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HARRIS
It took almost an hour for us to calm Evie down, and even then I think it was more that she had passed out from the exhaustion she had put herself through, than her actually being calmer. Either way she had passed out against Aleks and her breathing had finally evened out and the tears stopped.
“You fucking asshole!” I hissed angrily at Nick when I was sure she was asleep.
“Not here!” Kailan snapped in a whisper. “She needs to rest. Take it outside!”
I grabbed a handful of Nick’s shirt and dragged him up, shoving him towards the front door, rage boiling inside of me.
He shrugged off my grip, but moved towards the door anyway, only stopping to pull on his boots as he passed them in the doorway. I did the same, knowing there was snow on the ground out front.
“How could you do that?” I raged as I stepped outside, pulling the door closed behind me. Nick was at the foot of the steps, his arms folded as he looked out at the snow-covered drive.
“I’m a cop!” he snapped, but still he didn’t turn to face me.
“We agreed we wouldn’t push her. She already had a panic attack today and you just caused her another one! She is not ready for your bullshit! She’s not strong enough!”
“Well she better get strong enough because she is the only survivor of a fucking serial killer, Harris! She likely has the key to stopping him, so we don’t have time to sit around discussing our fucking feelings! I need her to tell me everything she knows!”
“It’s been one fucking day, you asshole! You couldn’t just give her a couple more to get used to us? You couldn’t just let her breathe a little before you sent her right back to the hell she came from?” I yelled. I was so angry. Seeing her so scared and shaken completely destroyed me, but knowing my brother had caused it that time was making me want blood.
“He has other victims, Harris! There is no time to wait. I told you I’d need to act if that happened and now it has!”
“And you really think she’s ready to go through every detail with you? You saw her just now. Just thinking about that bastard has her almost blacking out. How is she supposed to tell you everything?”
“She doesn’t have a choice! You think I want to push her? I’m not a complete asshole. I can see what it will do to her, but those girls will die, and soon, if she can’t tell me what she knows,” Nick argued.
“She might not even know anything relevant.”
“No, she might not, but I have to find out. If I’m not bringing her in I at least need to know everything she knows so I can work the case.”
“She ate, Nick,” I sighed, exhaustedly. “She was actually fucking eating and smiling, and you fucked it all up.”
“I didn’t know she’d react that way.”
“How did you think she’d react? She’s a good person and you basically just blamed her for those three girls who have been kidnapped!”
“I didn’t. I just thought she should know. She needed to realize how serious this is now.”
“Yeah, because she obviously wasn’t taking it seriously enough when he was torturing her, or maybe when she was fighting to survive alone with this psycho watching her every fucking move! Which part do you think she could have handled better?” I raged as I shoved at him.
“Fuck you, Harris! You can’t protect her at the cost of other lives!” he snapped as he pushed me back and stormed past me, back into the house.
“Fucking watch me!” I spat back. I would do whatever it took to protect Evie. I wasn’t ready to admit it out loud, but I loved her. I had always loved her. I would never be good enough for her now, but that would never stop me from taking care of her and making sure she was safe and happy.
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CHAPTER 14
EVIE
There was no waking from a restful sleep that night. The first time I woke up I had been shaken by the fact I was in bed, not where I had been, on the sofa with Aleks, when I fell asleep, but once I calmed down I realized one of the guys must have just carried me up to my room to try and make me comfortable.
I had gotten up and changed into pajamas in an attempt to get more settled, but as soon as I laid back down in the quiet of the room, all I could think about was those three innocent girls, all likely around my age, trapped in hell with that monster. Were they all trapped in cells like I was? Were they contemplating giving in to his demands and just making it all end, just as I had those first days?
I gave up on sleeping a short while later and climbed out of bed, pulling on my slippers and the sweater I had taken off earlier. Creeping downstairs I went in search of paper and pen, determined to write down every single detail I remembered of the time I was held. I was sick of being scared and allowing that fear to hurt others. I was still scared, but I was also not going to let my fears rule me. I knew it was what my mom and dad would tell me if they were there. They’d tell me to do what was right, and that they would take care of everyone else. I had to do that – what was right. Three girls were already suffering because I hadn’t done it already, and I had to do all I could to see that they were saved before it was too late.
The quiet sound of a glass being refilled pulled my attention to the kitchen as soon as I stepped into the living room. I looked up and found Nick sat at the counter, an open bottle of scotch before him and a tumbler in his hand. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that he always seemed to have an open bottle close at hand in the evenings. I wondered if it was how he coped with all of the pain and turmoil that seeped from him in waves.
