Keep Healing (Fighting For Tomorrow #2)

CHAPTER 1

EVIE

“Hello Eight.” I heard the voice and my heart stuttered in my chest. I didn’t want to look up, but I knew I had to. I lifted my head slowly, dread and adrenaline filling me in equal measure. The delivery guy stood before me now. His baseball cap was pulled low, but I could see his face, and more importantly, his eyes. It was him. Soloman.

I frantically looked around me as my body started to tremble violently. Instantly my hands were sweating and my mouth was dry. My heart pounded so hard I worried I’d have a heart attack right there on the spot. I looked in the direction Aleks had gone, but only for a split second, too scared to take my eyes from him for too long.

“Don’t make a sound. You say anything and I’ll kill everyone here before I kill you and your little friend,” he hissed close to my ear. I felt something dig into my side and when I looked down he was pressing the barrel of a handgun into my hip. “I warned you. You broke the rules again. You know what that means,” he went on.

“Please…” I squeaked, terrified for my family and the guys, way more than for myself. If anything happened to them it would all be on me.

“Not a sound!” he hissed. “You’re coming with me. I want you to turn around and calmly exit the building. You try to do anything to alert anyone and I will shoot everyone in here, starting with the kids!” he hissed so only I could hear him.

I gave a weak nod and turned towards the door. What else could I do? I didn’t doubt his threat. He was crazy. I couldn’t risk him hurting anyone else. I pressed the release button for the door and pushed through it. Part of me was desperate for Aleks to come out and see what was going on before it was too late, and part of me was praying he wouldn’t, so there was no chance of him or Zack getting hurt.

I was shaking so badly I could barely walk. I couldn’t go back to that hell. I wouldn’t be strong enough to survive it this time. I barely survived last time,

Maybe he’ll just kill you for breaking the rules? My brain theorized. That would be preferable to ever facing his torture again. At least it would all be over quickly. I didn’t want to die. I had so much to live for. My family. My career. My guys. I thought of all four of them. We hadn’t even given these feelings between us a chance yet. I wanted that. I wanted that chance with them. I had so much to fight for. I just wasn’t sure I had any fight left in me to do it though. Not again.

Tears dripped down my cheeks as I walked away from my only safety and protection and gave myself over to the monster who had already broken me beyond all recognition.

“Move!” Soloman barked. He was right behind me, the gun pressed into my back as he shoved me to walk faster and faster across the street and away from the daycare. He was obviously nervous, looking all around him each time I glanced back to him. He knew the risk he was taking, abducting me in broad daylight. People were around us, getting into their cars, or headed for the grocery store which was just a little further down the street from the daycare, but none of them seemed to notice what was happening, no matter how much I willed them to.

Tears were silently running down my face as I hurried to move as fast as he wanted me to, but my legs were clumsy due to how badly they were shaking with the adrenaline that was coursing through my body. My heart was pounding way too hard still and my hands wouldn’t stop shaking no matter how hard I clenched my fists.

He led me a street away from the daycare and the people that had been milling around disappeared. This street was quieter, with no stores or businesses to draw people to it. He shoved me towards a car – the car he had abducted me in from the grocery store all of those months ago – the rusted, blue Camry.

He looked around him for anyone watching, then when all was clear he opened the trunk and shoved me towards it. Pressing my body between him and the car he patted my sides, then ripped my cell out of my coat pocket, taking away my last lifeline.

“In!” he hissed. I stepped back, shoving away from him, and weighing up my options. Could I get away? I knew from experience that I had little chance of getting Soloman down with my self-defense skills, but if I could just get a second to slip away, I could run like hell.

I knew if I got into that trunk, there was a chance I would end up right back in the hell he had held me in for weeks before, and I couldn’t risk that. I wasn’t strong enough to survive that again.

“Don’t,” he growled as he pressed the gun into the small of my back sharply. “I’ll kill you here, then I’ll go back for your friend.”

A sob fought to slip free as I realized I didn’t have any options. I couldn’t risk him going back to the daycare and hurting Aleks and Zack. So I swallowed back any more sobs, forced a shaky breath in, then climbed into the trunk. I lay on my side and looked up at the bastard with a glare, refusing to let him see any more weakness from me. He was stood over me, a sick, smug smirk on his face.

