JAY JAY POV
Keifer finally dropped me off, but only after making me promise about ten times that I wouldn't leave the house again tonight. I was still a little flushed when I stepped into the foyer, trying to look as casual as possible.
"Jare, she's here!" Aries called out the second the door clicked shut. He was leaning against the staircase, looking like he'd been on high alert.
Jare appeared from the living room in an instant, his face a storm of brotherly panic and anger. "Where the hell were you?" he demanded, walking right up to me.
"I went—" I started, holding up a hand.
"Went where? It's past ten, Jay. Do you have any idea how many people are looking for a chance to mess with us right now?" Jare asked, his voice rising.
"Jare, let her complete her sentence," Percy interrupted, walking in behind him. He looked calmer than Jare, but I could see the worry in the way he was scrolling through his phone—probably checking the security feeds. "Where did you go, baby sis?" Percy asked me gently.
"I went out for a walk," I said, crossing my arms. "Just around the block to get some air."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Jare stepped closer, his jaw set. "You don't just walk out of a house without an escort, Jay-jay. Especially not now."
"Asshole, I told you guys!" I said, getting irritated. I remembered saying it clearly before I left. "I stood right there and said I was going outside!"
"You didn't!" Jare yelled back, his protective streak turning into full-blown shouting.
"I did! Percy, tell him!" I turned to my other brother.
Percy looked up, blinking. "Wait... were you talking to us when we were arguing about the thread count of the new sheets? Because I'll be honest, Jay, I was in a very heated headspace. I thought you were just talking to the cat."
"I don't care if she was talking to a ghost!" Jare turned his glare back to me. "A car was spotted following you, Jay. Keifer called Aries. Do you have any idea what would have happened if he hadn't been nearby?"
The room went quiet. So they already knew about the car.
"I'm fine, Jare," I said, my voice softening as I saw the genuine fear in his eyes. "Keifer got there. He... he took care of it."
"He better have," Jare muttered, though he looked slightly relieved. "From now on, you don't even go to the mailbox without one of us .Is that clear?"
"You guys are overreacting," I sighed, though I knew I wouldn't win this fight. Underneath the shouting, I knew they were just terrified of losing me again. "But fine. No more solo walks."
"Good," Jare said, though he still looked grumpy.
I didn't move toward the stairs. Instead, I stood my ground and tilted my head, looking at Jare's furrowed brow and the way he was aggressively avoiding eye contact.
"Why are you so grumpy?" I asked him, my voice softening from the earlier irritation.
Jare huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked like a giant, brooding kid. "I'm not grumpy. I'm responsible. There's a difference."
"No, you're definitely grumpy," Aries piped up from the stairs, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "He's been pacing the foyer like a caged tiger since Percy realized you weren't actually in your room."
"Shut it, Aries," Jare snapped, though there was no real heat in it.
I stepped closer to Jare and poked his shoulder. "Is this about the car? Or is this about the fact that you realized you were too busy arguing about laundry to notice your 'little' sister leaving?"
Jare sighed, his shoulders finally dropping. He looked at his bandaged hand—the one I had wrapped just last night—and then back at me. "It's both, Jay. And it's the fact that in a week, you're officially moving out. You're becoming a Watson. I'm losing my 'baby' sister to that loudmouth Keifer, and I can't even keep you safe for a twenty-minute walk in our own neighborhood."
My heart squeezed. So that was it
"You're not losing me, Jare," I said gently, reaching out to straighten his collar. "Keifer isn't taking me away; he's just... joining the chaos. And you didn't fail. I'm right here. I'm safe."
"Yeah, because Keifer was there," Jare muttered, though he leaned into my touch slightly.
"Exactly," I smiled. "Which means you have one more person on the team to help you look out for me. Doesn't that make your job easier?"
Jare finally let out a tiny, reluctant half-smile. "Easier? Having to deal with Keifer Watson as a brother-in-law? That sounds like a migraine that'll last the rest of my life."
"Hey!" I laughed, swatting his arm.
"Go to sleep, Jay-jay," he said, finally pulling me into a quick, awkward side-hug. "Before I change my mind and lock the gates until next year."
"Goodnight, Grumpy," I teased, heading for the stairs.
As I climbed up, I heard Percy whisper to Jare, "See? I told you she'd be fine. Now, back to the silk sheets. I really think the ivory is better than the eggshell for the guest rooms..."
"Percy, I swear to God..." Jare's voice trailed off, and I smiled to myself.
Things were messy, but for the first time in forever, the Mariano brothers were actually home, and they were finally, slowly, letting me grow up.
I finally managed to change into my oversized pajamas, the soft fabric a small comfort against the lingering tension of the day. As soon as my head hit the pillow, exhaustion pulled me under.
But sleep wasn't a sanctuary.
"Jay-jay, come on..."
"Don't make us do it."
"Just fucking give in, damn it!"
"Hold her down!"
The voices were distorted, overlapping like a broken record. I could feel ghost-like hands grabbing at my arms, the cold sensation of being trapped, and the paralyzing fear that I was about to lose everything.
