AllFreeNovel
Share Us
GIANNI
A week had passed since we left and not much had changed. The man we had been conversing with over the phone from Hawk International wouldn’t budge on having Rhys with us when we met. We hadn’t heard anything from or about Ada or Liam, not that I expected to. Valentyn usually took care of the little details from past jobs and I knew he’d tell us if something was important.
My biggest problem was the frail form lying in Paval’s room,again.Rhys had attached himself to our son, using him as a comfort instead of that card that usually stayed in his pocket. At first, I loved the comfort that they both provided each other until I realized that Rhys wasn’t dealing with what had happened back in our previous home. He had been slowly pulling away from us and when one of us would ask, he would tell us that he was fine.
I could see the truth though. He was restless, without a purpose. Numbers had consumed his entire life and now they could be the very thing that ruined his little slice of heaven.
It was barely 10 pm but Rhys had already said goodnight a few hours ago, leaving us with chaste kisses before helping Paval into bed and falling asleep beside him.
Valentyn put a firm hand on my shoulder and directed me down the hall to the living room, sitting me on the couch beside Dmitri. “Stop worrying.”
A tired sigh left me as I leaned into Dmitri’s side. “You guys aren’t worried? We haven’t talked about what happened at our house and we barely talk as it is.” I didn’t want to pout and I knew I needed to be strong for Rhys and Paval but this wasn’t exactly how I had thought all of this would pan out.
Dmitri kissed the side of my head. “You remember how we each had our things we went through and the volatile emotions we had. Rhys is processing it differently and while it might look like he’s pulling away, he’s not. He’s just finding comfort differently and fuck, if it’s by bonding with our kid, I’m all for it. Paval hasn’t had one nightmare since we moved, not one complaint. He’s clung to Rhys’ side in a way that he’s never done for us. If it helps them heal, I’m not standing in the way of that.”
Seeing it like that made me feel a little better but I missed him. Valentyn chuckled, running a hand through my hair before disappearing into the kitchen. We had been working tirelessly for an alternate solution, gathering as much information about Hawk International and the convention Rhys had attended all those years ago. There was only one way to figure out how to end this–showing up at that god-awful building with Rhys in tow.
Time was short but I knew Valentyn would never push Rhys into doing something like that. Not yet.
Timid footsteps pattered down the hall, Rhys rubbing his eyes and yawning adorably until he realized we were staring at him. Ididn’t know what to say but thankfully, Valentyn did as he exited the kitchen and wrapped his arms around our fourth. “How’d you sleep, sweetheart?” It was barely 2 am but Rhys had gone to bed at 7 last night with Paval.
He didn’t say anything, just pressed his forehead against Valentyn’s chest, his slow, uneven breaths worrying me further, especially when I caught his fingers tangling into Valentyn’s shirt at the waist.
“Sweetheart?”
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
My hackles rose, thinking that Rhys got himself caught up in something. We hadn’t heard from any of his family members or Chester but I knew that at least one of them was searching for the program, which in turn meant they were looking for Rhys. Our conversation from the plane came back to me–the one where Rhys definitely thought that all of this was his fault.
Valentyn’s arms tightened around him. “For what? Did you do something you need to apologize for?”
“For this. I just… you shouldn’t have to-”
Oh.
It finally made sense why Rhys had been sleeping in Paval’s room. He thought he was burdening us, that we were only fighting this battle because of him. He thought he was ourproblem, not our fourth and it pained me that he had felt like that for an entire week before saying anything.
I tried to jump over the back of the couch and rush over to him, Dmitri’s firm hand on my thigh keeping me from doing so. Valentyn pulled away just enough to angle Rhys’ chin up so that their eyes met, fresh tears running down our boy’s cheeks. God, he looked so fucking tortured. I should have known that leaving everything behind, finding out that his sister was behind everything, dealing with an abusive ex,andcoming toterms with the darkness inside of him would make him crack eventually.
Shit, when I stepped into this life, I had fallen apart too.
“You’re not a burden. You’re ours for as long you’ll let us have you but that also means we’re yours.” Valentyn pressed his lips to Rhys’, Rhys melting against his chest. It was just what he needed at the moment. When Valentyn pulled away again, Rhys’ eyes were a little clearer, and thank fuck because I felt like my heart was going to break. “Do you want to go back to sleep or stay up for a little while?”
Rhys looked over at us, smiling sweetly. “I’ll stay up.”
“Good choice. Now go on and give them some love. I think Gia was a bit worried.”
I scowled at that but opened my arms anyway, loving the way Rhys settled in my lap, Dmitri ruffling his hair up as well. “Missed you, Rhys.” He looked like he was about to apologize again so I shook my head. “No more apologizing. God, I should get Valentyn to spank you the way he does with me and maybe you’ll learn to stop that stupidness.”
His eyes went wide, his cheeks flushing a deep red. Oh, he liked that, didn’t he?
I’d revisit that conversation later because right now, we had more important things to do – like resting up for the discussion we’d have to have tomorrow. One that I was 100% going to let the other two fumble their way through. Valentyn returned with something that looked like it had 3000 calories in it and was spun from pure sugar but I wasn’t going to judge when Rhys’ eyes lit up, his hands shooting out with excitement I expected out of Paval.
Ah, so that mountain of sugar had been for Rhys and not Paval. Thank god, because I was about to have a conversation with Val about parenting.
We all watched him eat in silence for a few moments, Dmitri moving to turn the TV on to drown out the last bit of tension in the room. We hadn’t gotten rid of the demons running around in Rhys’ head just yet but we were one step closer to making him understand where he belonged.
Right here with us, if I had anything to say about it.
