Page 94 of Three Stepbrothers Save Christmas

“Don’t lie, Sweetheart. I know that’s what you were looking for,” he sighs as he pushes himself away from the doorframe and walks further into the room. “I get it, I really do. You have been trapped your whole life, and now you are trapped in a tiny cabin with the three of us. But it won’t be forever, I promise.” He reaches up and tucks some hair behind my ear.

“I know, I’ll get used to it,” I reply, placing my bag back on the side before wrapping my arms around his waist.

Travis holds me tight as he buries his face into the hair at the top of my head and lets out a deep sigh as he whispers. “I don’t plan on you being here long enough to get used to it.”

47

Ryan

“Okay, I’m starting to really miss the outside world.”

I spin around and shush Ethan while checking for Verity or Travis.

“Don’t let Verity hear you saying things like that; it won’t help the situation,” I warn before returning to the book I was reading, but I’m not taking any of it in.

It’s been two and a half weeks since we arrived here, and it feels like time has dragged and flown all at the same time. The cabin luckily has four bedrooms, so we all have our own space, somewhere we can stop and unwind without the others bothering us. We agreed that if one of our doors is closed, we leave them in peace. The only person who can walk around freely into any room, whether the door is closed or not, is Verity.

We are getting increasingly worried about her. She’s hardly sleeping. She eats when we put food in front of her, but never the whole plate, and is clinging to Travis more than the rest of us. I now understand how the twins could say they never get jealous of each other. Sure, I wouldn’t turn down any time with Verity. But we always knew that Travis was her protector and her safety net; it’s only natural that she would rather be with him at the moment. On the few occasions Travis hasn’t been available, she has come to me as her second daddy. She knows there is nothing we wouldn’t do for her, and we will protect her no matter what.

“Have you noticed Travis is spending longer out each morning with that Logan?”

I put my book down and look around, checking for Travis before nodding.

“I think he may be on to something but won’t share it until he knows for definite.”

Travis goes out before dawn every morning to meet with Logan and uses his laptop to check for any information. I don’t know what he might have found that is causing the trips out to last longer each morning, but he is getting increasingly more stressed and angrier. It could be the isolation or the situation itself that’s stressing him out. It could be the lack of progress, too. As far as I know, Henry has made no attempts to find us. The police aren’t involved, but that’s thanks to Verity’s little video. How she thought to make a video telling the police everything, I don’t know. She watches far too many true crime programmes. But the threat of her exposing Henry was enough for him not to report her as missing.

That doesn’t mean we can come out of hiding. Verity is still in danger of being married to that man. Consent would mean nothing to them. They would have a way of making the marriage legal without all the business of a ceremony. We have already heard how Nicholson apparently eloped with his wife. They could easily use the same story with Verity and his son.

“Did Verity sleep in with you last night?”

Ethan nods as he yawns.

“We didn’t get much sleep, and not just because of sex. She tossed and turned all night. I don’t think she has had a sound sleep since we got here,” he sighs.

“I don’t think any of us have. Let’s face it, the three of us aren’t used to relying on others to sort shit out; we have always done it together.”

“RYAN!”

We both jump to our feet and run upstairs to where Travis’s voice came from. My heart starts racing, terrified of what could have happened.

“Where are you?” I shout as we take the stairs three at a time.

“Bathroom!”

We skid to a stop at the door to find Travis sitting on the floor with Verity. She is wrapped in a towel, her hair still soaking wet as he holds her.

“What’s happened?”

“Get me the first aid box,” he snaps as I realise Verity’s crying. I grab the box from the cabinet before rushing back to him. It’s then I notice the blood on the floor and in the shower.

“There is a cut under my hand. I need you to check if it needs stitches.” Travis lifts his left hand from her hip to reveal two deep cuts.

“Oh, little Kitten,” I sigh as my heart breaks. Where the hell did she get a blade from? We have all disposed of ours to ensure there wasn’t anything she could use.

I check them out and breathe a deep with relief when I realise none need more than butterfly strips. Luckily, Travis had thought ahead and picked some up to be on the safe side. Keeping them covered for a day or two should be enough to help them heal. I hear Travis asking Ethan to get her some dry clothes as I place a dressing on her leg.

“I’m sorry,” Verity sobs against Travis’s now wet chest.

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