217 Quandary

"Did you know he was coming?" asked Gael.

She let out a sigh and shrugged. "If I did, I wouldn't have tried to take my top off for you, but oh well…"

Angela spun around so fast; she gasped when he caught her elbow and whirled her around. "Ignore him then and do what you're about to do. Maybe he'll go away…" He dipped his head down until his lips landed on her neck. Her knees nearly buckled if she hadn't clutched around his shoulders.

She giggled at his eagerness. If only she could really ignore her brother. What was he doing here anyway? Maybe it was because of the orphanage? With that thought in mind, she reluctantly pulled herself away from Gael's hold and rang her brother up. 

"I guess we'll take a raincheck on the shower? You go ahead… Use the one in my bedroom. I don't have stuff in the other one yet," she told him.

He exaggeratedly exhaled a sigh as if stumped that nothing was happening, making her laugh. Then as he strolled into her bedroom, he just had to say, "I guess I'll try to be quiet then. I can be loud when I really enjoy it...the shower, I mean." He winked.

"Oh, my god." Rolling her eyes and smiling so wide, Angela threw her face towel at him, and he caught it. She knew he was referring to when he climaxes. Now, she wouldn't be able to erase the thought of Gael jerking off in her bathroom.

"Babe, I think you meant to throw your underwear… But I'll make this work." 

"Just go, already! Oliver's gonna be here any minute."

The devil laughed and closed the door behind him. She heard him whistling behind the closed door. "You're gonna be the death of me."

Soon, Oliver arrived in her apartment, and the first thing he noticed was Gael's duffel bag in the hallway. "You got company?" His eyes swept across the living room and kitchen but didn't find anyone.

Angela went to the kitchen sink and started to take out cups and saucers, offering her brother a drink. "Gael's here. He's in the shower," she casually answered. Then she realized how that must have sounded to her brother, so she quickly whipped around to take back what she said, only to see Oliver's brows draw together.

Of course, you hear a girl saying the guy she was seeing was in her shower, and you'd think it's either post or pre-sex. For them, it could have been during. She shook her head. "It's not like that."

"What is it then?" Oliver cocked his brow. Sometimes, he could be really protective even now when she was already older—not that she blamed him—after what happened to her in the past. 

He shook his head and took over what she was doing—preparing a capsule coffee for him on her Keurig machine. Oliver chose a dark roast coffee from Green Mountain—a very bold flavor but not as strong as espresso. He slotted the k-cup into the machine, pressed a button, and it began to work. "Believe me. I'm still processing the fact that a person can do such a thing. I get corruption—not that I'd ever condoned it—but to use innocent lives, children, for fûcking selfish reasons… That guy is sick."

"Ugh. Thinking about it makes me mad again!" She leaned her back against the counter and leaned her head back on the floating cabinet behind her. "Have you talked to Jenkins? What did he say?"

"He'll look into what we can do about it. He hadn't handled a case like this before, but he knows someone who does, so he's consulting. Meanwhile, we're checking on previous cases regarding...orphanages that were closed down because of a similar thing—"

"There's plenty?" Her eyes widened in shock. She knew that trafficking exists, but to actually know about it personally and not just see them on the news or read about them on the internet is different—actually hearing about it firsthand made it feel all so real.

"Unfortunately...yes. Actually, an article was written about possible trafficking somewhere outside of Harbor City last week. There were choppers in the air and armored vehicles going towards a rural area or something...but the article quickly disappeared a few hours later. I only heard about it after Jenkins's first consultation with his peer. I guess the government wanted to keep it quiet. It's either that or something else happened. We don't know. But the journalist who wrote that didn't talk about it anymore after that." He shrugged.

"So we just wait?"

"There's nothing we can do."

"Can't we report this to the police or something? We have the recording…"

Oliver shook his head. "You know recordings like this aren't admissible in court. It's illegal to take it without the permission of the parties. And the police… Well, we already know why."

"Right… Congressman Mitchell's brother-in-law is the chief." She groaned. "I hate these people."

"Hmmm. So unless we have solid evidence… We can't do anything. I'm sorry, Anj."

Angela didn't know what to say. The Sus had money, that wasn't the problem. But what was money when the people they were supposed to go up against had the system in their hands? Politicians ran the country. Once again, it was proven that justice was nothing when you or your family had someone with a military or police rank.

The room was silent for a few minutes. Oliver's coffee was ready, and the two remained in the kitchen. He glanced at the door to Angela's bedroom, and he lowered his voice as if making sure that only his sister would hear him. "I didn't come here because of the orphanage."

Her brows raised in question, and when she looked up at her brother, she saw the concern in his eyes—the kind where he's truly worried. "Why did you come here then?" she hesitantly asked.

"I didn't think about this the first time. I guess it slipped my mind. But after what happened this afternoon, I thought about the two of you…" He nodded in the direction of her bedroom. "It's him, isn't he? From your book? The one from three years ago?" 

It was clear to her that he was referring to Gael. And while she dreaded to talk about the inevitable, all she could do was nod. "Yeah."

"Shît. Why didn't you tell me?" Oliver rubbed his jaw, looking as if he didn't know what to do with the information.

"What do I tell you? Hey, Oli… Remember that guy in my book? Yeah, he's back." Angela's voice dripped with sarcasm. "We talked about this. I don't want to think about it anymore." She began to busy herself, turning around and wiping down the already spotless counter. Sometimes, she liked to clean to occupy herself—mostly when she didn't want to think about something.

"Anj… I know you said that. I'm not...attacking you. I just...want to know—"

"I'm okay, Oliver. It's been three years."

Oliver set the cup on the counter, resting his hands on his waist and then catching his sister's elbow so she'd face him. He glanced at the door again and lowered his voice even more. "Does he know? Did you tell him?"

Angela clenched the rag tightly, her heart ramming in her chest. "Not everything. He...knows I—that I wrote about him…"

"But what about...the other stuff... The one you don't want to talk about? Does he know...that Evan—"

"Oli. Stop." She gritted her teeth.

"Okay." Oliver raised his hands. "I just… Don't you think he should know?"

She swallowed. This was a question she had been avoiding to answer—or even think about—the moment she saw Gael again. Crossing her arms under her chest, her expression softened when she seriously looked at her brother. "If it were you, would you like to know?"

"Fûck. Way to throw the question back at me." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know, sis. I think I'd be pissed either way. But you know you can't keep this forever."

"I don't know if I can tell him…"

Oliver ran his hand over his mouth and exhaled a sigh. "Look. I know I've been telling you I don't trust this guy… But I forget that you're old enough to judge a person's character. He's still shady for me, but if you think he's...okay. That you can trust him… Whatever you two have going on, I think he has to know. Who knows… Maybe he's the one who can put an end to this whole Evan thing."

"You think so?"

He shrugged. "I'm just sorry I can't be a better brother."