I looked at the crowd of people crowded together on the dark stairs at midnight, and I found myself at a loss for words.
Even Harvey had one leg wrapped in bandages and was awkwardly balanced on crutches.
“What are you all doing here?” I finally asked.
Natalie, holding up a selfie stick with her phone mounted on top, pressed a finger to her lips. Her whisper was almost conspiratorial. “Shh! Yunice, we’re here to find William.”
Next to her, my dad, Thomas, had one fist pressed against his mouth, attempting to look calm, but the way he crouched awkwardly betrayed his true state of mind. He leaned in with an exaggerated whisper as if this were some top–secret mission.
“My dear Yunice, I’ve got a tip–off. That shameless Alicia was released due to insufficient evidence about her drugging scheme. She’s planning to sneak in tonight with a spare key she’s hidden away and defile William. Quietly now, we don’t want to scare her off.”
Jimmy balanced Harvey on his arm while simultaneously texting William before glancing back at me. “Stay back and keep out of sight. If Alicia gets desperate, who knows what she might do?”
1 was utterly speechless. Honestly, they were too much. Even their gear was more elaborate than mine, and I was supposed to be the professional bystander in this family.
I felt mixed emotions. “Then, why don’t you stop her?”
Natalie waved me off dismissively. “If we stop her too soon, the most we can do is take the key back. No, we need to catch her in the act, red–handed. That’s the only way to have solid evidence against her defiling William. Otherwise, what if she comes up with some crooked ideas to harm you in the future?”
“And what about William?” I asked, torn between shock and dark amusement.
Thomas peeked around the corner of the dim hallway. “It’s okay for a grown man to be taken advantage of.”
“He…”
Ten minutes later, the entire family burst into William’s room in a flurry of righteous chaos. Cameras flashed, and shutters clicked as we caught Alicia red–handed. Draped in a slinky nightgown with her shoulder half–exposed, she was in the middle of desperately trying to pull down William’s pants.
The one caught red–handed had shock, disbelief, and panic written all over her face.
The moment was ended by a sharp scream from Alicia, followed by William waking up from the effects of the medication. His gaze brimmed with resentment as he took in the family scene.
