"Father," I heard Kaylan said calmly. "You're back early."

Bollocks. Carefully I squeezed myself into the cavity beneath the desk. Heart thudding in my chest, I crouched down in an awkward position, peering between the crack near the floor to get a better look at Kaylan's father.

Mr Hood looked weary. It was the same dark blonde hair and pressed office wear, yet now the shirt was slightly rumpled near the collar, and the eyebags beneath his eyes more prominent. Even though this man was a criminal lawyer, he was no criminal. He wasn't a man who could steal or murder without remorse, and no doubt the knowledge that he had caused his family to be caught in the middle of a bloody feud must be eating away at him like a maggot chewing through a rotten apple. 

Mr Hood stepped into the room and I watched his eyes swiveled around the space. "Were you ... going through my stuff, Kaylan?"

There was the usual shock and outrage in his voice, along with something else - a tension. So this man does have something to hide. I shifted a little bit more, and that was when my knee pressed down on the clothes hook that I had discovered earlier. The metal piece embedded in the floor of the study gave way, and a square panel of about five inches by five swung open on well-oiled hinges. Just enough space for someone to put a hand through.

I gaped.

"Yes," Kaylan was admitting, after a long stiff silence. "I was. I was trying to find our travel documents. For when we leave the country."

"How did you find out about that?"

Peering through the opening, I was unable to see what was down there. So with a deep breath, I plunged my hand inside. Almost immediately I felt something. Pulling it out, I saw that it was a folder. With trembling fingers I unwound the rope and pulled out the documents within.

Jackpot. 

Kaylan avoided the question and asked instead, "Does Mother know about this?"

A pause, then the clunk of a briefcase being placed on top of the desk, the very desk I was now hiding beneath. "No. I was planning to tell her tonight."

"She won't be happy."

"She doesn't need to be." Was that my imagination or was that a threatening growl in Mr Hood's voice? "And what were you planning to do with the travel documents when you found them, young man?"

It occurred to me there might be other stuff down there in the secret hidey-hole, so my hand went back into the opening. The bottom was the same size as the square panel, and as my fingers explored they brushed up against something else. Something cold and hard. Metallic.

With bated breath I pulled out a Beretta 92. There was nothing in Mr Hood's profile that had indicated any gun training or record of some sort. Which meant this gun was recently purchased, perhaps shortly after Eric came to steal the will. Taking no more chances, are we?

I heard Kaylan step closer to desk and he said, "Throw them away. Burn them, maybe?"

"What? What the hell for?"

"You want to leave the country, you do it, Dad. But me and Mum? We're staying here."

"Are you insane? A local crime syndicate just tried to take your thumb off and scared the skin off your mother - you want to keep staying here? No! It's not safe! For any of you!"

"And whose fault would that be, dear old Dad?"

I couldn't take the papers with me. If Black and Tan found out we were on their tail again, they would run, and we would never get that will. Spreading the papers on the ground, I took out my mobile, set it to silent and began snapping photos. 

But there were many. And judging from how Mr Hood's shoes were standing right in front of the desk now, there wasn't much time before he decided to sit down. 

Mr Hood's voice dropped in volume. "They promised me. If we go overseas - we can escape all of this! They've set it up for us, a nice little town, a nice little house, we can go away until all this is over. Just think of it like a - a vacation. A family vacation."

"And how do you know they aren't lying? What if they drag us into some dark alley and just murder the lot of us? It's a lot cheaper to silent a family of three than cover their living expenses, you know."

"Black and Tan wouldn't do that. They're nothing like that - disgusting Blackcroft family."

"They're both criminal empires, Dad!" Kaylan's voice rose in frustration. "What part of that do you not understand!"

A sudden scuffle of feet, as if Mr Hood had lunged forward and grabbed Kaylan by the lapels of his shirt.

"You do not talk back to me! I have given you a good life, an amazing house - education, luxuries and everything you desire! And you will not defy me now."

Urgh. I hate parents like these. Parents who think that just because they brought a child up, their child owes them the world. When in reality, that is what parental duty is about. The second you decide to have a child, you as the parent have the moral obligation and responsibility to ensure that your children have the best opportunities possible. The child shouldn't be made to feel like they owe you something just because they managed to get into a school and be fed three meals a day. They should be grateful, that is true, but definitely not be expected to bend backwards to do whatever their parents wanted them do, simply because their parents had given them life.

I snapped the last photo of the documents and began putting them back just how I found them. A new pair of shoes showed up at the door, and I heard Ada's voice said,

"Sir, the madam had one of her spells earlier. She's awake, and she's asking for you."

"Alright, Ada. I'll go down now." Black leather shoes striding briskly away, before stopping briefly at the door. "This isn't over. We'll talk more about it at dinner."

The door closed.

"Apple pie," came Kaylan's low voice. "You still there?"

"Yea." I crawled out from under the desk. "Wow. You have some pretty, uh, strict parents."

