Keep Healing (Fighting For Tomorrow #2)

CHAPTER 20

EVIE

Mom and Dad were waiting on the front steps for us as we pulled into the gates at their house, despite the fact it was snowing pretty hard outside. I was nervous about going back in there, but not about seeing my mom and dad. None of what had happened the night before was their fault.

“Stay with us, Ev, okay? Kyle is not in a good place right now and I’d prefer he didn’t get you alone,” Harris said as he turned from the front passenger seat to look at me.

“He’d never hurt me, Harris,” I assured him.

“I know that, but he would say things that would upset you and I’m not going to allow that,” he almost growled.

“It’ll be fine. Lets just get inside,” I suggested.

As soon as I was out of the car I went straight to my parents and wrapped an arm around each of them as they held me too.

“I’m so sorry, honey about what happened. We’ve given Kyle a piece of our minds, as has Livy. She’s fuming with him. I think he’s seen the error of his ways now,” mom told me, sounding almost tearful.

“Did you give the disk to the FBI?” I asked my dad.

“First thing this morning. They said it will be analyzed for any info they can get from it, mainly about the location. The agents on the case will be the only ones to see it,” he assured me.

“Where did you stay last night?” mom asked.

“A friend arranged an apartment for us. It’s really secure and we have the security guys,” I nodded behind me to where the three security guys from the night before were spread out around the car we just got out of, watching all around them.

“Do they want to come in?” Dad asked.

“No. Harris said they’ll stay in the cars out here.”

“Come on then, let’s all get inside and get warm,” Dad added as he beckoned the guys to follow us into the house.

As soon as I walked in I could hear Livy and my brothers talking in the kitchen, and I followed the sound, determined not to hide from them. They were my brothers and I loved them – all of them – even if one of them was acting a dick right now.

“Xander!” I cried when I walked into the kitchen and found him stood at the counter. I hadn’t seen him since we got back and I’d missed him so much. He was always my closest ally when it came to fights with my brothers – always the most level headed and likely to see things from my side. I ran right over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, hugging him hard as I fought not to cry again.

“Hey, half pint,” he greeted as he hugged me too. “I missed you. How are you doing?” he asked as he slid a finger under my chin and lifted my face until our eyes met. He frowned when he looked me over.

“I’m okay, just tired,” I shrugged.

“You’re pale and shaky. Have you been eating?” he asked.

“Not enough,” Harris cut in.

“I eat when I’m hungry. I just had a sandwich!” I cried defensively.

“You need to eat and sleep more. I’d like to take some bloods too. I think you might be anemic.”

“Xand, please just be my brother and not my doctor right now,” I sighed. “I’m fine.”

“Was everything okay last night? The place you stayed secure?” Matt asked, and I looked across to where he sat at the counter. Cole was beside him, and leant against the wall, off to the side stood Kyle, a scowl on his face. Kade and Livy were in the kitchen with Xander, all of them in the middle of cooking something by the looks of things.

“It’s on the thirtieth floor of an office building downtown, with a full security team. It’s safe,” Kailan snapped. It was so unlike him to be so short, but I got why. My brothers were doubting his ability – all of their ability to keep me safe and it was obviously pissing my guys off.

“We’re fine, guys,” I told them. “Stop worrying. Harris, Kailan, Nick, and Aleks are trained for this kind of situation and much worse. They can and will keep me safe.”

“Damned right we will,” Nick agreed as he came closer and wrapped an arm around me.

“Our place is secure, but yours may not be. That’s why we’re here,” Aleks spoke up. “I think you have a bug or a mic in here. Maybe multiple. I want to sweep the place.”

“No, we checked the place when you first called us,” Kade denied.

“Yeah, before Soloman was on your property leaving bodies. He could easily have gotten inside here too, amidst the chaos to plant equipment,” Harris pointed out, and I watched as my brothers looked to each other with worry.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Kade agreed. “You have what we need?” He looked to Aleks who nodded and patted the bag he had over his shoulder, filled with equipment Asher’s security team had leant to him, to look for bugs. “Let’s go then.”

Aleks followed Kade from the room, Cole right behind them. Matt went to the kitchen to help Livy and Xander.

“What are you making?” I asked as I looked to Livy.

“Matt’s spicy chicken casserole. I thought you guys might want to stay for dinner?” she offered warily. “Kyle will behave. We’ve had words, very loud angry words,” she added with a glare to the man himself.

“Kyle is standing right here,” he threw back as he stepped forward and came closer to me. Harris, who seemed to be keeping a close eye on Kyle, was instantly at my side again. “Can we talk, Evie? Please?”