“You won’t win,” I told him, keeping my voice as steady as I could. “I’ll never g-give you what you want, Never!”

“We’ll see,” he smirked.

“My brothers will kill you. They’ll f-find you…I know they will. Then you’ll be the one begging f-for your fucking end!” I spat. I was terrified, but I was so angry too. This man – this piece of scum – was taking everything from me. He had taken the lives of so many innocent women, and destroyed the lives of everyone who loved them and cared about them in the process. He was a monster. Maybe I stood no chance of surviving him this time, but I was done cowering.

He looked almost taken aback by my words, his smile falling from his face, but before I could think more of the reaction, he slammed the trunk closed.

As the car started up and drove me away from Aleks, my panic just rose. Where was he taking me? Would he take me back to where he had held me before? I curled tightly into myself and just cried for a few minutes. I couldn’t have held it in if I’d tried. I was more scared than I had ever been in my life. There was no comfort in uncertainty for me. I knew what was coming. Either he was going to kill me, or he was going resume his torture until I begged him to kill me. Regardless, I was dead, because I knew I wouldn’t last long this time under his torture. I had told him he wouldn’t break me, but inside I wasn’t feeling so brave and confident.

I don’t know how long the car drove for, but eventually I managed to pull back my tears and clear my mind a little. I tried to focus on my family. At least I had gotten to speak with them. At least I had told them all how much I loved them.

I thought about the guys. I was grateful for the short time I had gotten with them all. I was stronger for knowing them. I just wished we had gotten longer together. I wish I’d kissed them all and told Harris how much he had always meant to me. I hoped they wouldn’t feel guilt that I had been taken again. They were already dealing with so much pain. I didn’t want to add to it. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. It had been inevitable that Soloman would come back for me. I had always known that, deep down. He was never going to just let me go.

But I wasn’t ready to just resign myself to defeat yet. The odds may be against me, but I was determined to keep fighting. I had a chance of escape when he eventually stopped this car and opened the trunk, and I was going to be ready. One last ditch attempt to get free, and I was going to grab it.

KAILAN

“Thanks. We’ll be in touch,” I told the client as I shook his hand and showed him out of the building. The meeting had gone well and I was pretty sure Harris and I had secured the business. The guy owned two major night clubs in Denver and had been looking for a new contract for his security personnel. It wasn’t a big contract, but it would be a nice addition to our growing company.

“What do you think?” Harris asked as I walked back into the small conference room. He was packing up his laptop, both of us planning to head back home for the afternoon to be with Evie and Zack. We’d both been keeping one eye on the clock throughout that meeting, eager for it to just be over already.

“He’ll sign on with us,” I replied confidently. “We’re offering everything he wanted, all for less than the last company. Why wouldn’t he?”

“Maybe we should start charging more. I don’t want people thinking we’re the budget option.”

“I’ve been thinking the same. Now our name is getting out there, I think we can up our rates. We have the reputation to back it up,” I agreed.

“Let’s see what Aleks thinks,” Harris suggested and I nodded my agreement as I gathered up my own laptop and notes, shoving them into my backpack.

“Shall we grab something for lunch on the way home?” I asked. We were short on food back at the house, in serious need of a run to the grocery store.

“Sure. I’ll call Aleks and see what they want. They should have picked Zack up by now.” Harris pulled out his cell, but it started ringing in his hand before he could even unlock the screen. “Speak of the devil,” he laughed as he answered.

I busied myself puling on my jacket and zipping up my backpack, ready to get out of there. I was eager to get home, and back to Evie. It was getting harder and harder to be away from her, if I were honest with myself. I couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss we shared either. It had been mind blowing. And yes, I knew how lame that made me sound, but it was true. I had kissed many women in my life, and slept with most of them too, but I had never had a moment like the one I shared with Evie that morning. It was like she had turned my whole world upside down with that one kiss. Suddenly I could see a future for myself – for both of us. I could see her light seeping into the darkness within me and pushing it back. I could see her changing everything and I wanted that. I wanted her.

“What?” Harris barked, his tone instantly capturing my attention. “What the fuck do you mean? Where is she?”

