Rule 5 - Domino

"No fucking way."

"Well, hello to you too, little sister. You look well. You"re alive, which is... surprising."

I cringed and looked up from the table at Burger King lobby. Georgie lay on the floor, looking as defeated as I did.

"Fabian, I am not interested in going back to the park," I repeated more firmly. I eyed my oldest brother warily. The last time I"d seen him, he was a scrawny fifteen-year-old kid. Now, he was... slightly taller, but with a much fuller mustache.

"Who said anything about coming back?" He faked a smile.

"You did when you had the police detain me for stealing my own ring. You know Dad gave me this." I pulled my chain out, flashing the heirloom.

"I wasn"t the one that reported it stolen. My mom did years ago. I just... didn"t argue it when the cops called." He shrugged. "We"ve been looking for you."

I blinked. A guilt trip wasn"t going to work on me. I had no qualms or regrets over leaving. We stared each other down for a long moment before he threw his hands up and slapped them on the table.

"Alright, fine. I assumed you were dead. We all did when we couldn"t find you. Happy?"

"Why did you start looking for me again?" I pushed.

Fabian"s jaw locked. I waited.

"There was something in Dad"s will that didn"t reveal itself until... recently."He confessed.

"And what"s that?" I had no interest in the house or any of the cars he"d had. I"d gladly sign over anything he left me right now.

"If we don"t run the park together, all four of us, then the park goes to Uncle Carlos."

The name jolted me upright. I stopped breathing. I hadn"t thought of that man since I left. Fabian took my shock for something else. He nodded.

"Right? I know. So we need you to come back and help us run things. Otherwise, he"s taking it over come September."

I swallowed the tightness in my throat. I felt it slowly make its way down my chest to knot in my belly.

"Look, I know we weren"t exactly nice to you growing up. We all kind of hated that Dad always called you his "blessing baby". But even you don"t want to see his legacy be taken over by Uncle Carlos. He"s horrible."

More than you knew.

"The park is shit. If we can take control, then we can fix things up and stop getting sued and have a decent establishment." He sat back. "Don"t you want that? Surely you remember how it was. If you come back, a lot of injuries and deaths might be prevented."

His dark brown eyes, the same ones I shared, pleaded for me to believe him.

"Nice fucking try. We both know that place was built with plastic and tape. You"d have to tear it down completely and start over." I scooted out of the booth and patted my thigh for Georgie to stand. "There"s nothing that could get me to go back."

"Wait!" He lunged for me, snatching my wrist and holding me back. "What made you try to pawn your ring?"

I tugged my hand back."If you must know, I had a friend who needed the money more than I did."

"Do they still need it?"

I hesitated, considering the question. Johnny and his family took me in when I had nowhere to go. And after I left the safety of his house, he was still there, waiting to help me. He never once made me feel unimportant and giving him the money for his surgery was only a fraction of what he deserved.

I swallowed.

"Yes, and I"ll just find someone else to sell the ring to."

"Or…" He stood. "You can come home, and I"ll pay out of my own personal bank account to get your friend what they need. You can keep your ring."

My hand went to my necklace, and I clutched the one thing that kept me tied to my past life. My root. My dad giving it to me was one of the last memories I had of him before he died. I"d been ready to give it up before, but now that I had another option to help Johnny Blue, did I want to sell it?

It was dark now as we drove up the road to our family home in an Uber.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me," Fabian muttered as we came upon the flashing lights. News vans were parked by the gates, and a dozen or so people with cameras and microphones were outside, talking animatedly. "How did they know?"

I hung my head in my hands. This was getting worse by the second. Georgie, sensing my tension, began to bark, which only made things worse. The driver stopped the car at the gates, and the press crowded us. Fabian helped me out and kept his arm stretched out over me. He raised his hands and shooed them away. "There"s no story here."

His words caused a frenzy. Their low mumbles turned into yells and screams as they hurled questions at us. I shrunk down, Georgie clinging to my side.

"Domino! Where were you?"

"Domino! Are you okay?"

"Are you here to take control of Risky Rush Park?"

"Are you pregnant?"

I was starting to feel suffocated and trapped, and when I felt trapped, I ran. Could Georgie and I burst through the crowd?

Suddenly, we heard sirens and saw flashing lights in the distance. The crowd turned as a large truck sped through the parking lot and slammed on its brakes as it turned sharply. The truck slid to a stop and someone leaped out. I couldn"t see much over the crowd, but whoever had come to save me was massive.

"We"re done here. The police are on their way. Let"s not make this a whole thing," the man said from somewhere in the sea of people. "Get the fuck out of my way." The last sentence was a growl, and it sent fear through my veins. Who was it?

The man made it to us, and my mouth fell open. Tall and muscular, like a fireman or maybe a professional football player, he was huge! His blond hair was slicked back, reminding me of a 1920s mobster, and he was covered in tattoos. It wasn't until he swung his gaze over to me that I recognized the eyes. They were cruel and startlingly handsome. His irises a familiar gray.

It was Koi Maitland, all grown up.

And someone was behind him.

A tall man with dark hair, and tattoos crawling from his chin line down his neck, chest, and arms. As he moved to block the crowd, I saw the details on his handsome face. His ears were stretched, with black plugs in them. He had a dimple on his chin and eyes the color of rainwater.

Dennis Swayze. Swayze for short.

I looked around for the other Dennis. If these two were here he had to be trailing close behind, but my attention was stolen by a voice that made fear strike my entire being.

"Mija! You"re alive!" The gates burst open, and Uncle Carlos came barreling through the crowd. Cameras clicked and flashed and people screamed over each other, each trying to get something exclusive. I stood, stiff as a board, as I tried to figure out what to do. Just yesterday, my life had been something completely different. I was with Johnny Blue, my oldest friend, and now, I was... home. But at what cost?

"Alright, clear the fuck out people while it"s still your choice," Koi shouted. He put his hand on his belt, and everyone scrambled, scattering to their vans. Koi and Swayze stayed until it was only us remaining. I stepped toward them, only to get further away from Uncle Carlos, who was trying to hug me. My knees threatened to buckle. I couldn"t do this.

"Holy shit, it"s true." A voice came from the gates. I looked to see who else was coming to join us. Mattias.

He"d stayed long and lanky, growing even more so with age. His chestnut hair was also the same length it"d always been, hanging to his shoulders, shiny with lots of luscious volume. The only real difference since I'd seen my other half-brother last was that he"d finally grown facial hair, but it was patchy at best. He opened his arms and hurled himself at me, hugging me tightly. I didn"t hug him back. He was only being nice because people were watching. He"d hoped I was dead. He sniffed and pulled back. "You, uh, might need a shower."

I held my tongue, not wanting to divulge more information than I needed to. I didn"t want them to know anything about my life after I left. Uncle Carlos pushed past Mattias to get to me. He clutched my shoulders and squeezed, not allowing me to wiggle out of his grasp.

"Ignore him. You"ve been through so much. You have returned to us! We have missed you!"

My vision grew blurry, and the world started to spin. My knees buckled, but he held me up. I inhaled the cold air, trying to steady myself, but then he pulled me to his chest, and I couldn"t take it anymore.

"I missed you," he muttered as he sniffed my hair. I opened my mouth to scream, but instead, bile rolled up into my throat, and I vomited all over him, finally getting released.