Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Hazel Eyes ❯ Broken & Burnt ( Chapter 11 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Hazel Eyes

Chapter Eleven

Broken & Burnt

Introducing

(William Chiles; the Deaf Detective)

“Where are we going, Nanny?” asked the little girl, her Nanny tugging her along roughly by her small hand. The small blue raincoat she wore did nothing to guard against the blistering pelt of the summer rain.

“Away” wasthe curt reply.

From a far the woman and child looked almost identical, one tiny with the other leggy and beautiful. Up close however, you could distinctly tell the mutual differences, one having darker hair then the other, the older woman having a cat like glance while the little girl of four had big innocent eyes.

The rain fell hard, making the small child shiver as the wind beat at her chubby cheeks. “Nanny, I'm cold! I want daddy!” she shrieked, the rain drops mixing in with her salty tears. Her Nanny abruptly stopped and turned slowly towards the child, what a nuisance she could be sometimes.

Kneeling down into the thick entwine of grass and mud, the older woman positioned herself so that she was staring the little girl in the eyes. Eyes that looked nothing like her own. “Listen to me very carefully, Artesia” the little girl nodded her head slowly, but glanced away when the sound of thunder shook the ground. The woman ignored the rain, and growled low in her throat when the small girl disrespected her orders “Artesia! Pay attention” she ordered and yanked the girls head around with one swift grasp.

“I'm sorry, Mrs. Gayle” she whispered, again looking at her now sopping wet Nanny. The woman seemed satisfied and smiled gently “daddy doesn't want you anymore honey, so he's asked me to take you away. I'm sorry sweetheart, if I had it my way things would be much different” this evil woman said it as if everything made sense, and this would all be over within minutes and no one would be hurt.

All except that little girl, who looked as if her world had just broken in half. In a way, it probably had. Was this really the Artesia I had been hearing about? Right here in front of me?

“What about Ducky? I know he would never leave me!” she squirmed from her mother's grasp, pulling away but the woman held onto her pretty blue raincoat. She managed to get away by shaking the raincoat off and bolting back to the large mansion. Her daddy had to be there, he wouldn't just leave her with this mean lady, he couldn't --- he wouldn't!

Before she could get to the door, the steps seemed to fade away and the little girl started to sink as if in quicksand. I couldn't watch like a spectator any longer, I ran to the child and tried to pull her up and out of danger. Her hazel eyes widened before she finally realized who I was.

“You have to save us!” she shouted, her voice suddenly not so childish anymore.

“What do you mean?” I asked frantically.

“Don't let them hurt us anymore! You know, you know what they did!” she shrieked, her voice suddenly fading and the land disappearing from under me.

“I don't understand” I whispered, before everything faded into the horrible land of nothingness I knew so well.

“You don't understand what? Dean, I knew she was a weird one” oh god, let this be a nightmare.

This whole situation was a nightmare, a recurring one at that. You would think after saving her ass Claudia would be a little more grateful, but I guess asking for a little thanks is to great a wish for a measly commoner such as me.

“Guess I fell asleep” I muttered, letting out a rather large yawn.

“Aye Lassie, you just fell asleep on the counter” Alice said, still seated on the floor as she rubbed her wrists. The poor woman had bruises from where her ropes had been tightened up.

Tessa was grabbing some water for Alice and looking a little better. I noticed a bruise on the side of her head and winced. That must have hurt, but Tessa didn't seem too fazed by it, Dean was tending to Claudia's busted ankle and from what I heard thirty minutes before, Claudia was soaking up every bit of the contact from Dean.

“Just in case anyone wants to know, this counter just caned my neck” I muttered, closing my eyes and falling back into a light, dreamless sleep.

“You know what they did!”

I gasped and launched myself back into a sitting position. `Where had that come from?' I thought `I have to get out of here.' You know that dream you have when you're falling? The one where you're asleep for a few hours, but it feels like a few seconds before your ripped back into reality? That's what this felt like, over and over again.

“Have a bad dream?”

“You could say that” I murmured, turning my head to catch the sight of Dean leaning into the fridge “how long this time?” I asked.

“Bout' an hour” he answered casually, taking out a bottle of milk and drinking it from the carton. For such an uptight prick, he could be such a pig.

“You're such a slob” I muttered. I must have been very tired, falling asleep on the marble countertop twice in one day. Dean smirked and casually walked over, milk bottle still in his hand; he pulled up a stool and took a seat next to me.

“It's kind of funny” I commented.

He frowned but still maintained a bored expression “What do you mean?”

“Attempting to be kidnapped while kidnapped” I laughed.

He failed to see the humor “You were almost killed”

“Speaking of killed, way to kill the moment”

Dean's raised one of his brows and snorted “We were having a moment?”

