The frame of his body filled most of the doorway with a dark shadow, I cowered in fear as the person who had just tried to kill me stepped into the light.

"Corey?" I asked, both surprised and afraid.

"Who else?" He simply replied, stepping farther from the shadows.

"B-but why?" I stammered.

"What do you mean why? Don't you know? Cato asked me to keep an eye on you, I see I made it just in time. One more minute and blondie would have corrupted you forever." He stated, pointing towards Audrey who was hiding behind me.

I was surprised that I wasn't hiding behind her.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused.

"I dunno. What are you talking about?"

"He's talking about the knife that almost killed him!" Audrey exclaimed.

"What knife?" Corey asked.

I pointed at the blade sticking out of the side of the bookshelf. "That one."

Corey briskly walked over to the knife and pulled it out.

"I hope that none of my dad's books got damaged;" Audrey stated, pulling out the last book on the shelf to examine it. "He'd be so mad."

She opened the cover of the book and a photo slipped out and drifted towards the floor.

Audrey didn't seem to notice, so I picked it up.

On the front was a family picture. There was a mother with short blonde hair and green eyes holding a tiny baby in her arms, a scrawny little boy who looked similar to her to the right, and a younger looking Bad News with his hand on the boy's shoulder.

Dan flipped it over to read the neat handwriting on the back. It said;

The Fear Family
Bad News, Charlie, Tessa, and Audrey

"Charlie is your brother?" I exclaimed.

"What?" Audrey asked, spinning around. "Where did you get that?" She quickly snatched the picture from my hand and stuffed it into her pocket.

"Where did he get what?" Corey asked, turning to face us.

"Nothing." Audrey stated, shooting me the "we'll talk about this later" look.

"Whatever." Corey mumbled, turning back to the knife in his hands.

Audrey looked like she was going to say something, but someone else beat her to it.

"No way! It's Corey and Dan!" A tall, baby faced guy with long dark hair said as he stumbled into the room.

I recognized him immediately.

"Sarki?" Corey asked, his face a mixture of horror and astonishment.

"In the flesh, my man." He said with a snort.

"What happened to you?" I asked, unable to contain the question any longer.

"I could ask you the same thing." He shot back, looking me up and down. "I never thought I'd see little scaredy cat Dan on the Wicked Side, but here we are." He snorted, then laughed his booming, annoying cackle that filled the whole room.

"And just what do you think you're doing in here?" Audrey demanded, giving Sarki a look of pure disgust.

"Chill out!" Corey yelled. "He's our friend Mark's older brother, and quite frankly I like him more than you."

Audrey's eyes widened as her jaw dropped open. "I can't believe how rude you are!" She shouted, crossing her arms and stomping out of the room.

Once she was out of earshot, Sarki leaned closer to Corey and said, "Daddy's girls, am I right?" He snickered after saying this, then pivoted and stumbled back out of the room.

"Wait, where are you going?" Corey shouted after him. All I heard was a muffled answer, followed by a minute of silence before Corey shouted again. "Cameras!"

I looked at him, confused. "Cameras?"

"Yeah, cameras!" He shouted once more, moving toward the doorway. "I'm so going to kill that son of a bi-" He started, the rest of his sentence fading into a mumble as he stomped out of the library.

"Wait, who are you killing?" I called after him, running to keep up.
~

Corey

"No. And that's my final answer." Cato said, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed.

"Yes." I spat through gritted teeth. "And you're going to do it now."

"No. And do you seriously think I want to be the one to tell Bad News his daughter is sneaking boys into his private library?" He shot back. "Because I can tell you right now, any boy I see alone with her gets put on the top of my kill list," I could practically hear Dan's heart start beating faster. "How do you think her father will react?" He paused. "Exactly, I'm not asking him for that security footage."

"I don't care!" I yelled back, getting really angry. "My friend's life is at risk, so I don't care about your stupid drama, I don't care about your relationships, and I don't care about your reasons! Just get it done!" I finished, slamming my fist on his stupid desk he was hiding behind.

He paused again for a second, meeting my angry stare. "No. I won't."

He said it so stubbornly, like such a jerk that I couldn't contain my anger. I thought of throwing punches, but then decided on going the more petty route. I turned toward Dan and he immediately stood up from his chair in fear. I wasted no time picking it up and slamming it onto Cato's desk until I saw real damage. Throwing what was left of the chair onto the floor, I slowly walked out, Dan at my heels. As we left I heard Ava, who had joined us on our way to Cato and Charlie's office, start making remarks.

"I hope that desk wasn't too expensive!" She shouted, giggling on her way out. "Good luck finding a new one!"

I kept walking until I could see the building Bad News stayed in. Dan kept whimpering about Cato being angry, but I ignored him. Just as we were getting to the door, Audrey popped out of nowhere.

"Hey guys!" She exclaimed, seeming too cheerful and energetic, even for her.

"What do you want?" I growled, still ticked off.

"I...um..." She stammered, looking around. "Do you uh...want to um...see my garden?" She finished, pointing at a fenced area near the house.

"No." I answered, grabbing Dan's wrist and briskly walking up the steps to the house.

"But I really need to talk to Dan." She added, jumping in front of me.

"And I really need you to go away." Ava answered, stepping beside me and staring her down.

"Yeah, we have some important things to discuss with your dad." I added.

Audrey's shoulders slumped as she rubbed her forehead with her fingers. She took a deep breath in before quickly saying,

"My dad isn't seeing anyone. Someone broke into our house and stole some stuff, just please, don't go in there, it'll only make him angrier."

"What was stolen?" I asked, dread slowly filling my body.

"Nothing super big," She began.

I knew what it was before she even said it.

"Just some surveillance footage, I think it was from the cameras around his private library."