Ori rammed her knee hard into Tyson’s groin, and he buckled. Furious instead of scared now, Ori pulled her blouse together, fingers fumbling at the buttons. “That’s the last time you will ever touch me,” she said, her voice shaking. “Now, where is my brother?”
She knew Maceo had heard Tyson attack her, along with her wire being destroyed, and was on his way even now. It gave her strength she never knew she had. Tyson was recovering now, and he gazed at her with absolute malevolence. “I’ll tell you, Ori. I’ll tell you at the exact same time my knife sinks into your gut, you little bitch. When your blood is on my hands, that’s when you’ll know you will never be able to escape me. You’ll never see AJ again.”
At that moment the door burst open and Maceo, all terrible beauty and rage, flew into the room and knocked Tyson Janek across the room. Ori grabbed Maceo before he could launch another attack on her stepfather. “Maceo, stop. I’m okay. Let’s go. This pathetic piece of shit isn’t worth it; we’ll find AJ on our own.”
Maceo looked like he would like to pound Tyson into the ground but instead, he let Ori lead him out of the office. It was only when they reached the car that Ori started to tremble, as all the adrenaline left her body. As they drove back to the hotel, Ori told him everything.
“He threatened to kill you?” Maceo was beyond livid.
Ori gave a humorless laugh. “Not for the first time, Maceo. He’s been doing that since he first raped me.”
Maceo launched into a torrent of Italian curse words, some of which Ori understood, but mostly she just let him rant. Finally, he looked at her. “I want to kill him.”
She touched his cheek. “You and me both, baby, but it won’t help AJ. He’s the priority.”
They stayedin New York for a week before finally catching a break. A woman, a secretary from Tyson’s office, called Ori from a payphone. “I know what that bastard is like,” she told Ori, “so please don’t let him know I told you this.” She told them where AJ was being ‘held,’ as she described it. “It’s not even a real place, just one of your stepfather’s tax wrangles.”
Ori and Maceo traveled up to the place near Westchester with an entourage of Maceo’s staff. They outnumbered Tyson’s weak security team easily and then Ori was inside. She found AJ’s cell, appalled that he was locked in. The half-siblings hugged each other. Ori saw how much weight AJ had lost, and despaired. Her brother looked close to the edge
“Come on. We’re taking you out of here.”
Maceo had arranged for them all to go to his friend Alex Milland’s place for a time before deciding what to do next. “It will be safer for both of you,” he said to Ori and AJ, who smiled at him.
“I like him,” AJ said with a grin and Ori flushed with pleasure. Maceo immediately fell into the role of big brother with AJ and Ori couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with gratitude.
One afternoon, Ori was taking a nap. Maceo watched her sleep for a while, studying every curve of her face, every line, and the way her dark, thick lashes fell onto her cheeks. In his 39 years, he had never felt like this about anyone. It was overwhelming. He pressed his lips to her forehead, then went to find AJ
He found him in Alex’s study, hunkered down with a pile of books on the table next to him. AJ grinned at him. “I hope Alex doesn’t mind.”
“He wouldn’t. I’d hoped he’d be around more, but he’s so tied up in the investigation to find Viola’s killer.”
AJ nodded, his smile fading. “Poor guy. Is that what the police came to see you about yesterday?”
“Yeah, they wanted to interview everyone Viola was friends or acquaintances with. I knew her first, you see, before Alex.”
AJ looked at him with interest. “I saw a photograph of her; she looks like my sister.”
Maceo nodded. “The resemblance is uncanny, actually, not just physically but personality-wise.”
AJ looked bleak. “Maceo, Ori told me that my father threatened to kill her. I don’t doubt for a second that he’s capable.”
“Nothing is going to happen to Ori, AJ. I promise you that.”
AJ stared out of the window. “I keep thinking … I’m Ori’s only tie to Dad. If it weren’t for me, she could be free.”
Maceo felt a jolt. “Kiddo, don’t think like that. Ori would take your dad’s abuse again and again as long as she had you.”
There was a long silence. “He raped her.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think she was protecting me by not telling anyone? The police?”
Maceo felt awkward. “I don’t know.”
Another long silence. “Dad used to get in these rages after Ori left home. He would rant and rave and drink himself into oblivion while completely obsessing about her.”
Maceo got the feeling that AJ was trying to tell him something. “AJ, whatever you need to get off your chest, if you need it to stay between you and me, that’s okay.”
