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“It’s okay,” he says quietly. “I’m right here.”
I nod and release him so Dad can hug me. His arms circle me, and even though I’ve grown since I last saw him, he’s still taller than me. I can still press my face into his shoulder like I used to do when I had a bad day.
“Oh my god,” Dad murmurs. His voice shakes. His whole body shakes. “You’re here. I didn’t believe them when they called.”
He kisses the top of my head, and I wish he would never let me go. “I missed you,” he says. “I missed you so much, Rhys.”
“I missed you too,” I mumble.
He pulls back and lifts a hand to run his thumb along the bruise on my jaw. “What happened?”
My mouth doesn’t want to work. Doesn’t want to form the words. I’m sure the police didn’t tell them everything since I’m no longer a minor, and I don’t want to give them all the ugly details right now.
I’m saved from having to answer when my mother pushes Dad to the side so she can hug me too. She feels smaller than she did before I left, and that hurts almost as much as knowing how much I missed out on of Jack growing up.
“Oh, baby,” Mom says, running a hand through my hair. Tears glisten in her eyes when she pulls back to take a look at me. Like Dad, her gaze falls on the bruise along my jaw, but she doesn’t ask me about it. There’s a dark look in her eyes, like she already knows what happened. But she doesn’t press me on it. Instead, she simply takes my hand in hers and kisses the back of it. Then she asks, “Who’s your friend?”
I’d almost forgotten Parker was in here with us. He’d moved back to the table, standing behind the chair I vacated, leaving plenty of room for my family to surround me. “This is Parker. He helped me get away.”
Mom reaches out her free hand to Parker, and when he takes it, she pulls him against her in a hug. “Thank you,” she whispers. “Thank you so much.”
Parker meets my gaze above my mom’s head, and his eyes are so full of love for me that it makes my chest constrict. He helped make this possible. He helped save me. And I don’t think he’ll ever know the full extent of what he did for me.
***
After a while, Parker takes Jack out of the office to get something to eat, giving me some time with just Mom and Dad. As soon as the door shuts behind Parker and my brother, I let out a breath and relax my shoulders. I still can’t get over how much Jack has grown. How much he looks like me.
I sit in one of the chairs at the table, and Mom and Dad take seats on either side of me. I can feel the urge to ask questions rolling off both of them, and Dad’s the first one to speak.
“They said you were taken by Tony,” he says. “Is that true?”
“Yes.” I try to swallow around the lump in my throat. “He said it was me or Jack. He said he’d bring me back home after he was done. I didn’t know he was going to keep me.” Though even if I had known it, I still would’ve made the same decision. I’m the older brother. It’s my job to protect Jack.
Mom takes my hand that’s resting on the table and squeezes tightly. “It’s okay, Rhys. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t reach out to you,” I say. “I’m sorry I worried you. I couldn’t risk him retaliating.”
“You don’t owe us an apology,” Dad says, placing his hand alongside Mom’s that’s on top of mine. “You’ve been so brave. And we’re so proud of you. Rhys, we are so, so proud of you.”
I can’t respond. I can barely get my lungs to move. I can’t believe I’m finally away from Tony. I’m safe.
I know I’ll eventually have to tell my parents the full extent of everything that happened while I was with Tony. I’ll have to tell them that he trained me for the purpose of selling my body to anyone willing to pay for it. I’ll have to tell them about the months in the cabin when all I wanted to do was die.
But right now, I just want to sit with them. For the first time in five years, I don’t have to answer to Tony. In a strange way, the thought scares me. I’ve grown so used to following Tony’s rules that I know it’s going to be hard to let go of them all. But I’m determined to try.
Eighteen
Parker
I can’t get over how much Jack looks like his brother. He even talks like him too. I keep him company while he eats something, and then he goes back into the office with Rhys and their parents.
I don’t follow him this time. I want them to have some time with each other, and I don’t want to intrude. Instead, I sit with Cam in the lobby. We haven’t spoken too much since we got here, and I get the feeling that he’s still a little irritated with me for hiding everything about Rhys from him for that long.
But if he is, he doesn’t bring it up.
Instead, he watches the officers come and go for a while before turning to me. “Have you thought about filing a report against Dad?”
I shake my head. “I haven’t had the time, Cam. I know it’s what you want me to do, but I don’t know if it would accomplish anything. It’s just my word against his. I have no proof.”