“What’s going on?” I asked as he turned to look at me, panic filling his face. He pressed the screen of his cell, then placed it on the conference table between us. I didn’t miss the way he grabbed the leather chair and gripped the top of it so hard his knuckles turned white.

“I was gone for less than three minutes. They wouldn’t let her come back with me because her name wasn’t on the list. I…I thought she’d be safe,” Aleks explained frantically. “When I came out with Zack, she was just gone. I…I checked the truck, but she wasn’t there and I’ve looked all around in case she just got scared and freaked out, but she’s not here. She’s fucking gone!”

“Evie?” I asked, dumbly. I couldn’t take it in. She couldn’t be gone. She couldn’t!

“FUCK!” Harris roared. He picked up the chair he’d been gripping and launched it across the room violently. I was freaking out too, ready to smash up the whole damned building. If that bastard had taken her again, she wouldn’t survive it. I knew she was strong, but she had already been through so much. She was barely beginning to find her feet again. She wasn’t strong enough to survive more torture. And what if he just killed her this time? I couldn’t lose her. We couldn’t lose her. We needed her.

“Guys! We need to do something. The longer he has the her, the further away he’s getting!” Aleks snapped.

“He’s right,” I agreed as I pulled my hands from pulling at my hair and looked to Harris.

“Aleks, call Nick. Tell him to do whatever needs to be done to get the cops looking for her. We can’t worry about them knowing everything anymore. We need their help to get her back,” Harris said, a calm washing over him as quickly as the anger had.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll access the surveillance footage at the daycare too. See if we can see what direction they headed.”

“Are we sure he took her? What if she just ran away?” I asked, and hoped.

“That’s what I was hoping for too, but I searched everywhere around here, and I don’t believe she’d have gone any further. She was too scared to be alone in public. I’m sure this was that fucker,” Aleks replied.

“Check the surveillance footage and let us know. If he took her, he had to have come into the building, so he should be on there,” Harris said. “We’ll meet you there, but I need to ring her brothers first. They can help us search this time.”

“Evie wouldn’t want them getting involved,” I warned, knowing how scared she was that any of her family would be hurt.

“We’re not playing this fucker’s games anymore! He has her and we need to use every resource we have to get her back before it’s too damned late!” he growled.

“Okay,” I nodded. He was right. We’d been cautious for Evie’s sake up to that point, but screw that now. We had to find her. Nothing else mattered.

Aleks hung up and I listened as Harris dialed the burner number we had for Evie’s brothers, while moving to the hidden cupboard in the corner of the room. There were several of them in the office, and in our home – hidden, secured weapon storage. We were paranoid fuckers after everything we’d been through, and wanted to make sure we were always prepared.

I pulled out three Glocks and several cartridges, checking they were all loaded and ready if required. Nick had his service weapon, but I wanted to make sure the rest of us were armed. When we caught up to this piece of shit that had her, we were taking him out. No way he got to live a second longer.

“Evie?” One of her brothers answered after just two rings, the call on loudspeaker, Harris’s cell on the table as he pulled on his coat grabbed one of the Glocks, tucking it at the small of his back.

“It’s me,” he said. “We need you guys here as soon as. Evie’s been taken.” Harris was keeping his tone calm and professional, but he wasn’t fooling me. The worry and panic were all over his face.

“What?” The voice on the call roared. “How the fuck did you let that happen?”

“We don’t have time, Kyle. You can kick my ass later. She’s already been gone twenty minutes. I’m not wasting time arguing. Get here if you want to help. I’ll text you our address. Call me on this number,” Harris leaned in to disconnect the call.

“Wait! Was it him? Does he have her again?” Kyle asked.

“We think so, but it’s not confirmed yet. Working on it now,” Harris replied as he put two spare ammo cartridges into his pockets.

“We’re coming. We’ll be there as soon as we can. Keep us updated,” Kyle said, then he hung up.

“Let’s go,” I said, walking out of the office and jogging towards Harris’s truck. Harris jumped into the driver’s side and started the engine as I slammed my door closed.

“We’re getting her back,” he told me as he sped out of the small parking lot of the office.

“Damn right we are,” I agreed. There was no other option. Evie belonged with us. She was our redemption. Our light. Our future. Without her there was only darkness and that was a future I wasn’t willing to contemplate.