circular staircase

“I don’t care. You can’t stay,” Peter said as he handed his brother a hot cup of coffee.

When Peter saw the news alert on his phone yesterday afternoon he knew either Percy or Pearl would be appearing at his front door with an outrageous story. His triplet siblings were always pieces of work. Thank God he’d convinced Lucy to take the girls and hide out at her mother’s place. His mother-in-law had so many kids, Peter prayed his family wouldn’t be noticed. Peter didn’t want his old family’s shit spilling over into his new life. The Piggs were garbage.

Speaking of shit, Percy looked horrible but nothing permanently disfiguring. Peter figured Percy had let someone smack him in the face just to look extra pitiful. Both eyes blackened, split lip, bruises along his chiseled jaw line, the handsome triplet was a right mess. Arms crossed, Peter watched his brother drink his coffee with shaky hands.

Before dawn, Percy had broken into Peter’s house’s basement through the emergency access window. Peter had been waiting in the kitchen with a pitchfork, a pair of brass knuckles, and a carafe of black coffee. The news alert said celebrity DJ/club promoter P Squared, aka Percival Pigg, was missing, presumed kidnapped. Percy’s Mustang was found abandoned in a Walmart parking lot. The shopping center surveillance showed a dramatic scene of the D list celeb being snatched from his vehicle and dragged into a white van by two masked figures.

“Saw the footage of your capture. Sloppy work. Black ski masks and white vans what is this an afterschool special? Who did your contract? Looked like those meth head Tweedle brothers. Everyone who knows you knows you don’t shop at Walmart. You chose that location in broad daylight for the lot cameras. Pros snatch at night or early morning at a private residence. Pros use nondescript sedans or SUVs not pedofile specials. That kidnapping was pure theatre for the public,” Peter said.

“Petey, please I’m desperate. You’re right. I don’t know why I thought I could fool you. I had to fake my disappearance to throw Lupine Black off my trail,” Percy said. “I’m terrified. Help me escape. You have connections and I just need a couple of bucks.”

Percy held his jaw as if it hurt to talk. Still holding the six foot pitchfork, Peter poured himself a cup of coffee.

“But you know Lupine and his thugs will not stop hunting you because of whatever stupid caper you got yourself in with the WolfPack. If your fictional kidnapping didn’t fool me. It will not fool him. Of course, you thought it was a good idea to bring your problem to where my babies sleep,” Peter said, his voice icy.

“They have Pearly, bro. The Pack tried to snatch her from her apartment. She escaped to my condo. Then they came for us both. I got away but Lupine’s creeps caught her. I couldn’t go back for any of my money. I’m strapped. You know what Lupine will do to me—I mean do to Pearly. We need you,” Percy pleaded.

Pearl called herself a model influencer, but she was just an aimless party girl. She was Pop’s favorite and Pop had spoiled but good. Pearl was the ultimate summer grasshopper, a narcissistic child in a woman’s body who never accepted the consequences for her actions. Pearl was no damsel in distress; she was an agent of chaos.

As teens, the three of them used to boost cars to be chopped and sold through their family’s auto repair shops. Pop and his brothers fenced auto parts across the country. Peter, Pearl, and Percy used their aunt’s tow truck to steal in plain sight. The triplets were inseparable until Pearl and Percy left him holding the rap alone for $20,000 in catalytic converters.

Peter went to juvie and from there he went straight. He got a job in construction and worked his way up to general contractor. Marrying Lucy taught Peter learned what a real family was all about. Peter turned his back on the chop shops, on his life of stealing, and on the whole lot of them. He refused to be sucked in again by his blood. His siblings went the way of all Piggs.

“What are you slinging for Lupine auto parts? Drugs. Tell me Percy or I will mess up your pretty face permanently. And not just a couple of whacks with a rolled up magazine.”

Putting on the brass knuckles, Peter gripped up Percy by his shirt. Percy looked panicked.

“Okay, I’ll talk.”

Peter let go of his brother and returned to his coffee.

“It was just strippers. I had some connections at strip clubs and Pearl is a whiz at promoting and attracting girls. We secured the talent and Lupine moved the strippers in and out clubs up the coast to Alaska and back. No big deal. A few escaped. So Pearl and I took the cash that we took we were due and planned to make ourselves scarce till the heat died down. But the District Attorney wanted to make a big name for herself. So there is a grand jury,” Percy said and then caught the horrified expression on Peter’s face. “Pearl and I wanted to stop Lupine. We were going to testify against him and his people.”

Peter flung his coffee at his brother’s chest. Jumping back, Percy screamed and overturned the table.

“Get out!” Peter roared. “You’re scum.”

Percy punched Peter in the gut and knocked the pitchfork away. Peter returned a haymaker that brought Percy to his knees. The brothers wrestled in the kitchen. The stronger of the two, Peter threw Percy towards the basement door. He slammed Percy into the door over and over. Peter stepped back before he killed his brother. Lucy would be very angry if he murder someone in the kitchen. His hands were shaking.

Bleeding, Percy headed down the basement steps to exit through the window before the neighborhood woke up. In the cellar, Percy yelled back up to his brother in the kitchen.

“Okay, Petey, don’t help me. Don’t help your family. I will disappear without your dough. I just hope Lupine doesn’t come after you and that beautiful new family of yours to get to me. Bet they’re staying in at old Mama Shoe’s, right? And if I can guess where they are so can the Pack. Keep on the look out for that big bad wolf.”

Peter’s heart turned to stone. He ran to the front door. Then he returned to the kitchen to grab his pitchfork, his brass knuckles, and his bug out bag before heading out to get his family.