Page 63 of Kylie

A ding sounded from the other room.

I recognized it as the reminder alarm Kieran had set. It was time for more pain medication.

I didn’t need the medicine as much now. My foot hurt when I walked, but it wasn’t the same sort of pain as before. Since I wasn’t at death’s door anymore, I figured I could deal with some discomfort. According to what Allison had learned from the doctor, I might always have pain in my foot, but I would be able to function normally.

Normally. That was an interesting word. Especially since nothing felt normal anymore.

Nothing.

However, my sheer determination told me she wasn’t wrong.

What would help to make things normal would be for them to let me go home. I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to see my kids. I wanted to hug them, to tell them I loved them. They thought I was dead, and the longer they thought that…

I swallowed past the lump that formed in my throat. I wanted to go home.

But I couldn’t. Not yet.

Kieran and Allison were convinced this was safer. I wasn’t sure they were right. Martin had kidnapped me to draw my mother out. What if he did the same thing? What if he kidnapped one of my kids to draw me out? That would be the easiest and fastest way for him to get me to comply. However, Kieran didn’t think he would do something that would bring the heat down on him.

All I knew for sure was that they were being incredibly careful to ensure Martin couldn’t find us.

For that, I was grateful.

One or both of them remained with me at all times, keeping watch. If they weren’t in the room, I could hear them somewhere else in the house, talking quietly. From time to time, I would catch the sound of the television in the living room. But during the day, Kieran was usually the one sitting with me. Since I rarely saw Allison during daylight hours, I had to assume she was out doing whatever it was she did.

Rather than crawl right back into bed, I shuffled my way to the door, down the hall, and into the living room.

Kieran was sitting in the chair on the far side of the room, an iPad in his hand.

I leaned against the wall, staring out the large picture windows overlooking the river. The view was even better from in here.

“Can I go outside?”

“Yes,” he said without hesitation.

My gaze slid toward him. “For real?”

He set the iPad down and met my eyes. “You’re not a prisoner here, Kylie.”

“Technically, I am,” I countered.

Smart man that he was, he didn’t argue. He’d learned his lesson about that because, regardless of what he said, the fact that I wasn’t allowed to go home made me a prisoner.

“I want to go home, Kieran.”

“I know.” He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “It’s safer for you and them if you’re here. Just for a little while longer.”

Since that was what Allison had said, I’d expected no less.

“As long as he’s lookin’ for you or us, we can keep him from goin’ underground.”

Yep, they’d said that more than once, too. According to Allison, if I went home and told my family what happened, Martin would have to go off the radar. Possibly forever. I wasn’t sure what their plan was to take him down, but evidently, I was key.

Since I wasn’t going to stop requesting to go home, and they weren’t going to give in, I stood there, staring out the window, admiring the scenery. I waited until Kieran looked at his iPad again before I spoke.

“Why did you do it?”

He lowered his iPad and looked at me. “Do what?”