“That depends on the tone this talk will take,” I replied as I glared at him. “I can’t tell you what you want to know Kyle, because I can’t even think about that hell, and I….I can’t forgive you for watching that damned disc. You really hurt me.”

“I know. I get that now. It was a really fucking stupid thing to do and I am so sorry. I just…I feel so much guilt for everything you’ve been through. I’m your brother. I should never have allowed that to happen. I just thought if I knew more…knew what you went through…I don’t know. I just felt like I needed to know,” he huffed as he flopped down into a seat at the counter looking exhausted and filled with guilt.

“It wasn’t your fault, Kyle,” I started as I took a seat beside him. “It was no one’s fault except the psycho who grabbed me. I couldn’t stop him and neither could you. No one could. You have to let that guilt go, because it’s ridiculous and it’s making you someone none of us even recognize. Mom was right last night – you actually scared me. I have never once in my whole life felt anything but safe when you were near, but last night…all of that anger, it scared me, Kyle. That’s not you.”

“I’m so fucking sorry, little bit. I never want you to be scared of me,” he said as he sat up and put his hand over mine. “I love you so much. When we thought we’d lost you, it killed me, Evie. It happened all over again. I failed you all over again, just like I failed Riley.” There were tears in his eyes and every word implored me to understand. And I did. Riley was Kyle’s little sister by blood. When he was around twelve or thirteen, their no good father handed Riley off as payment for some deal gone wrong. By the time Kyle got to her, she was dead. She’d been shoved in a cupboard and suffocated to death. He had never forgiven himself for that, and I understood how me disappearing must have taken him right back there again. That didn’t excuse what he’d done, but I did get how messed up he was feeling. He was wracked with so much misplaced guilt.

“You didn’t fail Riley and you didn’t fail me either. What happened to Riley was beyond your control and you know that deep down, just like what happened to me was too. But Kyle…I’m here, right here,” I told him as I turned my hand under his and interlocked our fingers. “I got away. I survived. Now you have a choice. You either put the guilt to bed and help me get the bastard who hurt me, or you carry on as you’ve been and keep pushing me away.”

“I don’t want to push you away, Evie,” he told me. “And I really want to catch the sonofabitch who hurt you.”

“Then let’s do that. Can we just put this behind us and move forward, please? I miss my brother,” I pleaded.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he sat forwards and wrapped me tightly in his arms. “I’ll try to stop fucking up. Promise.”

“Just please try to stop being a dick to the guys I love. I’ll settle for that right now. They’re good men, Kyle.”

“Good men who keep putting their hands on my baby sister,” he growled, but it had a teasing tone to it.

“Just give them a chance, for me? I don’t think they’re going anywhere any time soon,” I warned him.

“So are you staying for dinner?” Xander asked as Kyle and I pulled apart from our hug. I turned to look at Harris and Nick, who were closest to me. It was up to them. They were the ones who had been made to feel pretty unwelcome so far.

“If it’s what you want, sweetheart, then we’re good with it,” Harris replied.

“Great!” mom declared before I even answered. “Now hand that adorable little munchkin over to me. I bought him something at the store yesterday.” She held her hands out to Nick, who held Zack in his arms. The little guy had just woken from his nap, so he was still all cuddly and quiet.

He went happily into my mom’s arms and I saw her melt right there on the spot when he cuddled into her and rested his head on her shoulder.

“He’s still a little sleepy after his nap,” Nick told her.

“Maybe we’re not too old for more kids, Grant?” mom said as she looked to my dad.

“I think when we already have multiple grandchildren, we probably are a little old, Keira,” Dad explained with a roll of his eyes. He looked to me with a grimace, then followed mom towards the living room.

“Please tell me she’s not being serious?” I asked, looking to Livy, Xand, and Matt.

“Who knows with Keira?” Livy laughed.

“Oh God!” I groaned. My mom may be a young grandma, but she was way too old to be a new mom again.

“Come on. Let’s go and check on Aleks, see if he found anything,” Kailan suggested as he wrapped an arm around me and led me from the kitchen. Harris followed behind us, and I heard Nick offering to help in the kitchen as we left. I suspected he wanted to stay close to Zack, just in case. He didn’t know my mom well and no one could blame him for being cautious.

I had no concerns though. My mom and dad were the greatest parents and grandparents I knew, and could ever have wished for. Over the years they had cared for so many children, many from very difficult backgrounds, but they never turned a single kid away. They gave them everything they could for whatever length of time they got to live with us, and they had many success stories – kids who still spoke with and visited my parents regularly despite the fact they were all grown up with lives, jobs, and families of their own.