“Smartass” I got up from my stool, wincing as I got to my feet. Sleeping on a kitchen countertop for a couple of hours is not the best idea in the world, for one you felt like a train just rain you over… again and again. Before I left, however, I turned back to the dark haired male “Why?” I asked.

He looked confused as he pushed away from the counter “Why, what?”

“Why do you treat me so civilly? I'm supposed to be your hostage or whatever; you treat me as if I'm…” I trailed off, not really finding the right words to describe what I was getting at “… like I'm part of the furniture”

Dean laughed, an amused glint lighting up his hazel eyes “So you're furniture now? You know, I would have thought saying something like that to a girl would seem like I was implying she was fat. I tend to keep away from telling a person they're like my sofa”

I glared, he was trying to step around my question and I was onto his game “You know what I mean” I snapped. I hadn't meant it to come out as harsh as it did, I was tired and very irritable and it wasn't like king almighty sitting on his ass was making my predicament any easier. Dean's eyes narrowed as he turned back towards his drink and took another slurp.

“I don't believe in treating anyone like a hostage” he answered “even if they are here for business and they are being a pain in my ass”

Was that supposed to be funny? He had been treating me like a hostage the moment I stepped foot into this house - and thrown into that van - but it could have been worse, I could have been picked up by a bunch of perverts and made as their toy for a few months. At least here I was fed and left to some privacy. I supposed that business comment meant the business that involved me and cash being handed over in exchange, I wasn't about to press onto the matter, because the morel of this story is that Dean - whatever his last name is - was a stubborn asshole who would rather watch me squirm in his own home and roll around in his cash then treat me a one of his friends, not that I wanted to be his friend or anything.

He was smirking, obviously enjoying the annoyance he caused and in turn, I left the kitchen. That was the first real conversation we had had together and it was probably only because of all the excitement that had happened today. I made my way towards the stairs and stopped abruptly as I seen Colt at the bottom of the stair case. I smiled, in a weird way I was glad he wasn't killed, though being tortured I wasn't exactly apposed to.

“So you lived”

“Surprised? Takes more then a few men to bring me down, kid” he went to stand up before crashing back down onto the stairs. He must have had a concussion or something, his eyes were unfocused and he didn't even mind when I went down and helped him up.

“Are you okay?” I asked. Well wasn't that a stupid question, the guy basically faints and here I am asking if he's okay. Colt nodded before trying to stand again, he leaned against me and I took it as a hint that Mr. Macho needed a little help. I made sure he was leaning on my good arm before taking a step.

“Thanks” he muttered, if I hadn't been so close, I wouldn't have even heard the polite gesture.

“You kind of saved my ass, so I have to do something to return the favor” we made our way up the staircase, running into the side a few times whenever he would lose balance. As we made it to the top, Colt showed me where his and Holden's room was located and I made my way down the hall towards the second last room. Colt's room wasn't that much further down from my own, it made me feel like I had a little bit more security, however much I disliked the fact it was in Dean's line of security.

As soon as he kicked the door open I noticed how much smaller his --- their --- room was to my own. I sat Colt down on his single oak bed and smiled, a grunt was all I got in response. Fine asshole; see if I help you out again. I went to leave, only to be caught by the wrist and dragged back.

“Thanks” he chuckled lightly and let go of my wrist. My eyes widened for a second before nodding.

“N-no problem” I didn't mean to stutter, honestly, it's just his movements made me a little skeptical. One minute he thinks I'm an immature child, the next he needs my help and won't let me leave.

“Sorry I couldn't do much. They basically ambushed us in our own territory, Dean was pissed of when he came back and found us knocked out. I think he was more pissed at the fact he could have lost you to Alec Harson”

“What about Claudia and Alice and Tessa?” I asked.

“Harson had no real want for them, if he had, he would have taken Claudia the second he seen an open chance and believe me, he had enough open chances to do so. And what would he do with Tessa and Alice?”

He had a point. If this Alec Harson character had any real want to hurt Dean, he would have taken one of the people closest to Dean the moment he had a chance, long before I came along anyway.

“So basically I'm just another paycheck”

Colt smiled sardonically “Smart girl” he commented “you catch on fast”

I rolled my eyes, if I had been taken from Dean; it just meant money and time out of his pocket's “How much are we looking at here?” I asked.

A seemingly emotionless smile spread across Colt's lips “Not telling, Princess. You'd be surprised how much some people are willing to pay for a brat like you” he chuckled suddenly and moved his hand in the direction of the door “you can leave now”

“Whatever, Lord Fuck-for-brains” I murmured, running out the door before Colt could start yelling. I did catch the muffled yelling though, which had a lot of colorful words in it.

I also had to wonder if Greg had gotten out okay, but judging from Colt' mood, I'd say he was fine. Moving down the hall I went to make a swift turn down the stair case when someone caught me by my arm --- my hurt arm. I made sure to let out a sharp hiss at whoever had grabbed me and spun around, only to be met with blue eyes and brownish blond hair. I thought Colt was temporarily disabled?

