Into My Heart

XXII

I should've known that my alliance with the Mewis sisters wasn't that good of an idea in the first place. Of course, I don't blame them for their way of doing things, but I would've preferred for another course of events.

Explanation: while Sam was supposed to go talk to the two FBI agents in charge of the on-going investigation - and supposed to be looking for Abby right now - in order to distract them, Kristie and I were supposed to break into my father's office since neither he or Mother were home that day. Actually, except from Mallory, nobody was there, so it was perfect. Only problem was that we did not predict what would happen next.

Either way, at the moment, Kristie and I were walking up the stairs of the Press household property and, once we reached the locked door of my father's office, the blonde just took one of her brooch out of her hair and tries forcing into the room, why I would make sure that neither Becky, Rachel or any other other servants would see us. Under thirty seconds, she unlocked the door and we got in.

Obviously, Kristie Mewis being herself, she couldn't restrain herself from joking:

"Well, I sure hope that you protect your private life better than your precious progenitor protects his office, Press"

Rolling my eyes, I don't bother respond.

Instead, we started going through his confidential files - since me and my sisters were little, he never would let any of us into this room, so it might as well be the first time I ever entered it, let alone searched for files and stuff inside of it. Kristie would take over the left part of the room, and myself the right. 

After fifteen full minutes of searching, I finally uncover something: right there, under the locked drawer of his desk, another smaller drawer that he forgot to lock was there for me to open. Once I do, I find something quite interesting: two guns from different calibers, both silencers, as well as a heavy file.

I frown.

When I open it, the first page immediately shows a photograph of Andrew Dahlkemper, obviously 20 years younger than her was before he died, wrapping an arm around my younger father's shoulders. They both has the same clothes, and when I spot the huge, red dragon sewn to the base clothe - the Dragons' symbol. 

Kristie, who has spotted the weird face, walks right through the room and kneels next to me. When she sees her father's picture I can feel she is touched.

"You don't have to do this, you know" I try to comfort her, but obviously her respond wouldn't be anything but sharp and direct:

"Oh, yeah, sure, and let you be the only witness of what's in that file? Hell no, Cristina."

"My name's Christen" I let out, fed but with her already.

But she doesn't respond, and starts staring at the file instead.

Inside of it, there were many photographs of people I didn't know, and some other I would've seen go by my house to see Father. There were picture of the two men that died with week and were part of the gang. Then, after a few pages, there were police reports of undisclosed cases about cold-hearted murders that never were solved, with side nodes on the margins. It wasn't my father's writing, I knew that, but still, my muscle would ache as information that would help us understand what happened to Abby and how to rescue here were nowhere to be found.

Trying to keep myself together, I start to impatiently go by the pages quickly, sometimes folding the paper without even realizing. Kristie immediately grabs the file and takes it away from me, throwing me a dark stare.

"Not so fast, Sherlock" she lets out, setting her jaw. She obviously was mad again - or maybe it just has been a constant, because she kind of hates me - and wouldn't mind hiding it the least: "Your incompetence is causing us to miss details. There could be information about Daddy of the Year in here!"

I roll my eyes.

"You're the one to talk: your father was a gang leader."

"Fuck you!" Kristie exclaims, getting on her feet, her hands on her hips. As I get up as well, she slightly pushes me, but I don't fall at all, as she attacks: "Do you seriously think you'd have a chance with my sister? Like, you're the most self-centered, ignorant baby disguised in an adult woman's body with curly hair. You have no idea who my father was."

"A fucking gang leader" I hiss, taking my time pronouncing those words. I know I shouldn't enter her game, but a sudden feeling of deep hatred just saw the light for the first time in my mind, as I continue: "He lied to you all your life. Yes, my father is a piece of shit, but at least he didn't pretend to be anything else, unlike yours."

"Shut the fuck up, Christine, you have no idea..." she starts, raising her voice.

But as she is about to finish her sentence, the door opens.

Kristie and I both jump and turn around in sync, as my face immediately decomposes: my mother is standing there, Becky and Tyler by each side of her. Her facial expression could be described as a mix of 'mortified' and 'utterly disappointed', as her eyes just go from Kristie to me, and back, and back, and back... From the corner of my eye, I see Kristie carefully hiding the file in her bag, as she uneasily starts walking toward the door my mother was standing in front of. 

Once she reaches it, Kristie only says, turning to me:

"Hide and seek was fun, Gay-ten" and, then turning to my mother, she offers her hand to shake, and as my mother wouldn't move, she'd grab hers instead and still shake her, while saying: "It has been a dream of mine to meet you, Mrs Press. I must say, I imagined you taller" and, finally, turning to Tyler, she finishes: "I don't know who you are, but if you could get out of my way, it'd be nice."

Throwing her the most eloquent death glare of the century, my older sister just stands there, as Kristie walks around past her and turns around for one final line:

"My father's, Andrew Dahlkemper, funeral is on Monday, by the lake, we hope to see you all there, otherwise it might be interpreted by the majority of dumb townspeople as utterly shady..., especially since y'all have been great friends it seems."

Why wouldn't she just shut the hell up? I think to myself, regretting to have brought her there in the first place. As she walks out of the room, my mother and sister exchange a meaningful look, as Becky follows Kristie's footsteps, probably to both accompany her at the door so that she would't search another room to sneak into and look for proofs, and also give her one of her legendary 'those are the top 76 reasons you shouldn't have done that' talk.

When the door closes, and that Becky and Kristie are long gone, Mother's tone alone is enough to ice my blood:

"We need to talk, Christen, and you are not going to like it."