There’s no similarity between them at all. I see none of him in Sawyer the way I see him in Koda. “Ivan is Sawyer’s real father.” I look up and see them all glare at me.
“What?” Hunter asks.
“I thought I was looking for this stupid statue. I didn’t give a shit. It’s a fucking statue. No one would get hurt.” I swallow. “I didn’t understand why Sawyer was involved, but yeah. He is. His mother was married to Ivan. He’s Jane’s father too. Their mother left when she found out she was pregnant with him. Changed their names. She was probably afraid she was pregnant with a boy.” I shake my head. “She knew Ivan would break him.” It’s the reason Koda is the way he is—fucked in the head. I wonder where he is right now and why he wasn’t with Ivan. “He beats Koda. He beats all of us and takes the things we love and uses them against us.” I lift my shirt and turn around and show them. They’re healing but still angry and red, the bruises morphing from purples to greens. “He did this to me and Sawyer helped me. He took care of me after.”
All I had to do was find that statue.
And I fucked that up for a bright-eyed boy who showed me what it’s like to be loved for the first time in my life. “That house, those people in it...” I shrug. “They’re going to kill me when I step in there. I don’t even care. I just need to get him back, and I won’t ask you to help me. I’m ready to die. I don’t want to ask that of any of you. I just wanted to tell you this happened. Where he is. That I won’t stop until he’s safe.”
I didn’t know why I felt like I had to come here, but I think I know now.
I didn’t want to be alone.
I’m scared.
“Did Ivan make you date him?” Hunter asks.
“God no.” I shake my head. “Never!”
“Wait, hold on.” Mark steps between us. “Why are we acting like that’s worse than what’s actually happening?” he says, looking at Hunter. “In the grand scheme of things, fake dating someone doesn’t seem so bad. I mean, especially if they were blackmailed and had no choice.”
“Really? Right now?” Hunter glowers at Mark then fixes that look on me. “We’re going to that house and getting him back.”
“Whoa, wait.” Mark shakes his head. “You’re not going in there alone with him.”
Noah looks at Jamie. “I’m going to see if your mother needs help.” He looks at me. “I need a breather.” Jamie nods, kissing him as he walks back inside.
“I’m getting my friend back.” Hunter glares.
“We need to think about this,” Jamie says. “Honestly, we don’t know what the hell is in that house. We need help. This is beyond anything we’re prepared to deal with.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing. I just know I need help. We were getting ready to come here when everything happened.”
“Okay, but I’m confused,” Mark says. “If she’s safe, and they won’t hurt her because she’s a girl or whatever, why not just let Ivan take care of her?” They all look at him. “I’m just saying, if she’s safe, why bother?”
I take a deep breath. “Because last year I told him I was done. We got into some trouble, and someone was killed. I didn’t do it. I just saw it happen. That was something I wasn’t prepared for, even if they were a bad person like Ivan. I don’t hurt people. It fucked me up and I told Ivan I was done. I mean, I’m a piece of shit, and my sister is better off without me...” I take a breath. “For the first time in my life I stood up to him, and he told me he’d kill her if I ran.”
“What!? Do you think he’d do that?” Mark asks.
I nod. “He said if I didn’t follow them to New York, he would kill her and no one would find her body, and I believed him. I’m no killer, but Ivan? He’s a killer.” And he has Sawyer. “He treats his kids like they’re his property. That’s all she is to him, and I wouldn’t put it past him to get bored with his things. He doesn’t love her, but he loves hurting me, and he knows she’s the only person I give a fuck about.”
“Until Sawyer,” Jamie says.
I look at them all. My eyes burn. I try so hard to hold it in. The reality is finally sinking in. “I’m so scared they’ll hurt him. I’m scared,” I admit, choking a sob. “I’m so fucking scared.”
Everything is so fucked.
There’s no way to fix this, but I don’t care about anything except that Katya and Sawyer are safe.
“Fuck.” Hunter scrubs a hand through his beard then rests his hands behind his head, looking as numb as I do. “This is insane.”
I don’t know what I need right now, but whatever it is I don’t want to be alone.
“We need to go get them,” Mark says.
“Get them? Are you high?” Hunter snaps.
“Not nearly enough,” Jamie sighs.
