The front door closed and Dee focused on Ricky Lee.
“You’ve got blood on ya.”
He looked down. “Oh. Yeah.”
“Any cleanup necessary?”
“They took him away. He was alive last I saw him but doubt it’ll last unless they get him to a hospital. Something tells me they won’t.”
“Why would they want the boy?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I thought for sure it was Irene they wanted.”
“Use him for leverage?”
“Maybe.”
“But that don’t sound right, does it?”
“No. The kid is brilliant on his own, Dee. We picked him up from a university class. He’s seven. When we were driving back, he said the teacher hated him because he corrected his equations or somethin’.”
Dee looked around Ricky and nodded her head at the big buck standing behind him. “Barinov.”
“Dee-Ann.”
“You got any thoughts?” The feline-bear shrugged, which meant he did. She hated when he was evasive. She didn’t like chatty men, but she wasn’t much for shy ones, either. And that was his problem, though he hid it well. “Say it now before my patience wanes.”
“If they just wanted to take the kid,” Vic finally said, “why didn’t they just take him from the beginning? Why bother breaking into the house first?” He folded his arms over his chest. “I don’t think it’s the kid they really want.”
Dee thought on that a brief moment, then slipped off the banister.
“Where are you going?” Ricky asked.
“To find out what they could possibly want.”
Jackie waited until Toni had sent Freddy upstairs to get his homework done before she talked to the rest of the kids. She knew that what she was about to tell them would not make them happy, but that was too bad.
She walked into the living room. They were all waiting for her except the twins and Dennis. Those three were still at the age where they’d go anywhere they were told. But the rest of this group . . .
There was, of course, one missing. Delilah. But she was rarely home these days. She’d turned eighteen and realized her parents had no legal way to get her to come home, so she didn’t bother. Then again, Jackie didn’t worry about her daughter like she did the others. She simply didn’t have to.
“What’s going on, Mom?” Oriana demanded. She had several pairs of toe shoes spread out in front of her, sewing on the ribbons that wrapped around her ankles. “You’re crying. Aunt Irene is trying to get in touch with Uncle Van. And there seems to be a growth of hillbilly wolves in our house.”
“Hey,” Toni warned, standing next to Jackie. “Be nice.”
“What? You’re dating a hillbilly, so now we all have to tolerate them?”
“Yes,” Toni shot back at her sister. “You do!”
“Both of you stop it.” Taking in a breath, Jackie announced, “We’re returning to Washington. Tonight.”
Troy turned to Kyle. “Now what did you do?”
“Shut up.”
“Kyle didn’t do anything,” Jackie cut in before there could be an argument. “This is about Freddy.”
Oriana sighed. “Oh, God. What did he burn down now?” “Or steal,” Troy tossed in.
“He didn’t do any of that. My God, what is wrong with you people?”
Kyle snorted. “Perhaps one should look to the upbringing of troubled children.”
“You’re not troubled, Kyle. You’re troubling.”
“Stop it,” Toni ordered. “All of you. For once, this isn’t all about you. It’s about family.”
“How is Freddy burning someone’s house down our problem?”
“He didn’t burn anything down!” Jackie roared.
Thankfully, Toni just came out with it. “Someone tried to kidnap Freddy today.”
“What do you mean ‘kidnap’?” Kyle asked.
“I mean they tried to grab your younger brother off the street.”
“Whatever for?” Troy asked. “For slave labor in a foreign country?”
Toni looked at Jackie and then back at her brother. “Really?”
“Why do you sound shocked? That sort of thing happens all the time. And he’s a strong little boy and quite tidy. He’d make a good little worker in a sweatshop.”
“Okay, stop.” Toni took a breath. Tried again. “We’re going back to Washington . . . for safety.”
“No.”
Jackie wished that had come from one of the kids sitting in front of her. Because she’d expected it. But sadly . . . it didn’t.
“Freddy—” she began, but it was too late. Her little boy had heard everything.
Freddy, standing under the archway, shook his head. “We’re not leaving. Not because of me.”
“Freddy.” Toni tried to soothe, walking toward her brother. “I know this is hard to understand—”
“I’m not stupid!”
Oriana stood and Jackie cringed until her fifteen-year-old said, “We’re trying to protect you. This is about family, Fred. All of us. We protect you, you protect us. Even when we think you’re an untalented little bastard,” she added, her gaze moving to Kyle.
Who came back with, “Or a chubby, overbearing witch with huge psychological issues.”
Confused, Freddy asked, “You guys won’t be mad? If we go back? I mean . . . you guys have all your classes and stuff set up.” He pointed at the wall covered in giant Post-it notes with Novikov’s careful handwriting on it. “Our schedules.”
“Our talent goes where we go,” Oriana said, managing to be loving and smug all at the same time. It was a gift she did possess. “Those of us who have talent. In all honesty, I’m not shocked someone’s trying to take you. You are a Jean-Louis Parker, after all. We’ll always be in demand. Right, Mom?”
“Uh . . . yes. Very true.”
“Besides,” Oriana added, “going back is better than if you were actually taken. Because then we’d have to mourn or whatever, and spend our time searching for you.”
“Wow.” Troy sighed. “I hadn’t thought of that. What a nightmare!”
“Exactly.”
Toni put her hands on her hips. “Oriana . . . really?”
“What? I plan to be in the Royal Ballet by the time I’m seventeen. Can’t do that if I’m busy handing out milk cartons with Freddy’s face on them.”
“Oh, my God!”
“Antonella,” Jackie cut in, giving a quick shake of her head, “let’s just go with what we have?”
“Narcissistic children?”
“Yes!” she told her eldest daughter. “That’s what we have. So deal with it.”
“Toni,” Troy asked, “are you going to be coming with us?”
“No,” Oriana answered.
“How the hell do you know?” Toni demanded.
“Because you’ve finally found something you’re good at. And, even more important, you enjoy something you’re good at. You can’t walk away from that.”
“And you know this because . . . ?”
“Because you’ve been getting flowers and gift baskets all day from people. The flowers we put on tables all around the house, but the lion security people ate the meat from the baskets and the bear security people ate all the fruit. I have to admit, I’m not sure that security company pays their people enough, because they seem awfully hungry.”
“The idiot’s right,” Kyle told Toni. “Although I’ve always planned for you to be my personal assistant and business manager . . . it’ll be a few years before I need you full-time. It’s best you get some outside training before I add you to my team.”
“Gee,” Toni said dryly. “Thanks, Kyle.”
He smiled. “You’re welcome.”
“Look,” Toni said. “We’ll worry about all that later. For now I still plan to head home with you guys. Now, everybody upstairs. Get packed.”