Page 90 of Kyle

And not for the first or even the fiftieth time I wished I was with Anaya. Emotionally this was gonna gut her. And even though she hadn’t had another nightmare, if they returned, I wouldn’t be there. My arms ached to hold her.

“They’ll break her,” I told the room. “I have no doubt Anaya and Emmy can get her to talk.”

“I agree.” I was momentarily taken aback by the pride I could hear in Zane’s voice. “Anything else or can I get back to my wife?”

“Fucker,” Leo mumbled.

“Being the boss has its perks,” Zane returned.

Asshole.

He was in his bed with his pretty wife and newborn and we were sitting hundreds of miles away from our women.

“You know, there is such a thing as a resignation, asshole,” Colin told him.

“Right. I won’t hold my breath.”

Zane disconnected and Linc chuckled.

I didn’t. There wasn’t a damn thing worth laughing about while Anaya was off doing her thing and I was stuck in Canada.

Chapter 27

There was no such thing as a good night’s rest when there was a screaming girl in the next room. It was a good thing Zane’s safehouse was in the middle of nowhere.

The cabin was beautiful and had a stunning view of Riga Lake from the front porch. It was actually the perfect place for a woman who’d been battered and beaten down to recuperate. In a word, the area was tranquil. Not that Monica was paying any attention to her peaceful surroundings.

After seeing the woman and how she reacted to our presence, and then hearing her moaning and screaming all night, I was seriously doubting our ability to get her to speak with us.

I was happy to see she wasn’t restrained when we entered, even if she had to be locked in a bedroom at night. It sucked, but I understood. Jeremy needed to sleep and Monica needed to be kept from hurting herself. Or him.

Last night Jeremy had gone over security and safety protocols with Myles, wherein I’d learned the windows didn’t open. And they were fitted with a polycarbonate pane that was unbreakable. So Monica was able to roam freely during the day.

After dinner, something that broke my heart was when I saw Monica crouched in a corner, which meant Jeremy had to place her plate on the floor and slide it in her direction because if he got too close she would attack. So we all ate at the table and Monica sat on the floor. Jeremy had explained he only fed her food she could pick up with her hands and kept all cutlery locked up.

That was when the gravity of the situation had fully sunk in. Monica didn’t just look broken, she was.

Whatever had been left of her when she was on the street trying to survive had snapped.

Myles had done a thorough walkthrough and had spoken to Jeremy in private then he’d taken off. It had been on the tip of my tongue to beg him to stay, or for him to take me with him. It wasn’t that I was worried about Jeremy’s ability to protect us, it was because I wasn’t sure I could handle what was going to happen. I didn’t think I was strong enough to do this, even with Emerson by my side.

“Well, last night sucked,” Emerson said from the twin-sized bed next to the one I’d slept in.

“That’s an understatement,” I grumbled.

“You ready for today?”

“Not even a little bit.”

“We’ll get through,” Emerson vowed.

I couldn’t understand how she could be so optimistic. Had she not seen what I had?

“This is gonna suck,” Emerson sighed. “And now that it’s just us, I can admit I’m not sure if I’m ready to think about everything that happened to me. All the feelings and fear I’ve worked hard to overcome are going to surface. And without Thad here to catch me, I’m scared.”

“So am I,” I admitted. “I know I said I needed to do this and fought so I could be here, but now, what if I can’t? What if the memories of what happened to me take over and I break down?”

“Then you break down. Hell, we’ll break down together. We have each other.”