Unforgivably Broken (The Broken Series Book Two) (20 page)

The room was dark and though a part of me felt it was unfamiliar, another part of me was eerily nauseous. It was like I knew where I was, but I couldn’t see much. My heart was hammering in my chest and my breathing was much too loud, echoing off the walls in the large room. Once I heard the laughter, it was too late. I absolutely knew where I was and I knew that laugh. The smell of chalk hit me at the same time as the feel of the mats under my back.

“No!” I sat upright, taking a few gasping breaths as the realization of the nightmare settled around me. I looked at the empty bed and immediately toward the bathroom door. It was open and unoccupied from what I could see. The fear from the nightmare was bleeding through, leaving me wary of the quiet.
“Zane?”

Silence followed and I carefully slid out of the bed.
I tip-toed toward the bathroom, peeking carefully around the corner to find the room just as empty as I’d thought. I stepped in, moving to splash water on my face as I chastised myself for being so silly. Of course there was no one in there. The reflection in the mirror didn’t seem as sure, but I looked away from her and turned back to the bedroom. I needed to go check on Zane and Conner.

Stepping into the hallway, I expected to hear their voices from the kitchen or the TV in the living room but I was greeted by more eerie silence. I edged toward Conner’s room, noticing the door was open. I tried to convince myself that maybe Conner had woken up during the night and Zane had gone back to his room and fallen asleep with him. The emptiness of his bedroom landed like lead in my stomach. The roiling nausea almost sent me running to the bathroom
, but I swallowed it down, trying not to let fear get the better of me.

“Zane?
Conner?” I called, trying for lightness but I knew there was desperation in my tone. I jogged back down the hall, checking the kitchen and seeing no one there. My palms and forehead were already sticky with sweat as I tried again to beat back the panic. I ran back down the hall toward the master bedroom. Where were they? Was this just another nightmare?

The sound of the front door opening shocked m
e. I spun from the doorway of the bedroom, seeing Zane and Conner walking in together as Conner laughed. Zane carried a bag with the logo of a donut shop up the street. He met my eyes and the smile dropped from his face.

“Hey
, buddy, take this to the kitchen and I’ll be right there, okay?” He knelt down and handed Conner the bag, carefully putting it in his good hand and watching as Conner headed in the opposite direction.

I stepped backwards into the bedroom, staying out of Conner’s line of sight as Zane came toward me. He immediately wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me to his chest. “What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”

“Where were you?” I asked, my voice trembling. I hated it and I hated the fear that still swam through my veins but it was there and I couldn’t pretend it wasn’t. I knew the answer to my question, but it was the only thought I could form at the time.

“We went to grab breakfast. We don’t have any food in the house yet,” Zane explained, his hand rubbing my back. “I thought you would still be asleep. We weren’t even gone ten minutes.”

“I just panicked. It was stupid. I’m sorry,” I said, feeling bad for yet another freak out. This was getting ridiculous. I wasn’t that girl.

Zane pulled back, bending to look me in the eyes. He studied me, seeming to consider something before he spoke. “You haven’t been alone at all, have you?” I swallowed and dropped my head, breaking our gaze. He hit right to the core of it. I’d made a point of making sure I was with someone every time I ran to the house while Zane was in the hospital. While I thought I was being discreet about it, apparently Zane had seen through it. Or
, he was at least putting the pieces together now. He lifted his hand, using it to tilt my face back up to his. “I’m sorry, Pixie. I didn’t think. I should’ve told you or left a note saying we were going. But you have to know I’d never leave you if I thought you weren’t safe.”

His words made sense, especially given our fight recently about me working at the bar, but they didn’t fully alleviate my fears. I nodded though, swallowing again as Conner called to him from the kitchen. “Go. I’m fine. I’m just going to take a minute.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead, squeezing my shoulders before he walked away. I shut the door and slid down the wall beside it. The adrenaline that had flooded me was leaving me cold and a little light-headed as it slowly dissipated, taking with it the remains of the fear. This was not the way I wanted to start
my day.

And it definitely wasn’t a memory I wanted to leave in our new house.

I hated that
Lili was trying to put on a brave face but I knew fear was something that made her feel weak. And if there was one thing Lili hated, it was feeling weak.

Knowing I had to take Conner to sign him up for school, I’d called Paige after breakfast and asked her to come by and hang out with
Lili. I used the excuse that I didn’t want Lili to do all the unpacking alone but I think Paige understood what I was really asking. It wasn’t about babysitting Lili, it was about making her feel more comfortable. I felt guilty that all of this with Conner and the move was happening on top of everything else. If we were still at Tish’s, she most likely wouldn’t have to worry about being alone.