I bolted upright, gasping for air as if I had been underwater. My lungs were burning, and my nightshirt was clinging to my skin with cold sweat. For a terrifying second, I didn't know where I was.
I scrambled out of bed and rushed into the bathroom, fumbling for the light. I turned the tap on and splashed freezing water onto my face, over and over, trying to drown out the echoes of those voices.
"It's not real," I whispered, staring at my trembling reflection in the mirror. My chest was heaving. "It's not real. It was just a nightmare. You're home. You're safe."
I gripped the edge of the sink, waiting for my heart rate to slow down. The silence of the house usually felt peaceful, but tonight, it felt heavy—like the shadows were listening.
Suddenly, a soft knock on my bedroom door made me jump so hard I nearly slipped on the wet floor.
"Jay? You okay in there?"
It was Jare. His voice was low, but he sounded completely awake. Of course he was—his "big brother" radar probably went off the second my breathing changed.
I wiped my face with a towel and stepped out of the bathroom, trying to keep my voice steady. "Yeah, Jare. I'm fine. Just... just thirsty."
The door opened a crack, and Jare stood there. He wasn't wearing his usual stern expression; he looked worried. He was still in his clothes from earlier, his bandaged hand resting on the doorframe. He took one look at my pale face and the way my hands were shaking, and his eyes softened.
"The nightmares again?" he asked quietly.
"No, it's nothing," I said, my voice shaky. I pulled the blanket tighter around me.
"Don't—" Jare started, stepping into the room.
"I'm not. It's the truth," I cut him off, trying to sound firm. "Go and sleep. You're still awake and it's one in the morning. You're going to be exhausted tomorrow."
"Jay-jay," Jare said, his voice lowering with that stubborn brotherly tone.
"I'm fine na, just go," I insisted, pointing toward the door.
The truth was, the dream had terrified me, but it was the confusion that was worse. Those voices—"Don't make us do it," "Hold her down"—they felt so real, yet I had no idea where they came from. I still couldn't remember the details of what happened during those missing years or the specifics of the trauma that had left these scars. Every time I tried to reach for the memories, they slipped through my fingers like smoke, leaving me with nothing but a pounding heart and a sense of pure dread.
Jare studied me for a long moment. I could tell he wanted to ask what I'd seen, or what I'd heard in my sleep, but he stopped himself
"Fine," he said softly, his hand lingering on the doorknob. "But I'm not going far. I'll be in the study with the door open. If you wake up again... if you feel like you're forgetting how to breathe... you just yell, okay?"
"Okay," I whispered.
He lingered for a second more, his eyes searching mine as if he were looking for the girl I used to be before the world broke me. Then, he moved back into the hall, leaving the door slightly ajar.
I lay back down and stared at the ceiling. My mind was a mess of blurry images and voices that didn't have faces. It was frustrating and terrifying all at once. I was getting married in a week, I was surrounded by my family, and yet there were parts of my own life that were still a complete mystery to me.
I turned on my side and looked at the window. The nightmare was gone, but the emptiness where those memories should be felt like its own kind of ghost. I closed my eyes, praying for a sleep that didn't involve voices I wasn't allowed to remember.
I woke up again.
This time, the silence of the room was even more suffocating than the voices. My skin felt like it was crawling, and my breath hitched in my throat, but I forced myself to stay quiet. I could hear Jare's rhythmic, heavy snores coming from the study next door—he had finally crashed. I didn't want to wake him; I couldn't handle the questioning looks or the worried eyes right now.
I slowly slid out of bed, my feet hitting the cold floor. As I moved toward the bathroom, a sudden glint on the rug caught my eye. A piece of broken glass. I had dropped a picture frame yesterday and told myself I'd pick it up, but
I'd completely forgotten.
I stared at that sharp, jagged edge, and suddenly, the room didn't feel like my bedroom anymore. The cold floor turned into a different kind of cold. The air grew musty.
The glass acted like a key, turning a lock in my brain that had been rusted shut for years.
FLASHBACK
"Jay-jay, hon, we're going somewhere. Get ready," Mom said, her voice strangely flat, devoid of its usual warmth.
I was sixteen, naive, and trusted her more than anyone in the world. I nodded, grabbing my jacket, thinking we were just running errands. But we didn't go to the mall or the grocery store. We drove deep into a part of town I didn't recognize, pulling up in front of a house that looked like something out of a horror movie—gray, peeling paint, and boarded-up windows.
"Mom? Why are we here?" I asked, a knot of unease forming in my chest.
She didn't answer. She grabbed my arm, her grip tighter than it had ever been, and pulled me toward the porch. The door creaked open before we even knocked.
"Just do as they say," she whispered, her eyes refusing to meet mine. With one final, forceful shove, she pushed me into the dim, smelling hallway.
"Maaa!" I yelled, spinning around to grab the door, but it slammed shut. Through the small window, I saw her walking back to the car. She didn't look back. She didn't even flinch. She just drove away.
I felt a presence behind me. I turned around, my heart hammering against my ribs.
"Wow," a man's voice rasped from the shadows. I could hear the clink of a glass bottle. "She is hot for a sixteen-year-old. Best investment we've made all year."
"Who the hell are you guys" I asked them
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