"You don't know the half of it. Did you find anything?"

I opened my mouth, then closed it. The less Kaylan knew, the better. Knowledge was motive for torture, and so I shook my head. "Nothing. Couldn't find anything."

Opening the window, I looked down. "I think I can get down from here. Less dangerous than the front door."

An amused snort. "You have a penchant for dropping out of windows, you know that?"

I straddled the windowsill. "Yeah well - maybe next time you'll be there to catch me?"

The moonlight caught Kaylan's eyes and seemed to make them shimmer. Gently he took a step forward, and planted a kiss on my forehead. I felt the tingling sensation awake in my stomach again. 

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "For the things my father did."

"You have nothing to be sorry about. What your father did is nothing compared to my family."

"Well, guess we have some pretty messed up families then, huh?"

I smiled. "I guess. Let's hope the apple falls very, very far from the tree."

"I'll see you at school, Hayley. Bye."

"Bye," I whispered, and dropped out of sight.

|*|

It was grocery shopping day again. Whistling, I walked down the aisle with my trolley. I was getting better at this whole independent-lifestyle thing - no more getting lost in Tesco, no more leaving the store before paying (hey, habits die hard). In fact, today I was about to try my hand at baked honey glazed chicken, which was something Mum used to make for me and Eric when we were younger. 

Little me was always so impressed whenever the big kids whipped out their knives and guns in their classes. Watching them throw blades with deadly accuracy and slash targets with no mercy. Then there was Mum, with her knives in the kitchen. Making desserts, making meals. It had given me a new sort of high. A warmth.

There came a buzz in my pocket and I pulled out my phone. A text message.

Hey Hayley. It's me, Leila. I felt my heart squeezed.

Roxy is going to kill me if she knew I texted you, haha. She's very pissed. But that's just Roxy.

Look, I don't know what's going on. All I know is you've been avoiding us a lot, and I'm hurt. Roxy is too, under all that armor of prickly bristles, though she won't admit it.

Maybe you just need space. Maybe there is something really serious going on. But we won't know if you don't tell us.

Whether you need us to give you some time or to kick your fancy-pants fiance's ass (I still don't approve of you marrying that dude, even if it is an incredibly fine dude), know that we'll be here for you.

We'll always be here.

The message ended and I felt a sharp tingling in my nose. My vision had gone a little watery. 

Jaw hardening, I shoved my phone back into my pocket. I was doing this for them. I was avoiding them for their sake. Once this was all done ... well. Either I was going down with the ship or I was starting a new life. I knew which I deserved, yet a part of me hoped - 

Still. No point dwelling on these moral dilemmas. What mattered was what had to be done. And that was taking down Jasper.

I turned the corner and nearly kissed Damian.

"What the frick - " I swore. "What the hell are you doing here?"

There was a wild look in Damian's eyes. "Did you do this?"

"Do what?"

Pulling out his phone, Damian faced it for me so I could see his lockscreen.

I raised an eyebrow. "Wow. Uhm, interesting choice of wallpaper."

"I didn't do this," Damian hissed. "And now I can't access my phone! The fingerprint has been changed and the passcode doesn't work!"

I snorted with laughter, pushing my trolley past him. "Well I guess the wallpaper is fitting, then."

Planting himself in front of me, Damian gripped the edge of my trolley with his hands and proceeded to impersonate a small immovable mountain.

"This is serious. This isn't some leisure phone - this is my Blackcroft phone! I need this. Everything is in there!"

"Everything except the location of the will," I pointed out.

"Hayley. If this phone has been hacked, we could all be in deep trouble. Tell me - did you do this?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not, Damian! I avoid you on a zealous basis; I would never get close enough to mess with your phone. As much as I would like to take credit for this excellent piece of work, this is some techno-prank-magicky-thingy, and anyone who can do this - "

The words died in my throat and the blood drained from my face.

"Is Black and Tan," Damian finished tersely.

I stared at the phone. Then at Damian. 

"Biscuits," I said at last.

|*|

I pushed the groceries to one side of my apartment's kitchen table. "When did this happen?"

"Just this morning. I woke up and the phone had gone completely insane. And the wallpapers change every three hours too - look, it should change in another two minutes."

We waited. The lockscreen dimmed, went dark, and Damian pressed the power button.

"Locked out of heaven," I read aloud. "Wow. I'm impressed."

"This isn't funny, Hayley. Black and Tan could be accessing Blackcroft's deepest secrets as we speak!"

"Pfft, I'm sure it isn't that serious. I mean, it's not like you write down the details of whatever top secret plans inside this device."

"No, but I did use this phone to call Blackcroft's high-ranking members, as well as text back and forth. So yes, although this phone doesn't have all of Blackcroft's secrets laid out like an open book, it has the contacts and messages needed to piece it all together!"

