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Matt nodded.
“Well, he wasn’t. He kidnapped Saylor when she was five, so he was thrown in jail. Then during COVID, while Ryker was still a Marine and on the SEALs human trafficking division, Ryker had just gotten home from a mission and one of his weekly routines was to check up on our “Ideal model of a great citizen” father. To Ryker’s surprise, he had been released earlier that weekandmissed his first check-in with his parole officer. Jail time did not change him.
“After finding out Saylor was missing again, my parents were in such a state of panic, they left immediately for Utah leaving Wyatt and me alone at the house. When Ryker found out my biological father was planning to sell both Saylor and me into human trafficking, he called our friend, Monu, who is a police officer, to check on Wyatt and me.
“I was taking a bath and ignored the call from Monu, so he called Wyatt who was in the barn. By the time Monu got a hold of Wyatt, a couple of guys had already entered the house looking for me.”
“What?” Matt asked in horror. “What happened to you? Did Monu get there in time? What happened to Saylor?”
“Ryker saved Saylor in Utah and Monu saved me, although Saylor had a rougher rescue experience than I did.
There were three guys who broke into the house. Monu restrained the first guy downstairs before I knew what was going on. When Wyatt walked in our parent’s bathroom to make sure I was okay, I screamed. I screamed a second time when I saw the man walk in.”
“Did he grab you? What happened? Did Wyatt kill him?”
“No, Wyatt knocked him out with a baseball bat, but Monu killed the third guy who had a gun. That guy snuck into the house through my parent’s balcony. I really don’t remember if I screamed or not, but Monu saw the terror in my face as I saw the third guy with a gun come from my dad’s office. Monu was quick and the sound of a gun being shot kept me frozen in the tub. I’m grateful I didn’t see the body go down as he fell behind the wall into my dad’s office.”
“How in the world did you handle all of that… emotionally?”
“It shook me up… a lot. I had a hard time going back out into the world… and I had nightmares… but I had my faith. I trusted in my Savior and I felt his love as I worked my way through the pain and fear.”
“Do you still have nightmares?”
“Sometimes, but I’ve been blessed with the ability to sleep soundly, so I’m usually okay.”
“So soundly that someone cuts off your hair without you noticing,” Matt commented tenderly as he reached up to touch the ends of her unstyled hair.
“I wonder if I’ll ever know who actually did it,” Evie wondered.
“You don’t have to wonder any longer if you truly want to know.”
“You know?” she asked in surprise.
Matt only nodded.
Evie breathed in and out for a few moments and then nodded her head. “I want to know.”
“It was Neveah.”
Evie sighed again. “I had a suspicion, but why? How did you find out? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“I just found out last night… and her confession was caught on tape.”
Evie squinched her face in surprise.
“Neveah and I were supposed to have our ‘alone’ night last night. The moment we closed the door, I counted to five and then opened it again. The cameras were supposed to have been turned off, but the camera crew hadn’t gotten to it.
“Neveah yelled at me the minute I opened the door and demanded I stay the night with her. I told her I was in love with you and that even if I wasn’t in love with you, I would never deliberately stay the night with someone as cold and calculating as her.
“According to her, “No one ever dumps Neveah!” and then as I was walking down the hall, she blurted out that she was the one who cut your hair.
“I froze in place and then slowly turned around. It took every ounce of willpower not to grab her by the hair and yank it off her head… but I didn’t.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” Evie replied, rubbing Matt’s hand.
“Sometimes that eye for an eye thing would feel so good,” Matt sighed.
“But in the end, when the anger subsides, letting anger control your actions never leaves you feeling good.”
