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“She’s been through hell,” I told them honestly. “This guy…the killer…he wants his victims to ask him to kill them. It’s like he needs the justification or something. He…he tortures them until they give him that.” The crash I had expected erupted at that point and I guessed it was Kyle that had smashed something up in rage.
“Tell us, Harris,” Kade urged.
“I don’t know everything. She struggles to talk about it, but she said he tortured her. He drowned her and cut her up. She has a lot of scars on her body. She talked about electrocution and burns too. She’s definitely got PTSD. Her nightmares are the worst I’ve seen and she slips into flashbacks. Loud noises trigger her too. I took her out yesterday, into town, and she was completely terrified.”
“We need to catch this fucker. He can’t be out there, terrifying her still,” Kyle raged.
“Physically, how is she?” Kade asked.
“Thin. She’s lost so much weight. She tried to survive alone for months in Boston, but she was terrified and barely getting by with money. She’s fragile and I think she’s dealing with some physical pain, but I don’t want to push her with questions. Like I said, she’s only been here a couple of days,” I explained.
“And you really think he’s watching us?” Kade asked. He seemed to be marginally calmer than Kyle.
“He knew the second she tried to send an anonymous text to Matt. I’m guessing Matt didn’t get it?” I asked.
“No. He would have told us if he did,” Kade replied.
“So he not only knew she sent it, but he also intercepted and stopped it. Whoever he is, we think he’s pretty tech savvy. Until we know for sure what we’re dealing with, we need to be careful. Evie is terrified he’ll come after all of you if he finds she broke his rules.”
“Rules?”
“He gave them to her when he let her go. The things he told her she couldn’t do. When she reached out to Matt, he left a note in her apartment with an article about Matt’s accident, telling her it was a warning.”
“Who the fuck is this guy?” Kyle asked.
“We’re working on that,” I assured him
“What about the cops? Has she spoken to them?”
“No. She’s too scared this fucker will know the second she does, and go after you guys and your parents. We’ve told her we’ll work the information for now, see if we can figure out who he is.”
“We want everything you have on this fucker. We can work on it here too. We need to stop him,” Kade told me.
“No,” I answered flatly. “We can’t risk that. He could be tracking your computers, or even have someone in your office. We have no idea what we’re dealing with here and I’m not risking Evie’s safety. I won’t risk him finding out where she is.”
“Fuck you Harris! We’ve been losing our minds searching for her. My dad has almost killed himself. He won’t sleep! He just spends all of his time looking over the files again and again. Our mom is medicated! You are not cutting us out of this now!” Kyle roared.
“We can find a way for Evie to speak to your parents, and she can reassure them she’s safe, but that’s it guys. She’s safe here. He has no idea where she is. We have to keep it that way until he’s been caught. I know you’re pissed and I get it. If I’d have known she had been taken, I’d have lost my shit searching for her too, but she’s safe. We have to make sure she stays that way,” I told them calmly.
There was a long silence, and all I could hear were Kyle’s heaving, angry breaths.
“You better keep her fucking safe. If anything happens to her…” Kade threatened.
“I know,” I cut him off. “I will. I’m not the kid you guys knew before. I can protect her and I swear I will. My brothers too. We have her.”
EVIE
Nick had led me up to my room and straight through to the bathroom. He lifted me onto the counter, and I placed my hands on his bare shoulders, feeling unsteady.
I was shaking like a pneumatic drill and I couldn’t seem to make it stop.
“Deep breaths. Just try to slow everything down,” Nick told me as he grabbed a washcloth and wet it under the tap once it was running warm. He wiped my face down, and I didn’t even protest as I just sat, clinging to his shoulders, and trying to take in that my brothers were on the call downstairs.
Hearing their voices after so many moths of being sure I never would again, had been completely overwhelming. It was all I had wanted for so long, and then there they were, talking to me and I was too scared to tell them anything. I didn’t want them to hear how broken I was – how weak I had become. Would they be embarrassed? Ashamed? They had taught me to be strong and brave, and when it counted I had crumbled.
“Does that feel better?” Nick asked when he had gently cleaned the tears from my face. I looked up and met those stormy eyes.
“I let them down,” I told him weakly.
