The Ahern Brothers Collection - Claudia Burgoa Page 0,70
wounds. I just don’t understand why her and not the other one. My Ava was good and pure. So innocent and smart. Abigail said something about three men getting into the house. She was able to hide in the closet, but not my poor Ava. I don’t know if that’s true because she confuses fantasy with reality.
She said that the men, that they abused Ava before killing her. They took our things. Money, computers, and some of my equipment. I guess it was more than one because they were able to make off with almost everything I own. Abigail said more but I can’t believe much of what she told me. As I said, she’s mentally ill and her head is all mixed up.
“He said that?” she howled. “Of course, he did. If I ever talked, it’d be the word of a crazy person against his.”
“There’s more,” I offer.
“It’s all a bunch of lies.” Her nails cut into the back of her neck. I flinch but don’t say a word.
“Did he mention Shaun?”
I scan through the documents for the name without reading the rest. There’s no son or anyone named Shaun mentioned in any of the papers.
“No.”
She breathes deeply, closes her eyes and lets out the words, “I’m going to lose you, and it’s okay.”
“What are you talking about?” I feel as if a steel band cuts through my chest cleaving me open. She’s ready to stab me with a knife.
Her eyes open, her gaze remains fixated on the papers. “This was amazing while it lasted, and whatever happens next will be for the best.”
“I’m not a good person. On the contrary, I have done bad things.” She presses her lips together. “Illegal.”
My heart thunders inside my ribcage waiting for the story.
“Corbin was an entrepreneur. If you asked what he did, he’d say that he was in media and ran a pharmaceutical shop.”
“A pharmacy?” I frown.
“No, that’s the fancy way of saying he was a drug dealer. If you needed a painkiller, he had all kinds. His websites were porn sites.”
Abby
Six months after mom married my life was better. Mom ignored me for the most part. She never cared about my whereabouts or even acknowledged me. Marriage suited her. Her relationship agreed with me. I had finally shed the abuse from my life. Although, my house changed a lot during the first few weeks after the Stanley’s moved in with us. We had a daily parade of strangers coming and going into the basement. Some stayed for only minutes and others … I never saw leave.
I didn’t pay much attention because I went to school and worked part time outside of the house. However, the late noise bothered me. Corbin and Shaun watched TV in the basement. It was loud. Women wailed, and men grunted. Cries for more or to take it harder, bitch went on and on. One night, I heard mom complaining.
“Shaun was watching porn,” she whined.
It was troubling to see the mean witch behave like a teenager in love. Corbin had a big hold over her. Had it been anyone else, she’d have yelled until the other person begged for forgiveness.
“He’s an adult and watching adult movies is healthy,” Corbin defended him.
“Fine, but can you ask him to turn it down a little?”
“We’re renovating the place, so you won’t hear much noise in a couple of months.”
“As long as you pay the bills,” she said with disdain. “I don’t care what happens downstairs. But maybe he should look for a woman instead of just watching that trash.”
My ears perked up because that didn’t sound right. Shaun was downstairs watching porn twenty-four-seven? He had too much time on his hands. Either way it didn’t affect me. My life was outside of that house. I could do almost anything I wanted—even run away. I wish I had done that. During the week, I spent all day in school and in the evenings, I was working.
A few weeks later I heard Corbin say, “We’re soundproofing the basement, babe. The construction crew is coming in today to start tearing up the walls and building a couple of rooms. One of them will be my office. They’re replacing the sliding glass doors in the back. Shaun has visitors often, and I don’t want them to intrude.”
True to his word, the noise stopped. The number of visitors however, increased. From my window, I watched as guys came through that new basement door. Ava wandered downstairs too. She’d be gone when I arrived home