Page 127 of Three Stepbrothers Save Christmas

“You go and do whatever you need to do, Sweetheart; we are fine down here.”

She nods as Ryan places an arm around her shoulders, and they head up the stairs. I wait for them to be out of view before standing and taking a picture of some of the ornaments I have removed from a crate. I attach the photo to a message and take a deep breath before sending it.

Travis: Does any of this look familiar?

65

Verity

Two hours ago, Thomas Nicholson turned up. I’d hoped I would never see him again and had prayed that would be the end of it. Oh, how wrong was I?

Travis came into the lounge earlier and pre-warned me Nicholson was on his way, that Dad had left us one more big mess to deal with. Not only had he used my mum's favourite room for storage, but it was drugs that he was storing.

Nicholson and Travis believe that for every shipment my father was in charge of going between here and the States, he helped himself to a little of it and falsified the documents so no one would know. Each figure or ornament was filled with drugs. Nicholson has put Travis in charge of going through the shipments and logging how many of each type he has so they can go back through the records my father kept seeing if they can work out the amount of drugs that are there and what types. I asked Travis if it had to be him, and he said yes. It could take others weeks to do, but he

People are coming back and forth, and I hate it. If this place felt any less like a home, it’s now. Long gone are the days when this was a happy place. That man has managed to spread his evil into every single room in one way or another.

“Little Kitten?”

I look up from my bed, where I’m hiding away from everyone, clinging to an old stuffed panda I found at the bottom of my wardrobe. It’s not my doll, which is what I really want, but it’s helping a little.

“I wanted to pop up and check on you,” Ryan says softly as he sits on the edge of the bed and takes my hand. “How are you doing?”

I shrug whilst burying my face into my panda. I don’t trust myself to speak. I don’t even know what to say. How do you explain this kind of shit? Really, there is only one thing to say.

“I want to go home.”

Ryan runs a hand over my head, and I wait for him to explain why we have to stay.

“Come on then.”

I look up from the panda and frown.

“But the others?”

“They can organise another way home, or we can come back for them when they are finished.” He leans in and presses his lips to my forehead. Throwing my arms around his neck, I bury my face into his neck and take a deep breath, inhaling his scent, which never fails to calm my racing heart.

“You are my priority, Little Kitten. Not any of this shit that’s going on downstairs. If you want to go somewhere you feel safe, then that is where we’ll go.” He wraps his arms around me, giving me the bear hug I desperately need.

“Come on,” he smiles as he stands and holds out a hand. I place mine in his so he can help me to my feet. Picking up the bag of things I packed to take with me, he holds my hand and walks me from my room and down the stairs.

“Everything okay?”

We turn to see Travis standing next to Nicholson. I find myself leaning into Ryan, who lets go of my hand and wraps an arm around my shoulders protectively.

“Verity wants to go home, so I’m taking her.” He doesn’t explain himself, and he knows why from the look on Travis’s face when he sees me.

He walks forward and cups my cheek pulling me from Ryans arms and into his own. His warm, hard chest presses against my cheek as I wrap my arms around his waist, needing to be held.

“Take her home, and we will come back as soon as all this shit is sorted,” Travis says to Ryan as his arms tighten around me for a moment longer.

“How will you get home?” I ask, leaning back. Travis smiles before pressing a kiss to my lips.

“Don’t worry about us; we will make our own way back.”

“I will ensure one of my guys gives them a lift.”

I look around Travis to see Mr Nicholson smiling at me. When he looks at me like that, I almost forget how dangerous he is, as he’s more like a man smiling at one of their children. “I promise no harm will come to either of them. You concentrate on yourself and take the time you need to heal, lovely.”

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