I looked up as we got into the hall, at all of the photos of the foster kids who had passed through our home, many of them before I even arrived. Mom and dad had pictures of every single one of them on the wall, mixed with pictures of me and my brothers. They were family pictures, of good times. The family changed over and over, but the fun, happiness, and contentment was there to see in each image.

“Come on, Ev,” Harris called to me, and I glanced up to where he was already halfway up the stairs. Aleks had moved his search for bugs upstairs it seemed.

Kailan was just ahead of me, but he had stopped when he realized I’d dropped behind. I took a step to catch up to him, but paused as my brain registered something I’d seen. I stepped back and looked over the images again.

“Fuck!” I gasped as I stumbled back away from the images, my legs suddenly feeling too weak to hold me up.

“Evie? What’s wrong?” Kailan cried as he leapt forward and caught me before I went down. He wrapped himself around my back, holding me up as I just stood and stared at the image close to the center of all of the frames.

“Ev? Talk to us?” Harris was before me now, blocking my view of that damned photo. I looked around him to check it was still there, that I hadn’t imagined it. But it was still there. The image was of me, around four years old, smiling as Xander and Kade held my hands and swung me up in the air. Beside Kade was a broody looking Kyle and beside Xander…it couldn’t be! I was losing my mind. I had to be.

“XANDER!” I yelled through the house at the top of my lings, panic clear to hear in my voice.

Harris looked to me with confusion, then to the photos behind me, but, of course, he had no idea what was going on.

“Evie? What is it?” Xander asked as he sprinted towards me, clearly panicked by my cry for him. Nick was right behind him, his eyes instantly finding mine as he hurried to my side too. Matt and Kyle were right behind him, and Livy was at the back. Mom and Dad came rushing from the living room too, Zack happily in dad’s arms.

“Xander, wh-who the f-fuck is that?” I gasped as I pointed to the guy standing beside him in the image. The words would barely come out, my chest so tight I was fighting for every breath. Those eyes – those cold, dead eyes were looking right at me.

“What?” Xander looked to the picture, clearly confused.

“Him!” I cried as I jabbed a finger toward the image. “Who is he?”

“That’s Jason. He lived with us for about six months when you were three or four. Why? What’s wrong, honey?” mom asked.

I turned to Kailan and Harris who were looking at me knowingly. I confirmed what they had already realized.

“Th-that’s him. That’s Soloman,” I gasped. It all started to click into place. The nightmare I had continually suffered with, the day I was saying the names of my family. It stood out to my sub conscious because Soloman did something out of character. He asked me what I said, and he looked confused and upset. He knew the names I was listing. He knew my family. That was why he let me go. It was why he couldn’t end me – because he knew me. He probably held me and played with me when I was tiny.

“Aleks!” Harris yelled as he placed a hand on my shoulder in an attempt to soothe me.

Aleks came racing down the stairs, followed by Kade and Cole.

“Evie, I need you to try and breathe for me, darlin’. You’re not breathing,” Kailan told me. He was the only thing keeping me upright. I was shaking so hard and barely breathing, the whole time unable to take my eyes from the damned image.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Aleks demanded as he looked around then focused on me. “Evie?”

“That’s him, in the picture. Do you have his surname?” Harris asked as he looked to Keira.

“King, I think. I’ll have a file in the office. We kept the files of all of our kids,” she added.

“King,” I whispered. “King Soloman.”

“I’ll start a search right away. I’d appreciate any information you have on him too, please Keira,” Aleks said as he hurried towards the kitchen.

“I’ll get it,” dad said as he handed Zack to mom and hurried off.

“Are you sure, Evie? It can’t be Jason. He was a good kid,” Xander asked.

“I’m sure. I w-will never forget those eyes as l-long as I live,” I panted breathlessly.

“That’s why he let her go,” Kyle spoke up. “He fucking realized who she was and he let her go. That’s why he tried to keep her away from us all. He was worried we’d put two and two together.”

“Baby, look at me now,” Nick ordered. I felt him move in front of me, then his eyes were on mine, his body blocking the photo from my gaze. “You have to take deeper breaths now, okay? You hear me? You’re starting to hyperventilate.”

“I…it’s h-him,” I squeaked.

“I know, baby, but that doesn’t change anything right now. We’re all here and you’re still safe. We won’t let him get near you again. You’re safe,” he promised.

“I should call the FBI. This is the lead they needed,” Kade spoke up. “You got her?”

