She lowers her eyes to the counter.“I may try to avoid seeing the cruel man behind the father I know.I may excuse his fierceness because of the way he loves me and spoils me.”She lifts her gaze to me.“I honestly thought he’d give me time to come to terms with what he wanted from me.And that would be enough time for us to figure out what to do.”
“I can understand your thinking, but I don’t think Tom really comprehended the choice he was forcing Peter to make.”Leaning on the island, I cross my arms over my chest.“You’ve disappeared before, but you’ve never run away with someone.You’ve never had to face a marriage to someone you may or may not like.He knew this time you might not resurface.Especially when Tom disappeared at the same time.”
She nods and tears shimmer in her eyes.“I thought he’d love me enough to let me go.”
I shake my head.“It’s not love that makes him hold on so tight.It’s control.It’s his future.That’s what you are to him.That’s what that child will be to him.You can put him in prison where he’ll bide his time.Waiting until that child decides to meet their grandfather and then he’ll sink his hooks into your child.Just like he tried to sink his hooks into you.”
A tear slips down her cheek and she cradles her abdomen, which doesn’t even look like she’s pregnant yet.When Tom comes in, his gaze narrows on her tear and he turns to me.
“You knew what the two of you were getting into.”I shrug as I walk to the doorway and grab my bag.“We didn’t.So think about that when you see your sister again.When Finn and Dante come walking through that door.Because we all lost her.Think how you would feel if you lost Natasha to her father.”
Having said what I needed to say, I leave to find Wyatt.
* * *
Wyatt
“Hey.”
Drew finds me in the primary bedroom.This house is huge and used to be my real father’s family estate.I’ve put some money into it, but a trust owns it and the documentation is sketchy, just like my real father.So no one should be able to find us here.
I nod at him.He drops his bag next to the door.
“Is this where we’re staying?”Drew asks.He sits on the couch that overlooks the oversized bed.The room is enormous.
I’ve never stayed in it before.
“And before you qualify that—” Drew smirks.“I mean all of us, because I’m not letting Sara out of my sight, and I don’t think any of us will want to even sleep across the hall.”
I glance at the doorway.Tom usually stays in the other wing in the other primary bedroom.“I don’t know about Tom?—”
“Fuck Tom.”Drew shakes his head.“Either he gets on board or we throw him to the sharks.He shouldn’t have any right to how Sara feels.If she wants all of us in here, she deserves all of us in here.”
I sink onto the edge of the bed and run my hand through my hair.It’s not that simple.But I’ll try.“I need to talk to Sara alone.”
“That can be arranged.”Drew clasps his hands between his knees as he meets my eyes.“Unless you have a marriage we don’t know about, there’s not a lot that would keep Sara away from you.”
I swallow and look out the window.“There’s a lot you don’t know about my family.”
He squints at me.“Hawkins is a well-known family.”
“He’s not my biological father.”Blowing out a breath, I rise.“I can tell you after I tell her, but what she decides stands.I won’t force her to be with me.”
Drew tips his chin.“It’s always been about Sara.”
“Help me clean the sheets?”I jerk my head toward the bed as I pull off the comforter.We spend the rest of the day tidying up and waiting.Trying not to think about what complications they ran into since they aren’t here already.
“They were supposed to get her before dawn?”Tom asks as we sit around the kitchen table eating a hastily put together meal.
I nod.The desire to turn on my phone weighs heavily on me.We don’t know where they are.If they’ve all been captured.If they’re all hurt, or worse.I push my plate away after picking at it.I’m not hungry.
If everything went perfectly, they’d be here by now.It’s late.Past ten.And still nothing.
“My father doesn’t hurt women.”Natasha sets her fork on her plate and rests her elbows on the table.“If he took her, he would keep her safe.”
I run a hand through my hair and pick up my plate, throwing the leftovers into the trash and rinsing it before putting it in the dishwasher.I stare out into the dark night.
Where are they?