“I thought you couldn't walk” I snapped, gently trying to tear my arm away from him. It hurt to even move it in the slightest way possible and from the looks I was getting from Colt, it seemed he must have thought I was trying to gently get away from him.

“Miracles, sunshine, miracles” he laughed and started pulling me back towards his room.

I blinked “What?”

“I'm not a kitten, Princess; strong guys like me can take care of themselves” he looked back at me with narrowed eyes “and how come you never told anyone about that gash in your side? Or your hurt arm? I don't know how strong you think you are but that's pretty fucking dumb to ignore” he growled.

Without fighting his urging hand, I followed, mumbling profanities all the way to the bathroom.

Landing his fist hard onto the oak desk, Carl Glenn glared daggers at the Detective on the other side. The case of his daughter's whereabouts' was still undergoing inspection and it seemed like the police were taking their sweet time with it. A month --- a whole month and they were still at a standby, the only clue was the phone call that Rebecca Radcliff had told them about, telling them Skye had called and told her she was somewhere in California. Detective Chile, the head man on the case, told them he couldn't just go off a phone call alone, it was Rebecca's word against all odds of recovering his daughter alive.

In other words, they needed more evidence to prove she was taken out of Australia before contacting the Government in California.

His eldest daughter, Holly-May, fidgeted as she sat in the plastic seat not to far away from Chile's office. She had been a wreck for days, as well as his wife, and had even given a statement over the news, begging whoever had Skye to please give her back safe and sound. No ransom had been made, which lead police to believe this was an abduction of the worst kind, but the Glenn family refused to believe that their daughter was in the hands of some sick pervert

“Mr. Glenn, please, we are doing our best, but the odd's a one to nothing. It's been a long period of time, I'm very sorry to have to be the one to tell-” Detective Chile was abruptly cut off as a shrill scream burst through his office door.

The very distraught Laura-Sue Glenn stormed into the tiny office, fully intent to do some sort of damage or inflict minor pain onto the graying man behind the desk if not for her husband holding her back “You… you… monster! How can you just give up? She's just a baby! Seventeen for God's sake!” she cried, heavy tears ruining the little mascara and eyeliner she had applied “She's out there, my little girl is out there, and all your doing is sitting on your fat fucking ass and telling us she might not ever be found? Who the hell do you think you are, telling us our daughter could be laying in a ditch somewhere, raped and beaten, and all you can say in `sorry'…” at his lack of words, Laura's eyes flamed with the intention of murder “Well?!”

Carl was stunned, he had never heard his wife raise her voice before, let alone swear the way she was. It was getting difficult to hold the seething blond back, she was putting so much effort in getting to Chile, that he was concerned she would murder the Detective.

“Please, Mrs. Glenn, calm yourself before I have you restrained and taken into custody. We can't have our entire department out looking for this one girl, we don't have any witnesses and we don't even know if this was planned out by the victim” Chile's eyes narrowed, the name Glenn may have been prominent, but he wasn't about to bend over backwards for every spoilt brat who ran away from home. No witnesses, no ransom and the interviews with her school friends confirmed she had said from time to time she was going to leave home, with her parent's permission or not, what was he supposed to believe?

The only other person besides the girl's family that had a reliable statement was Rebecca Radcliff who had talked with the missing person only hours before her disappearance, but even her story wasn't leading them to the girl's whereabouts, that was, until the supposed `phone call' from the victim. There was only Skye Glenn's cell phone that could be traced back, and when police tried to call it back to trace the call, the phone was out of service. His only other theory was that the missing girl had found out she screwed up and stashed the phone.

“I am truly sorry for your loss, but until some more evidence turns up, we are going to have to close the case” he hated doing this, if he was wrong and this girl turned up dead, it was his head and conscience on the line. After his sentence, Chile's expected all hell to break loose from both parents, but instead the middle aged man got something much more heart wrenching.

He got the wrenched sob's from a shattered mother, the narrowed glares from a grieving father, and the hurt looks from an older sister who wanted nothing more to have gone back in time and looked out for her little sister. He had gotten a broken family, like he had a hundred times over when a missing loved one's case was deemed closed, and Detective William Chiles was always left to pick up the broken and tattered pieces of a now broken and burnt life.

Colt finished bandaging up my wrist, a small fracture he had called it and moved on to the deep gash in my side, the one made from the letter opener I had dropped in Dean's office. Furrowing his brows, Colt looked me dead in the eye and smirked.

“How did you accomplish this little number?”

I blushed “I kind of… landed on Dean's letter opener” I admitted. A short chuckle came next, but stopped soon after and we were left in an uncomfortable silence.

