Page 26 of Thaddeus

Fuck.

Max nodded and exited the room.

I helped the girls up and ushered them into the other room. Four men stood near the doorway ready to leave. I didn’t bother looking around the filthy room, I just wanted to leave.

Three men exited and Max nudged me to follow.

“Come on, follow them,” I told the girls.

They huddled together and shuffled their way outside. I was a little surprised when none of them tried to run. But they didn’t, they followed three men they did not know like sheep being herded. The thought made me sick.

No one spoke. Not a single peep was uttered as we made our way down the dirt path. The fork in the road was just ahead and this was where I was going to make my exit.

I tapped Max on the shoulder, and in an extreme moment of weakness, I allowed all the pain to surface and whispered, “Please tell Thaddeus I’m sorry.”

Max’s gaze sliced from me to his friend who walked only a few yards in front of us.

I didn’t wait for him to look back at me or acknowledge my request. I peeled off and got lost in the maze of tree trunks.

Once again, I was alone.

I’d start over from scratch and make my next move.

I’d never give up searching for my sister. She was out there somewhere alive. I could feel it.

Thad

When we’d gotten back to the SUV with the girls, Emerson was gone.

Just like the last time she’d left, she’d disappeared without a word.

And Max had let her.

After the team—sans me, I was too fucking angry to speak—had a conversation, they’d decided not to wait for Garrett’s contact to come and pick up the girls. It wasn’t the most comfortable of choices, but the girls had all piled into the cargo area of the SUV and we’d driven them across town to a woman named Maria.

When the girls had seen the elderly woman, they’d each pepped up and had run to her. We hadn’t stayed, it was a quick drop-off, then we headed back to the house we were staying at.

No one said a damn word to me.

There was nothing to say. Each of them had witnessed my pain, they knew I didn’t want to talk about Emerson. Besides, there were no words to adequately convey what I was feeling.

For the first time in my adult life I felt tears prick my eyes. What the fuck? I wasn’t some pussy that cried like a baby because my ex had shown up unexpectedly and torn open a ten-year-old wound and left me gutted.

Goddamn her.

Before Declan had rolled to a complete stop, I was out of the car, needing privacy.

Tatiana met me at the door, but instead of greeting me she stepped to the side, allowing me to pass.

I went down the hall to the bathroom, slammed the door so hard behind me the door swung back open, and I used my boot to kick it closed.

There I was again, losing my shit. And once again it was all Emerson’s fault.

I ripped my clothes off, turned on the shower, and stepped under the cold spray.

This was the last time I was going to give in to a temper tantrum like a two-year-old. I’d give myself this one last shower to sulk in private and nurse my broken heart. But after I washed the memory of the woman I loved down the drain, that was it. Emerson would be dead to me.

The only problem was I didn’t know how to let the woman go. I didn’t know how to cleanse her from my soul.