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“The way he carried himself. There was something about it that reminded me of Kyle.” I looked to Harris, since he was the only one who knew Kyle. “He walked very precisely, and he could move around without making a sound when he wanted to. He wore combat boots too, and his haircut screamed military. He definitely has some fighting skills. I tried to get away a lot in the beginning, but he shut me down every time, so easily. I don’t know, but I just think he might be ex-military of some kind.”
“That could help us. Can you access military personnel files to get photos Evie could look through, Aleks?” Nick asked.
“Of course I can, but that would be thousands of pictures to look through. We need to narrow it down more,” Aleks said.
“Anything else, sweetheart?” Harris gave my knee a small squeeze.
“He had some tattoos, which I can draw for you. They were all up his arms. He tried to keep them covered but I saw them once when his sleeve got pushed up.”
“Was there anything distinctive about his voice? Did he have an accent?” Nick pushed.
“No. His accent was pretty non-descript too. Definitely American, but I couldn’t be more specific. Sorry.” I looked to Nick, feeling pretty useless at that moment. I wasn’t exactly giving him much to go on and I knew it.
“What happened when he let you go?” Kailan asked. “What made him do that, do you think?”
“I don’t know. That day was just like the others. He was hurting me…torturing me. He tried different methods,” I took a breath as my heart started to pound harder at what I was recalling. “He…he started off with water…i-in a tub. He…he would hold me under until I almost bl-blacked out, then he’d pull me up and scream at me to ‘say it.’ He’d yell over and over again ‘Beg me! Beg me to kill you and all of this will stop!’ but I couldn’t. I couldn’t give up. He cut me, he burned me, he even electrocuted me, but I refused to say it. I…I couldn’t. Livy…you know what she survived and she n-never gave up. How could I?” I whimpered as I turned to Harris as tears rolled down my cheeks.
“I know, sweetheart. You were so strong,” Harris soothed as he pulled me into his arms and held me tightly.
“Livy?” Nick questioned.
“Four of Ev’s brothers are married to her. She was kidnapped as a kid and held for years. She managed to escape when she was seventeen and she was placed with Evie’s family, since her own family had passed. The guy who kidnapped her, he abused her the entire time, and kept her in a tiny basement room.”
“She w-wasn’t allowed to speak or make a sound. She went through hell for so long,” I added as I sat up again and swiped at my eyes. “She was so strong. She still is. That bastard came back for her and took her, again, and she got away, again.”
“What happened to the fucker who took her?” Kailan asked.
“He’s dead. It’s a long story, but he was shot,” I replied. “So you see why I couldn’t give up. I had to fight, and I tried, really fucking hard.”
“You were so fucking strong Ev. I’m so proud of you and Livy will be too,” Harris told me.
“She’s married to four of your brothers? How is that possible?” Aleks asked.
“They’re not legally married. That part isn’t actually possible, but they had a ceremony and everything. They love each other. My brothers…they have dark pasts themselves before my parents found them. They relied on each other when they were dealing with everything and they created this bond that got them through. It still does, I guess. They need each other. Livy came along and she saw that. She found that she needed all of them too and they created this amazing relationship. They might all be a little broken, but together they’re whole. They have four kids now. I know it sounds unconventional, but it works for them and they have the most amazing family, filled with so much love.”
“I wasn’t judging,” Aleks assured me as he placed a hand on my forearm gently. “I was just curious.”
“I know,” I told him as I placed my hand over his. “Everyone always is, and I don’t mind answering questions about it.”
“Is there anything else you can tell us about Soloman, Evie?” Nick asked, pulling us back to the topic at hand.
“Not really. He wore jeans and t-shirts, nothing to identify him there.” I shrugged.
“The day he let you go. You think he let you go because you refused to say what he wanted you to, right?”
“It had to be. That day he…he sliced up my abdomen with this scary looking knife. I screamed until I passed out. When I woke up we were in the bathroom again, the tub filled and I knew what was coming.” I paused and took a deep breath, struggling to recount the details without slipping back there in my mind. “I…I was bleeding pretty badly and in so much pain. I tried to focus on my family in my mind to get through it. Things are foggy but I know he was dunking me in and out of the tub and screaming at me to beg him for death. Then he threw me on the floor of the bathroom. I…I don’t know what happened then. Next thing I knew, I was back in my cell and he was yelling at me about rules and what happened if I broke them. I was still fuzzy but I tried to listen.”
“What did he say exactly?” Aleks asked.
“He told me he was letting me go. He said I’d have money to start over and that was what I would do. He told me I couldn’t speak to the police or go to anyone I knew. If I did, he would kill everyone I loved one by one. He told me I couldn’t contact anyone, or tell anyone about what had happened to me. If I did he would kill me, then everyone I love. He told me he would be watching me carefully.”
“I either passed out, or he drugged me then, because the next time I woke up I was on the side of the highway, just on the outskirts of Boston, in some woods. I had been dressed in the clothes I was taken in and there was just over five hundred dollars in my pocket.”
“What did you do?” Kailan asked.
“I was a wreck. All I wanted was my family, but I was too scared to contact them. I just started walking until I got to a motel. I paid for one night and did the best I could to clean the wounds all over my body. I didn’t dare sleep. The next day I left and went into the city. I found a shitty place I could afford to rent for the month and for the first week I mainly hid in the closet, terrified he would come back for me. Terrified he was watching my every move, just like he said.” It was painful to remember the state I had been in that first week. Terror had dominated me and I had barely survived those first days, cowering in a filthy closet, too scared to even leave for food.
“Fuck, Evie. I’m so sorry you had to go through that alone, darlin’,” Kailan told me as he moved to where I sat and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me back into his body. “I’m sorry if this isn’t okay. I just…I needed to hold you for a moment,” he told me as I sank back against him.
