Page 266 of Nobody's Girl

When we walk into our room, the glass on the floor brings a thought to my mind. “Eden, I wonder what he threw to break the window. Look, the hole is small. It can’t be more than three inches around or so.”

Eden studies the hole in the glass. “I don’t know. I just know he had a sling shot in his hand when I saw him,” he says, then turns to me. “Alyssa, I’m sorry about this. I had no idea she was from such a messed-up situation.”

“Eden, don’t do that,” I say as I follow him to his closet. “You saw a girl who had no friends. She just wanted to do what everybody else was doing. You know, be normal and go to her senior prom. The poor girl was enduring so much at home it made her unable to make real relationships. I’m glad you did that for her. Please don’t apologize for it again. I admit I was angry at first, but you didn’t do anything wrong. My heart aches for that poor girl.”

Eden pulls on a white shirt, buttoning it as he walks to me, then pulls me to him. “You’re so kind-hearted, Alyssa. I love you so much. You have no idea how much,” Eden tells me with added warmth to his soft, velvety voice.

“I love you too, Eden,” I tell him as he rocks me slowly back and forth, kissing the top of my head.

When we walk outside, I see a black suburban parked in the driveway. “Is that the man’s?” I ask.

“No, sweetie, it’s mine. Your mother and I found it at our new house when we moved in. Pretty cool, huh? The Phoenix Foundation always does so well by us,” Dad says.

He opens the car door for us.  “I don’t see our cars anywhere. Where are they?” I ask.

Lyle turns to look at me as I climb into the seat behind him, and says, “We had them put into the garage and locked them up tight so that maniac can’t get to them. They’ll also be gone over with a fine-tooth comb to be sure he’s not done anything to them.”

I look over at Eden. “I hope he hasn’t done anything to mess them up.”

He smiles at me. “Even if he has, they’ll be fixed up good as new. You can count on that, Alyssa.”

As we come to the gate, there’s an old, ratty-looking, brown Buick. “So this must be his,” I say.

Lyle answers me, “Yes, it is. I’m very disappointed he was able to get through the gates. That means someone gave him the code or buzzed him in. Someone in our home.”

I hadn’t even thought about that. I cannot imagine who would want us hurt. Everyone who works at the mansion seems so nice and genuine. The thought there’s someone in the house who’s against us is frightening. Why would anyone be against us?

Eden buckles his seat belt, then mine, which I neglected to do. His constant attentiveness has me forgetting to do the most basic things for myself. “I cannot believe someone in our organization would be a part of this,” he says. He looks at me and smiles, then sends me, ‘I’ll try to control myself, princess. I don’t wish for you to become so reliant on me you forget to buckle your own safety belt.’

I smile back and kiss his cheek.

He’s so adorable!

“Unfortunately, son, it’s impossible to be certain that every person has good intentions,” Lyle says. “That’s why we have to do the things we do to keep you safe. It takes many people to be sure of that, and sometimes we have to fight our own to keep the Phoenix couples safe.”

Eden asks, “Do you think this person or people changed the way they thought about this organization because of us?”

Lyle looks back at him. “People can change for many reasons. Maybe the person started out with good intentions and then something happened to make them fall away from what we’re doing. Hopefully we’ll find out soon, as not only do we have the New Orleans’s police department investigating, but also our own team of investigators. They should find something soon. This guy didn’t just disappear.”

Eden looks down at me. “Promise me you’ll be good and do everything we’re told to do, even if it doesn’t make sense to you at the time, princess.”

What? What is he talking about?

“Eden, I don’t understand.”

His arm slides around my shoulders and he pulls me into his chest. “Just promise me, please,” he not so much asks as demands.

I nod my head, but internally I’m freaking out. I mean, come on, just do whatever I’m told to, without questioning anything? I don’t know if I can do that. What if someone I don’t completely trust tells me to do something I’m not comfortable doing?

“Eden, what if the person who helped this guy get into the house tells us to do something we question? I mean, we have no idea who it is, right?”

He smiles at me. “Okay, I see. Just do what I ask, or what anyone else who you trust asks, okay baby?”

I smile back at him. “Okay,” I promise him and I feel a little bit better about it now.

The gates open up at my parents’ new house. As we drive up to it I’m speechless. It’s gorgeous. It’s not nearly as large as the mansion we just came from, but it’s a mansion as well. Even though its brand new, it’s still full of the southern charm Louisiana is known for.

Four large columns hold up an enormous balcony overlooking the front entrance area, which is spectacular. There’s a large area of pink flowers blooming up the middle of two stairways, leading up to a porch. It’s a shade of white, but has a slightly pink hue to it. Dad pulls up and we all get out.