I opened my mouth. Then closed it. "Okay that sounds pretty bad," I admitted. "Well have you told Jasper?"

Damian stared at me. "Are you insane? If Jasper found out that Blackcroft has been exposed because of me, he'll kill me! I'm here because I blackmailed him into letting me tag along, do you think he won't use this as the perfect reason to get rid of me?"

"Right. You do know that I don't like you too?"

"Hayley, look." Damian stopped. There was a look in his eyes, as if he wanted to tell me something but wasn't quite sure how. "I - "

"What? Did something behind Jasper's back again, did we? What is it? Stole his convertible? Oh no wait, scratched his convertible?"

"Thomas called me on this cell," Damian said quietly.

My world went still for a moment. Of course. The time when I had been shot by Emrys and brought back to Damian's room, where he patched me up. He had been on the phone with someone, someone I had guessed to be Thomas. And I was right.

I shrugged. "So?"

Inside, my heart thudded fast.

Damian was looking at me carefully. "That means he's still alive, Hayley. He's out there."

"I don't care for him anymore," I said curtly, plucking apples out of my grocery bag.

"Why? Because you've got a new plaything called Kaylan?" I whirled around, eyes blazing, and Damian held up an appeasing hand. "Don't lie to me, Hayley. I know you still do. Otherwise you won't mind so much when I call you tigress."

I threw up my hands. "What is with guys and nicknames? First you with the tigress, then Kaylan with the apple pie, and Jasper with sweetheart? I have a name."

"Did Thomas contact you?"

I waited for a heartbeat too long before replying. "No."

"You sure?"

"Yes, Damian. Because he's dead. He's gone. He betrayed us to Black and Tan, got killed off in the process - lucky bastard didn't deserve that, he should have been tortured like - " I cut off.

"Like you were."

Opening my fridge with a little too much force, I started placing the milk inside. "Whether or not Thomas is alive, it's none of my business. And you should put it out of your head too, before Jasper finds out you're keeping secrets and goes chop chop."

Damian stepped closer. "Maybe there's more to Thomas than just the vile traitor our family painted him as. Maybe there's more to the story."

I scoffed. "Since when have you cared for your brother? With him gone you should be so much happier - yayy, no more living in the big bro's shadow."

A slight edge entered Damian's voice. "I don't live in Thomas' shadow."

"Are you sure? Because you know he cast a pretty big-ass one. Intelligent agent, excellent marksman, the better son - "

Damian shoved me so hard I stumbled backward and ended up crushing my carton of eggs.

"Hell's sake, Damian!" I yelled. "Look what you've done!"

"Well then maybe you shouldn't have gone off on things you don't understand," he hissed, eyes burning like molten lava.

Standing up, I wiped my hands before crossing my arms. "All I understand, is that Thomas Blackcroft broke his promise to stay with me, betrayed all of us, and broke my heart. That's all I need to know. And nothing he can do will possibly make me forgive him."

"What if he didn't betray Blackcroft?" Damian persisted. "What if all those are just false rumors, and it's not the whole story?"

I threw up my hands. "Well I wouldn't know what the whole story is, would I? Because in case you don't remember, the second they came back from the death trap, they dragged me into the torture chamber and had fun with me for seven whole days. It took me a month to recover, and of course no one would tell me anything because one - I am a girl, and hence completely undeserving to know what is going on and two, I am the girl of the betrayer."

I slammed the dishcloth down on the counter. "So yes, Damian, all I have are baseless speculations and rumors, because Thomas himself did not see fit to tell me anything before he went and got himself gunned down along with the rest of our family!"

Silence fell in my little apartment. My chest heaved up and down angrily, and I could hear vehicles driving past outside.

"I'm sorry," Damian said quietly. 

"It doesn't matter. I'm done. I'm done with Thomas." With each word I jabbed a finger in the air for emphasis. "And why are you telling me all this? Aren't you afraid I'll tell Jasper?"

"Will you?" Damian challenged.

I said nothing. Damian stepped closer.

"See. I know you won't. Because like me, we both have the same aim in mind - we want to get the will before Jasper gets it. I know Jasper, if he gets the will, none of us will stand a chance to hold a position in Blackcroft. All the status and power will go to his people, people whom he can manipulate to ensure their loyalties always lie with him. But if I help you get the will, and make your uncle the new mafia don - "

"Then you get rewarded handsomely. Yes. I know. So fine." I slammed the fridge door close. "What's the plan?"

"First we need to figure out how to stop this whole hacking mess. Any ideas?"

"Well don't look at me. I'm barely surviving Chemistry, I am certainly not some genius nerd - "

A gleam entered my eyes. "Actually. I know who can help."

~**~**~**~**~**~**~~**~**~**~**~

I have not updated for 7 months. This must be a record.

Well I'm back now, and hopefully I'll be able to give this story the ending it deserves soon enough. 

Here's to Warning_DemonsInside and more wicked chapters!