressed a smile. He had opened his mouth, probably going to gloat about how he was right, when a sharp snort came from Rin.

Her hand violently swiped at the tear’s track, exhaling before she lifted her head, eyes clear and determined. “Got it. I’m going to skip out on the thank you for obvious reasons.” She shot up out of her seat, looking down at him like a boss. “I will pay you back for the tuition and what little money I spent.”

No, no, no. This was going in the wrong direction!

“I’m not good at the ‘sit and look pretty’ role, so you might as well cut your losses here.” She stepped back as Rion leaned forward, his eyes wide as if he’d just now realized that he was pushing the wrong buttons. Even Roux was struggling to keep his breathing in check, his chest rising and falling at a rapid pace.

Since they just looked stunned, I took action. Shooting up out of my seat, I went to grab her arm, but she yanked away. “Don’t worry about seeing me ou—”

Just as panic set in, my mind running with the millions of things I could say or do to get her to stay, Rion’s Foedus phone chimed. A hush fell over the room, and even Rin stood quietly, taking our cue as we waited for him to read the message.

His whole face darkened, and he slammed the phone onto the table as he tilted his head toward Rin. “Looks like you can’t leave us just yet.” When she opened her mouth, he raised his hand. “Foedus has taken an interest in you and wants a formal meeting. There is no way to get out of this. It's either go to this meeting or die trying to run. What do you want to do?”

Couldn’t we just fucking catch a break? Our whole world was about to be turned upside down, and now those Foedus jackoffs wanted to take her from us too? I’d bet it was the Riccis’ fault.

I started cursing at them in my head until I heard Rin’s sigh. Her head was back and her whole body slumped like she was giving up. This might just be our saving grace, our moment to prove to her how much we cared, but on the same side of that coin, this could be a disaster for her. Even worse, what if they liked her?

“Fine, I’ll meet with the heads of your killing enterprise.” Her silent words, and then I’m leaving for good, hung in the air between us.

Our list of problems had just gotten worse. Our woman wanted to leave us, and we were no closer to finding out who was trying to harm her. Rion stood up, motioning for her to sit back down in her chair, and she rolled her eyes as she complied.

“Let's plan how we’re going to handle this impromptu meeting.” Rion’s words were supposed to instill confidence and strengthen our resolve, but when Roux and I looked at Rin and Rion’s unhappy faces, we knew we were fucked.