The Arrangement 11 Read online

  I pull on the modest dress and change my shoes to a ballet flat. There’s make-up remover and a pair of glasses. I lighten my eye shadow and lipstick, and then pin back my hair. After I put on the glasses, I look like a vintage Jackie O. I blink at my reflection, heart pounding, and try to look normal.

  It feels like everyone is watching me, but no one even glances my way. People are huddled together, talking in quiet tones, saying things that I can’t hear. A couple passes me after showing their room key to the guards at the door while others do the same thing at the elevator bank. A man hurries past me and out the front doors. He’s wearing a suit with a red tie.

  His voice booms as he explains, “There was an unfortunate event here this evening, and we don’t want to make it more difficult on the family than it already is. Please separate...” his voice dies as the doors close behind him.

  It’s not true. It can’t be. I don’t know what happened in that room and I can’t leave this place until I find out. I don’t care what Black does to me or if I incriminate myself. I’m frozen in place, halfway between the doors and the elevators when my phone vibrates.

  It’s Marty. I pick up without thinking and he starts spewing questions at me before I can say anything. “What the hell happened? Are you guys all right? They said on the news that there’d been a violent crime, but they didn’t say anything else. Then, Ferro’s name popped up and, my God—tell me that you’re all right. Tell me that bastard didn’t hurt you.”

  “I’m fine. He didn’t hurt me. Sean didn’t hurt anyone, but I think something happened to Mel. Gabe is waiting for me outside. He wants to take me back to Black’s but I can’t leave her here. I can’t leave.” My voice trails off and I already realize what I’m doing. Walking past the guard, I flash my room key card and step into the elevator, and press the button.

  Marty is scolding me, telling me to get the hell out of there, but I don’t understand the rest. As soon as I’m standing in the metal box, the connection is lost. I turn off my phone and shove it into my purse, and press the button.

  When the doors open I have a strange sense of déjà vu, except last time I was here, I was happy. Glancing down at the ring on my finger, I take a step. I’m out of the elevator and onto the hallway carpet. There’s a uniformed police officer with his back to me. Someone inside the room is talking to him. Every step I take feels unreal as I brace myself for whatever I might see. Mel can’t be dead, she can’t be, but when the open doorway comes into view I freeze.

  There’s a limp, mocha-colored wrist lying on a blood stained carpet. The manicured fingers are curled and still. Her forearm disappears beneath a white sheet and the black bead from her bracelet is shattered next to her on the carpet. I stand there and stare, unable to move. My mind rejects what my eyes are telling me. Everything around me floats away as horror slams down hard on my shoulders, making my knees buckle, and forcing me to the floor.

  COMING SOON:

  THE ARRANGEMENT VOL 12

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  THE PROPOSITION

  Bryan Ferro

  A Ferro Family serial coming November 2013!

  THE PROPOSITION

  Vol. 1

  The sky is clear except for a few white glittering stars. They’re hung high out of reach, impossibly beautiful and distant. The air has that crisp fall scent, and I know there will be frost tonight. Dad would have covered his plants with plastic to get a few more weeks from their fragile lives. The tarp is in the basement, still folded, where he kept it. The pansies will freeze and fade. This is their last night in this house, as it is mine.

  Pushing the swing on the back porch with the tip of my foot, I start it swaying again. Life is so fleeting, so meaningless. The hole that’s swallowing me is relentless. I thought I’d cry more, but I haven’t even been able to do that. The tears won’t fall. Neil says it’s because my father’s death hasn’t hit me yet, but it has. The weight of his loss is pressing so hard on my shoulders that I can’t lift my face from the dirt. For all those years, it was just the two of us. He was always there for me. He saved me from incomprehensible misery and now that he’s gone, I find myself back in the shallows, unable to escape.

  My eyes sweep over the wooden fence, taking in the rotten boards. Things were tight and I knew Dad sacrificed for me, I just had no idea how much until now. My college bills, my car, and all the things I needed were paid for without a blink, but I never stopped to wonder where the money came from. Dad worked hard, so I assumed it was enough.

  I was wrong.

  There hasn’t been enough for a long time, and I had no idea. He never said anything. When I came home from classes at the end of the day, he’d hand me a twenty and tell me to be a kid and go have fun. He said stuff like that all the time. It makes me wonder if he knew what was coming, but there’s no way he foresaw this.

  When I came home from class last week, I found him in the yard, face down in a pile of leaves. My throat tightens and I push away the memory. It’s not something that I ever want to see again, but it lights up over and over again. My senses are overloaded. I can still feel Dad’s cold skin and the weight of his lifeless body as I rolled him over. The texture of his tattered flannel jacket is still on my fingertips. The sound of my strangled voice crying out his name over and over again still rings in my ears. I never felt so afraid. For the first time in a long time, I am alone.

  My phone is on the wooden swing and chirps next to me. I don’t feel like talking. Silence has encased me inside a tomb of misery since that day. Neil stood next to me and held my hand until hours blurred into days. Neil didn’t want to leave me alone here tonight, but I insisted. It’s my last night in this house. I’ll never step over the threshold again. I’ll never catch the scent of my father’s aftershave in his little bathroom. All the memories will be lost and it will be like he never existed.

  ~COMING NOVEMBER 2013~

  The Story of Bryan Ferro

  MORE FERRO FAMILY BOOKS

  SECRETS & LIES

  Coming Soon

  BRYAN FERRO

  ~THE PROPOSITION~

  Coming in November 2013

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  SEAN FERRO

  ~THE ARRANGEMENT~

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  PETER FERRO GRANZ

  ~DAMAGED~

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  JONATHAN FERRO

  ~STRIPPED~

  MORE ROMANCE BOOKS BY

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  DAMAGED

  DAMAGED 2

  STRIPPED

  SCANDALOUS

  SCANDALOUS 2

  SECRETS

  THE SECRET LIFE OF

  TRYSTAN SCOTT

  And more.

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  THE ARRANGEMENT VOL. 11

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