"Do you need help with that?" Chace asked
"No I'm fine" I assured as carrying the painting up staircase.
I wanted to start the forgery as soon as possible. It had been so long since I had been on a job - doing nothing was driving me crazy.
Uncle Nate had always preferred that I did forgery jobs more then anything else - despite my talent in other fields. This was mostly likely because he didn't like me being out on the field, being exposed to the dangers of the outside world.
The first few hours consisted of studying the piece - studying the painting mediums and the artists technique. I found a signature on the bottom right corner - PR in a messy cursive type of format. The signature was familiar but I couldn't remember where I had seen it.
PR - who's PR? I have definitely seen the signature before, but where? I ignored my sudden impulse to stop, and just kept going.
***
After non-stop painting for approximately twelve hours, I decided to take a break to avoid the risk of growing sloppy.
I walked through the kitchen to find John, Michael, Rosemary, Katie, and Miranda sitting around the table.
"Hey you still up?" John asked me as sipping his coffee.
I ripped his mug from his hand and began guzzling down the coffee. "Mmm" I nodded
"Is Chris okay?" Miranda asked me whilst flicking back her white blond hair.
Michael, Miranda and Rosemary hadn't been home in two weeks due to being on high stake jobs. Miranda had partnered up with Michael and Rosemary due to Cotton being suspended.
"Yeah he's fine" Katie started "they're sending him to stay with the Carters in Denver Colorado"
The Carter's were his mothers family, so we knew that he was in good hands. If it were anyone else we would be more concerned for his wellbeing.
"Yeah they got a program there" Rosemary nodded.
"Where is he now?" Michael asked.
"In the basement" John informed. "And Taylor I want you to go to bed...you know you can't function without sleep"
I wanted to argue - if it were any other day I would have, but that night, I had no choice. It was around two thirty am and I had been awake for something like forty six hours straight.
My eyes began to grow blurry. I couldn't risk fucking up the forgery that I had been working on.
"Yeah I might" I yawned as passing John his empty mug.
"You mean you will" he reinforced as furrowing his eyebrows.
"I mean I will" I rolled my eyes "buonanotte" I waved at my family as walking out of the kitchen.
"Is it true?" Rosemary lowered her voice. "...How she talked Chris out of it?"
"Yeah" Katie sighed in concern "everything you heard was true"
"Jesus" Michael cried.
"It was scary shit man" John admitted.
"But c'mon surely you guys knew that it was just a plan...I mean she wasn't actually going to pull the trigger" Miranda told them.
"You weren't there" Katie said "She was actually going to do it....if Chris fired first it would have released a domino effect and they knew that"
I wasn't ease dropping - I was climbing up the staircase, half a sleep and the volume of their voices was making them merely impossible to ignore.
I honestly didn't care about what they were saying because it was the same bullshit I had been hearing from everyone else since that day.
"Maybe we should be sending the both of them to Denver" Rosemary suggested.
I made it to the second floor of my family's mansion, where I found uncle Nate sitting at his desk in his office with a legal pad and his computer sitting in front of him.
"You still up?" I folded my arms.
"Taylorina do you know what time it is?" Uncle Nate said as I stood under the door frame of his office.
"Yeah that's why I said you still up" I rolled my eyes.
"Go to bed" he ordered as looking down at his legal note pad, not even acknowledging my existence.
I took that opportunity to ask him about PR. I knew that I had seen those initials somewhere before.
"Hey who has the initials PR?" I asked with a slight smile. Uncle Nate shot his head up with fury in his chocolate brown eyes. "I'm doing a forgery for Nick Jeremiah" I informed.
"He didn't listen" Uncle Nate said under his breath as taking off his reading glasses, and rubbing his eyes with his finger tips. "I knew this would happen and he didn't listen"
I blinked in confusion. "Uh-"
"Taylorina go to bed" Uncle Nate ordered as reverting his gaze back to me.
"Tell me who painted Evangelina" I begged "and I know that you know what I'm talking about"
Evangelina was the name of the painting that I was forging.
Uncle Nate somehow always knew everything. My theory was that he himself had a dark secret that he was forced to protect. Therefore he had to be two steps a head of everybody else at all times.
"Its none of your concern" he narrowed his eyes.
"Actually it is" I snapped "considering that I'm doing the forgery so therefore its crucial for me to know-"
"Taylorina if I get into this now, you'll dig deeper and we'll lose you! I can already see it playing out in front of me" he looked down.
At that point he was rambling like a delusional old man, making no sense at all.
"What are you talking about?" I gasped in fear and confusion "What does this painting have to do with anything?"
"The Jeremiah's knew that you were the last person who I wanted involved" he shook his head. "Did they tell you that you were the only one who could paint Evangelina?"
"Uhhh..." I scratched the back of my head.
"Santa Maria" he looked up at the roof and did the sign of the cross.
"Uncle Nate who painted Evangelina?" I asked him.
Uncle Nate looked at me in fear. "Paige Ricci" he sighed. "Your mother"
I never knew my mother's last name till that day.
"My...." I trailed off.
"You and your mother use the exact same painting technique so in order for the forgery to look authentic they needed you to do it"
"Ricci?" I questioned "Italian?"
He nodded slowly.
"You thought that if I knew her last name than I would dig into my mothers side of the family" I raised a brow.
"Am I wrong?" He folded his arms.
No I guess not.
"I've never heard of them are they in...this business?" I cleared my throat.
"Yes" he admitted hesitantly. "....They're aligned with the...Larrunzarios"
"What....." I widened my eyes, as taking a step towards my uncle.
"Taylorina I have met some dangerous people in my line of work but you're mother...is by far the most dangerous...she's so manipulative"
Uncles Nate was very quiet, he could never hold a conversation to save his life but the most that I've ever heard him speak was when he warning me that night.
"In what way?" I asked, not so sure if I wanted to know the answer.
"She can work a mind like no one I've ever seen" he looked me in the eye "Taylorina if you ever come across Paige Ricci....promise me you'll run in the opposite direction!"
"Surely she's not that bad-" I rolled my eyes naively.
"Taylorina!" he firmed his gaze.
I didn't understand at the time why my uncle fear Paige so much. I had been exposed to so many dangerous people in my life, I thought I had nothing to fear. I was very wrong -
As I would learn later.
"Alright" I nodded slowly.