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If only a few people had access to the videos, it would be easy to say they had been doctored or edited. It would be easy to pretend the evidence had been faked, but there’s no faking this. Not when so many people are going to receive instant news. Not this time.
Quinn and Ezra have given Hayden her life back.
They’ve given her hope.
They’ve given her peace.
They’ve given her the chance to move forward, knowing that her captor won’t be able to hurt her again. As I watch their family embrace, I wonder how long she’s been searching for peace. How many sleepless nights has she wondered whether he was going to get her again? How many times has she jumped at a noise because she thought someone was going to take her again? How many times?
“Hey sister,” Hayden’s voice calls to me and I’m brought back to reality. They’re all looking at me: all three of them. Side-by-side, it’s so easy to see their resemblance. It’s so easy to see their family similarities. “Get in here,” she says.
And I don’t hesitate.
I move in to hug my family because that’s who they are now: my family. Quinn and I haven’t discussed marriage or a future or bonding or anything like that, but they’re my family. We love each other, and it’s a love forged in pain and darkness and battle. That kind of love stays with you forever. That kind of love can’t be broken.
That kind of love is for eternity.
Chapter 26
Quinn
Hayden, Ezra, Fiona, and I all gather around to watch the news. Less than two hours after I’m released from police custody, it happens: Hector gets on his ship and starts talking about the packages. He goes straight into the secret holding area and starts touching the drugs.
Talk about self-incrimination.
“It’s happening,” Ezra says, pulling up a communications
tablet. “Check it out.” He pulls open his email program and we see a link to the live feed. Then Hayden gets an email. Then I do. Within minutes, we start getting multiple news emails, as well, letting us know that something big is happening.
We flick on the television, and sure enough: Hector LeBlaie is big news. The newscasters don’t seem to know exactly what’s happening or why it’s so big, but they’re talking about it just the same, narrating what Hector LeBlaie is going.
“And now we see what appears to be Mr. LeBlaie entering a secret passageway on his ship,” one broadcaster says. The man looks nervous, as if he knows what LeBlaie is capable of and doesn’t want to have to deal with it.
The video feed shows LeBlaie talking with one of his henchmen and talking about what he’s going to do about the drugs, how he’s going to sell them as quickly as possible, how he needs the money. We planted enough listening devices that the audio is coming through loud and clear. There’s no getting out of it.
Not this time.
Suddenly, one of his henchmen looks at their phone and his eyes go wide.
“Um, boss?” He says. The video is a little grainy, but he hands the phone to LeBlaie, who promptly freaks out. He shoots both of the men who are with him immediately. The men don’t even have time to react and before their bodies hit the ground, LeBlaie goes to climb out of the ship.
It’s too late.
He’s too late.
He moved too slow, reacted too poorly.
We can already hear the sounds of sirens and alarms on the audio feed and it’s obvious that Hector LeBlaie is completely surrounded by military and police personnel. This might be the bust of the century, but I don’t even care that Ezra and I are the ones behind it. I don’t care about getting credit because I know we won’t. The police chief will take credit, or the mayor will, and they’ll be praised for doing their jobs so well.
That doesn’t matter.
I know what really happened.
And what I know right now is that for the first time in a very long time, my little sister doesn’t look like she’s about to burst into tears or run away screaming. For the first time in a very long time, she looks completely at peace, as if the weight of the world has been lifted off her shoulders.
And that makes it all worth it.
That makes everything we went through completely worth it.
