I had a hard time getting to sleep that night, things are not really adding up correctly. Bjorn seems to be trying to get his old gang going again. He was caught and ended up in prison, but somehow he managed to get out quite early. How did he do that? I would say he bought his way out, so he must have had a lot of money. Probably still does. I was awake early and checked to see if Annelie was awake yet. “I am now, someone keeps calling me at all hours of the night,” she said, “why would I want to sleep? I love being awake 24 hours a day.”

“Sorry Annelie, but I have some important questions,” I told her, “and I need your expert advice.” “Sorry, that doesn’t work with me,” she said mumbling. “Well, how about this,” I said, “there is a little girl here that needs our help. Apparently she has no family and she has been terribly abused. She needs some help and love from us.” “That isn’t fair,” she said, “okay, what do you need?” I gave her Erika’s real name and parent’s names and all that she told us. Then I wanted her to check on Bjorn’s past with this gang, so hopefully we can figure out who might be after him and wanting to kill his son.

“You will not believe this Steve,” she said, “but Kristina talked with our prisoner and he told us a few things. There were 3 top people in that gang, Bjorn, Bart and Gabriella. Our prisoner, whose name is Tom, tells us the person he worked for is a woman named Gabby. Yep, she is Gabriella, Bjorn’s wife and cousin of Toledo.” “Whoa, back up a bit,” I said, “this Gabriella is supposed to be the daughter of someone Rossana’s mom knows.” “Originally yes,” she said, “but somewhere along the way this Gabriella replaced the original Gabriella. Who knows what happened to the original Gabriella, but my guess is she was killed about 2 years ago.”

“I would agree with you Annelie, and likely she is buried around this castle somewhere,” I said, “and never to be found. That will make it hard to charge anyone with murder. Please go fast on Erika’s story, it’s important. She wants to come home and live with Jennifer and I.” “Oh my, that should be interesting,” she said chuckling, “does Sky know you are starting a second family?” “No, not yet,” I said, “and please don’t say it like that.” I then called Sky to our room.

“Oh, that is where she is hiding,” said Sky, “I have been looking for her.” “Yes, she showed up last night after our fun,” I said, “she was afraid to stay alone so somehow she managed to stay here. She wants to come home with us so that Jennifer and I can adopt her. She has no parents and wants us to be her parents.” I then told Sky the whole story. “I agree, she needs to come home with us,” said Sky, “however, I’m not so sure about you having two families. You are having trouble with one.” “What trouble?” I asked. “Well, like starting a second family without telling me about it,” she said, looking rather sternly at me. Sigh.

“But I did tell you right away,” I said, “I just found out about it myself last night.” “Hmm, I guess you’re right,” she said, shaking her head and giggling, “okay Erika, time to wake up. I have been running around looking for you and getting worried, that isn’t nice.” “Oh, I’m sorry Sky,” she said, and she gave Sky a big hug, with tears trickling down her cheeks once again, “you know, you would make a good mom too.” “Thank you Erika,” said Sky softly. I then called Dawn and Cynthia to our room.

“You two will stay with Erika,” I said, “you will not leave her for one moment and if anyone tries to take her from you, then you will teach them that is not a wise decision. That goes for Bjorn and Bart too.” “Especially Mr. Bart!” she said, “please, please, do not let him hurt me anymore!” “You two have a text, please read it immediately,” I said to them. They did so, then looked at me, then down at Erika. “You trust me, don’t you?” asked Cynthia. “Yep,” she said, “and I really like you too, both of you.”

She then smiled at both of them, still having tears on her cheeks. Dawn dried her cheeks. “We will not let anyone hurt you,” she said, “especially not Bart.” Off they went to get ready for breakfast. Sky looked at me. “Well, maybe you can have a second family,” she said, smiling. “I would adopt her myself if I could,” said Jennifer. “We might be able to arrange that,” I said, “with Mr. B’s help.” Trouble began rather quickly for us this morning. Once the girls brought Erika down for breakfast, Bart was there to meet them.

“Okay young lady,” he said, “you are late this morning and we are overdue for your extra education class. You know that your dad wants you to take this class.” “No! Not anymore!” she said firmly. “Those classes are cancelled Bart,” said Dawn. “You stay out of this babe,” he said angrily, “unless you would like to participate.” Dawn went closer to him. “My name is Dawn,” she said, “call me babe once more and you will regret it for a long time.”

Cynthia called me right away and said there is trouble with Bart in the living room. “Kat, Angel, trouble with Bart in the living room, stop him.” I said. They both ran into the living room. “Stop Bart, or we will stop you, period,” said Kat. “Oh, I’m so scared of you little girls,” he said mockingly, “look, Erika and Enar have special education classes each week, and today is the day. Since Bjorn is away on his business trip he left me in charge, so leave me alone.” Sky had arrived by that time.

“Bart, you will not touch these kids again,” she said, “he wants them for videos to sell.” “Without wearing clothes!” yelled Erika and she hid behind Sky. That was all Kat needed to hear and she started walking toward Bart. But just then the front door exploded, sending pieces of the door all over the room. One piece went right through Bart, killing him. Then several men came into the room, one spotted Enar and shot him 4 times, killing him immediately.

But by this time the girls were rushing into the living room and shooting at the invaders, killing all but one that had slipped outside and was quickly gone. I had told Jennifer to get Erika and bring her back upstairs. She ran down while I stood at the top of the stairs. As she began back up the stairs she noticed my feet, I was lying down. She ran quickly, yelling for Sky. I was lying on the floor, bleeding, having been shot, not from the front but from the back.

The other girls ran upstairs too and began looking around, but no one was there. “There is a secret passage behind that large painting at the end of the hall,” said Erika, crying and shaking. All she could think about was that her new “dad” was now dead! Kat was there quickly and could see that Erika was scared and worried, though she did not know why. Anyway, she began looking at me and rubbing the area where I had been shot…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.