“Left up your shirt would ya', it's not easy doing this over that cheap fabric”

I scowled but complied, but not without letting him know my disdain with a curt snort.

Colt started to bandage up my waist where the gash was located, he had stuck on some sort of large band aid over it and I suppose the bandage was to keep me from knocking the injury and doing any further damage. Smiling lightly, I pushed myself off of the bench and winced. The anti-biotic Colt had put on my wound stung like shit and all I could do was lean against the nearest thing in my direction --- Colt. I heard an annoyed sort of growl and he harshly shoved me away.

“What was that for?” I demanded.

“You're not a child anymore, Skye; you can walk on your own”

I fumed, what did he mean by `you're not a child anymore, Skye'? He didn't know me when I was a child, so how would he know if I was like this? If I was so dependent I would cry myself to sleep in my parent's bedroom whenever they went out to dinner, or out to party. I stepped away from him and mentally sighed; I was reading too much into this, it was just a phrase he probably used of every one of the guys. Shrugging it off, I brushed passed him and out the door.

He didn't come after me, and I supposedly didn't care, but if I didn't care so much…

Why was it I felt such disappointment when he slammed the door closed behind him and walked the other way? Maybe it was the thought I had made him angry, that he could take off without a second thought and leave me with the notion I had done something wrong. Turning back to where Colt had made his exit, I frowned and let out a small sigh “Thanks.”

And with that, I too, made my exit.

“Maybe your starting to warm up to her”

“Or maybe I'm starting to rethink the idea of shooting her in the head, the money isn't that important” Dean's sentence broke off with a sigh “the girl's more trouble then she's worth” he mumbled.

Tessa giggled at her cousin, although they were not as close as Claudia and Dean may have been growing up, Tessa was always there to talk with and sometimes even relate to. Dean scowled at the mousy haired girl, she was supposed to take his side, not laugh as if it were a juvenile matter. He had never had this much trouble with any of his other job's, they would comply and never once did Alec Harson show any interest what so ever in his affairs, so why now?

“Dean, why did you take this job if you're so determined to make a problem of Skye Glenn? Why take this job if you knew of the consequences?”

Damn Tessa and her logics. The answers to her questions were written on the papers propped neatly in a manila folder located on his desk. Gage Myer --- he was the only reason Skye was even in Dean's grasp, he had paid Dean a hefty sum of fourteen thousand dollar's to simply keep the annoying brat in his home for a few weeks, just until the authorities simmered down in Australia, then he would fork over the remaining cash and this burden, in the form of a seventeen year old girl, would only be a forgotten memory.

If only life could be that easy.

“Money, Tee, without it, all this” Dean raised his arm's in direction of all his and his staff's belonging's “wouldn't be here, but if it losing everything my father worked hard to gain, then I would kill that girl without a second thought. I wont put my men in the firing range just for one little girl any longer”

Tessa frowned, taking a seat on the deep blue sofa “But if it were Claudia, you would gladly put Spencer, Cole, Holden, Colt and everyone else out there just to protect what your father died protecting” she got to her feet and narrowed her eyes “You know something, you wouldn't have kept the girl this long just for that bastard and I'm going to find out what”

Taking the polished hand gun Dean had been fixing, Tessa stormed out of his office and didn't hold back in slamming the door on her way out. Dean sighed in a defeated manner, if Tessa hadn't been sick the last few weeks, she could have helped protect Alice and Claudia from Harson's men, and Dean knew she was kicking herself about it. You couldn't help what the body chose to do, whether it is a cold or something more serious.

Opening his drawer and pulling out the light blue slip of copied paper he had stashed when Tessa had come in, Dean again looked it over again and raised one brow in thought. This didn't make sense at all; the birth certificate had been signed by both his parents and still that bitch had managed to send her off.

Name --- Artesia Blight.

D.O.B --- October 21st, 1990.

This couldn't be right, Dean's half sister had been born in 1989, she would be eighteen by now and perfectly legal. So why, was it when he searched over the adoption records in California and New York City, there was no records of there ever being an Artesia Blight or Artesia Collier ever being in the system between the years 1993 to 1994. The only other reasoning he had is that Jennifer Gayle, the nanny assigned to Artesia the night she disappeared, had something more to do with the crime then the elder woman let on.

Dean supposed it was time he gave dear Nanny Gayle a call, she might be surprised, but that was to be expected after twelve years of being financed from his father's account. After all, the old witch didn't really expect Dean Collister to lye down and take the disappearance of her baby sister lightly, that wasn't why he got into the crime business at all.

“She's going to wish she paid more attention to Artesia, because if she doesn't have the answer's I want, there's going to be hell to pay” he murmured. He hadn't spent five years of his life looking for his mother's daughter just to be lead to a dead end, not after the promise he made to find her safe and sound.

Final Words

Dean: “The Nanny kidnapped my sister…?”