“We’ve got her,” Kailan answered with no shadow of a doubt.

“Let’s find you a seat and some water, okay?” Kailan said as he gathered me up into his arms and headed for the kitchen. “Deep breaths, remember?” he prompted when I didn’t respond. I reached up to put my hand over his heart, hoping the steady rhythm would calm some of the terror racing through me.

I tried to calm myself down, but I couldn’t get the image of him from my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about the monster who had tortured me and almost had me begging for my death. I couldn’t take in the fact that he had once been an innocent foster kid I probably played with. He lived with us for six months! I probably started to love him back then. How could he have transformed into the killer who haunted my every thought?

“Here’s everything we have, Aleks. Jason was a quiet kid. He had some mental health issues, but he was stable on meds when he came to us,” dad explained as he hurried in with a small cardboard file.

“I’d say he’s off those meds right now,” Nick uttered.

“He was a good kid. He was removed from his father’s care when he was twelve, after the dad overdosed. His mom killed herself when he was six, I think. He was bounced around quite a bit before he came to us. We were happy to keep him until he aged out, but an uncle came forward from nowhere and was granted custody. We never heard from him again, even though we tried to stay in contact,” dad went on.

“I have an address for him in the city. He was in the military, but discharged when they discovered his mental health issues. He must have lied about them to enlist,” Aleks explained.

“I’ll get a team together. We can hit the address,” Kyle said as he looked to Kade.

“Let me coordinate with the FBI. We can’t just go in there with no warrant,” Kade suggested.

“Fine. Call them, but I’m still getting the team ready. He started out of the kitchen and I panicked.

“Kyle!” I cried breathlessly. He stopped immediately and came to me, crouching at my side.

“Stop talking right now, half pint. You need to slow down and take some deep breaths,” he told me as he ran a hand over the top of my head.

“Don’t g-go!” I pleaded. “Please, let th-the cops handle it. Please. I d-don’t want you to get h-hurt.”

“She’s right Kyle. You don’t need to get involved. This guy is wanted by the FBI. Now they have his name and address they’re gonna get him,” Livy agreed.

“I have to be there. I have to know for sure he’s off of the streets. I won’t get hurt, but I have to see him cuffed and taken in to custody so I know for sure this whole damned thing is over,” he explained as he looked between me and Livy.

“He’s right. We all need to know for sure this is done, once and for all,” Kade agreed. “I’ll keep him out of trouble. Promise,” Kade added as he walked up behind Livy and placed a kiss behind her ear. “We’ll be fine, love.”

“Xander, go with them please, and make sure they stay out of trouble,” Livy requested and Xander nodded.

“We’ll be back soon and all of this will be over,” Kyle told me. He kissed me on my temple, then he, Kade, and Xander were gone.

“I’ll make some tea. Come and help me,” Livy said as she snagged Cole and Matt’s arms and pulled them into the kitchen. Dad had gone back to mom, so now it was just me and my guys at the table. I was still fighting for breath and in a mess, but I just couldn’t seem to make it stop.

“They’ll be fine, Ev. The FBI won’t let them near the apartment or that fucker if he’s there.” Harris told me.

“I…I can’t br-breathe,” I gasped as my panic started to rise. There were spots in my vision and I didn’t want to pass out.

“You can breathe, maleńka. You just have to stop panicking. There’s nothing to fear. We’re all here, your bothers too. Nothing is going to happen to you. He can’t come here. He can’t get near you. It was just a photo,” Aleks told me, a slight firmness to his voice I responded to.

“Just slow everything down, baby, and take deeper breaths. We’re right here with you,” Nick added. I still had my hand over Kailan’s heart, curled up in his lap, clinging to him in the hope it would allay my fears. I tried to slow my breaths so they’d match the beat of Kailan’s heart, but it was hard to do when I was gasping so frantically.

Why was I freaking out so badly? This was what I had wanted – to identify that fucker so the FBI could arrest him and lock him away. I wanted to stop him from ever being able to hurt another person ever again, especially my family. But now that I knew who he was, it was just even more to deal with. He had lived in my home with me. He knew my entire family – the people he had been terrorizing to get to me. He knew who we all were. He knew my parents had cared for him at one point in his life and yet he still wanted me gone to protect himself.

I prayed what Kyle had said was true – that when he, Xander, and Kade walked in here it would all be over and Soloman – or Jason – whoever he was – would be in FBI custody and we would all be safe, but a huge part of me doubted that. This monster was smart and I knew it. He wasn’t going to go down without a fight, and I had this terrible feeling that his final fight was going to involve me and the people that I loved.