Chapter 27 Sawyer
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
SAWYER
This house smells like shit.
There are so many farms around here, but I think this is the first time since I started living upstate that I can smell them.
I feel dizzy. Ivan didn’t do anything to me.
He didn’t need to. I’m not sure if it’s just shock, but I feel nothing.
Even while he talked with the guards he had with him, I just felt numb.
He laid Katya down next to me and I just stared at her.
My sister.
When we got back here, he put me in this chair and took her away.
He hasn’t touched me.
It looks like I’m in an office. When we pulled up to this dirty farmhouse, it looked like it’d been abandoned for years.
In fact, there’s not much of anything in this house.
There’s a couch in the living room with a small stack of books on a lonely end table, and in here there’s just a desk with two chairs in front of it.
Katya sleeps here.
Where does Aiden sleep?
His name is like a knife to the chest. I can’t think about him because if I do, I think that might break me. The door behind me swings open, but I don’t even have the energy to turn and see if it’s him. I don’t care. I feel numb.
Aiden betrayed me.
What is even happening right now? Is Aiden still at the bakery?
I can’t get over the look of fear on his face.
I’ve seen him hurt, sad, and angry.
I’ve never seen him scared.
Ivan walks around me then stands in front, leaning against the desk. I look up and try to see any sliver of myself or Jane in him. He could be lying, I guess.
Then it’s like everything starts to sharpen. Katya. She’s my sister. And Aiden’s sister. The only thing keeping me from losing my mind completely is knowing that Ivan isn’t Aiden’s father. We’re not blood related, thank fuck.
Still, there’s Katya.
A little girl in this dangerous world.
Jane and I—fuck. Jane. She’s going to lose her mind.
We have a sister and a brother.
Where is Koda anyway?
Arms folded, Ivan glowers down at me, smug as shit.
“Well.” He throws his arms out with a sick smile.
“It’s a boy.” He laughs darkly then walks around the desk and drops down into his chair.
“I’ve always wondered how she did it. How did she run away from me?
She always had so much fire in her. It’s a pity she’s not alive for this. ”
My jaw tightens. “What do you even want with me? You have the elephant, so who fucking cares. I have nothing to do with you.”
He leans forward. “Now that’s not true. You’re my son.”
“What the fuck am I going to do? I’m not a killer. I don’t know about any of this shit.”
“That’s okay. You will learn.” He shrugs. “Once I get rid of Aiden, I’ll need new help anyway. That boy has always been more trouble than he’s worth.”
“Are you going to kill him?” My heart jumps into my throat.
“Not yet.” He places the statue on the table.
“Who cares about the elephant? It’s an ugly fucking statue.”
He shakes his head. “It’s a safe.”
“What are you talking about?”
He places his hand along the back watching me with his unnerving dark eyes. There’s nothing there behind them. This is it. I’m going to die here.
The door behind me crashes open.
A giant man in a pink crop top and sweatpants that look two sizes too small bursts into the room.
“Who the fuck is this?” Ivan shouts then glares my way.
“I don’t fucking know!” I look back at the giant man. His long hair is pulled up in a bun. He’s ginormous. The shirt he’s wearing is stretched across his chest, and are those flip flops? “He’s not with you?” Who the hell is this?
The large man looks between us. “I’m here for Simon.”
“There’s no Simon here.” Ivan’s eyes harden. I think his jaw is going to snap. “You have the wrong house.”
“Fuck, maybe that’s the wrong name. Seymour? Samuel? Steven?”
Ivan’s brow cocks. “Sawyer?”
The large man snaps his fingers. “Yes!” He grabs for something in his pocket and takes out a pad of paper and a pen, writing, “Find Sawyer. Done. Rescue Sawyer . . .” He nods at me, smiling.
“In progress. Take Noah on a date and make sweet love to him all night long. To be determined.” He tucks the notebook back in the pocket of those tight sweats.
The men from the bakery step in, their guns at their sides, unbothered by this mountain of a man.
“What the hell are you doing!? Kill him.” The one without an eye looks at the man with the beard—Dominic, I think.
Dominic lifts his gun to Ivan, who freezes. He smiles slowly.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“What do you think he’s doing?” I hear a soft voice. Light and lethal. An Asian man walks into the library. I’m craning my neck. Seriously, who the fuck are these people? What’s going on!?
I’m not sure who he is, but by the blood draining from Ivan’s face, he sure as hell does. “Kenji,” he says softly. “What uh, what are you doing?”
Kenji looks at me, then his eyes land on the giant man in the ridiculous shirt. “Devlin?”
“Hi, Kenji.” Devlin gives him a tiny wave. Even this giant man seems to shrink back from him.
Who the hell is this guy?
Kenji looks Devlin up and down. “What the fuck are you wearing?”
He holds out his T-shirt. “This is my lover’s T-shirt.”
Ivan’s eyes dart around at all of us as if mentally calculating. Then Kenji eyes the statue. Amusement burns bright in his eyes. “Isn’t this interesting.”
“It’s not what I . . . I mean, I f-found it for you.”
Kenji cocks his head. “Uh-huh. You weren’t about to steal it for yourself?” Kenji cocks his head. “Koda, come take it.”
Koda walks into the room slowly and eyes his father. Then his confused eyes land on me. Does he know about our connection? How much does he know about any of this?
“What are you doing?” Ivan’s jaw clenches.
Kenji smiles as Koda grabs the elephant. How old is this guy? He looks like he’s in his late teens or early twenties. “When we get back, make sure Lukas puts it in my room.” Koda nods.
“What are you doing?!” Ivan snaps.
Kenji smiles as Koda grabs the elephant, and pats Koda on the head as he passes.
“Who are the people outside?” he asks me.
“What?”
“The people outside.” he says again, his patience thinning.
“They’re his friends,” Devlin offers. “My boyfriend is with them.”
“Boyfriend?” Kenji cocks a black brow.
“Yes. It’s new. His name is Noah.”
“Noah?” What the hell is he talking about? Wait. My friends are here? “Who’s here?”
“I don’t know them.” Ivan pleads with Kenji. “They just came in here. I wasn’t stealing it, I was just—”
Kenji shakes his head. “I have no idea what my father saw in you. You’re as ugly as you are stupid.” Kenji takes out a knife. “And fuck are you stupid.”
Red slices through the air.
Ivan drops to his knees clutching this throat.
Holy fuck. What the hell is happening?!
Silence splits through the room.
You can hear a pin drop. “Damn.” Kenji wipes his blade clean on Ivan’s shirt. “Just like butter.”
He walks to the front of his desk and sits on it, glaring at me. “What are you doing? What’s going on?” he asks Devlin.
“I um . . .” I watch him swallow. “I’m not here for the statue. I just came to rescue him.”
Kenji thinks for a moment, watching me. It’s unnerving. His black hair is tied back in a small ponytail. What does Koda have to do with this? His eyes lift to Tagar and Dominic. “Take them all back.”
Alarm hits my chest. “What are you—”
Everything goes black.