As I thought about all this, Conner rattled on in the backseat about the school. He’d seemed to love it there.
Like everything else seemed to be recently, it was more than I could afford but worth it. I would have to push harder to get back to work but I needed to do that anyway. I needed life to get back to normal for all of us.

Pulling in the driveway, I frowned when I noticed Paige’s car wasn’t there. I helped Conner out of his
carseat and held his hand on the walk up to the door. Maybe Paige and Lili had decided to go out and grab something to eat. Or make a grocery run. Using my key, I let us into the house and Conner ran to the living room, turning on the TV as I glanced around. There were more things out so clearly Paige and Lili had done some unpacking, but something felt wrong.

“Stay here, buddy. I’ll be right back,” I said, leaning down to kiss his forehead before moving down the hall. Conner’s room was finished, as I figured it would be. I knew
Lili would start there to make him more comfortable. It wasn’t until I walked into the kitchen that I started to panic. One of the boxes was tipped on its side and there were plates shattered against the tile. I spotted her phone on the floor next to the mess.

I stepped over the
debris, scooped up her phone, and ran my thumb over the screen. It was open to a picture message from a blocked number. The photo was of Lili and Tish carrying boxes into our new house. It was a cell phone shot, obviously, and had to have been taken by someone nearby. The message underneath made my blood run cold.

Moving probably wasn’t the smartest idea.

“Lili?” I called out, trying to keep my voice calm. I grabbed the closest thing resembling a weapon, the box knife Lili left on the table, before jogging back toward our bedroom. I left the door open, not wanting to worry Conner, but needing to keep an eye on him. Something told me Adam was behind this and if that was the case, I could already be too late. “Lili?” I called again and I heard a sound coming from the closet.

I pulled out my phone, backing toward the door. Before I could dial, her voice whimpered through the door.
“Zane?”

I dropped my phone, reaching for the door to the closet immediately and yanking it open. She was cowered in the corner and she gasped when she saw me. I realized that between the knife and the presumably feral look on my face, I more than likely terrified her. I
knelt down and put the knife on the floor at the same time she threw herself into my arms.

Her entire frame trembled against me as I wrapped my arms around her tightly. I tried to check for any sign she was injured
as best as I could, but as far as I could see, she was just shaken.

“He… he…” she
hiccupped out the words. The terror in her eyes as she clutched at me ripped me to shreds. She’d told me that she wasn’t comfortable being alone and I’d promised her she was safe. I’d lied. Guilt wasn’t a strong enough word for what I felt.

“I know, baby. I know. I have your phone. Did you call the police?
Detective Sanders?” I asked and when she shook her head, I dialed the detective’s number immediately. She had been the one helping us, keeping me updated when I was in the hospital as they searched for Adam. They needed to know.

Our first full week in the house was one of the most stressful weeks of my life. The interview and investigation with the police and detective
s had raised Conner’s fear. Even though he didn’t know what was going on, he knew enough. I’d had a security system installed within twenty-four hours of the text and we had routine drive-by routes set up with the police department for the week. Even with a number to trace, there was no sign of Adam. And, of course, there was no solid proof that it was him. But even Detective Sanders was certain it was.

The other thing I’d done was something I’d never wanted to do. I bought a gun. Actually, I bought two. I hated guns, with good reason, but you can’t win a
gunfight with a fist or a knife. And I needed Lili and Conner safe more than I needed to keep holding on to my memories. I had to let go of my issues for the sake of my protecting my family.

During the seventy-two hour waiting period, I told
Lili what I’d done. She was nervous but as the days went on and I promised to teach her how to use it safely, she became more open to the idea. For those first few days, she was quiet and more withdrawn than I’d ever seen her, and very jumpy. She seemed to gravitate toward whatever room I was in, whether she realized she was doing it or not. I hated seeing her that way. Lili was one of the most independent people I’d ever met before Adam took that girl away from me. He’d stripped her sense of security and just when I’d started bringing it back and drawing her out, he’d managed to do it again. He held the power and he knew it — the power over me, over Lili, over all of us.

We were starting to fall into a routine. Conner was close to starting school but
in the meantime, I was trying to keep him busy, and Lili had started her job at the shop with Tish. He would come by and pick her up on his way in, or I would take her in and drop her off. Either way, she wasn’t anywhere without one of us. And she no longer fought us on that.