Page 255 of Keep This Promise
“Then go back and be with your daughter.” I look at my best friend and clench my jaw to stop the emotions. “Hey, she’s safe.”
“Is she? For how long? We can’t stay in Rose Canyon if this is going to be our lives.”
“It’s way too soon to be making plans to leave. Let us do our jobs and see what we turn up. There are so many people involved that it’s inevitable that one of them will screw up, and that will be the break we’ve been looking for.”
Maybe, but all I see is Eden lying in that dirty blanket. The way she wasn’t moving, how wide her pupils were, and the dangerously big bump on her head. When I lifted her, she seemed almost weightless, so still. I thought I had lost her.
“I’ll never get that image out of my head.”
“I wish I could tell you it gets better, but I still see shit I wish I could forget,” Emmett admits. “What you have to hold on to is the fact that she was alive when we found her. That Blakely was able to get to her and give her insulin so you had time to get her to the hospital. I know it’s hard, believe me, but if you keep your mind on the right path, it gets a little easier.”
All of that sounds great, but it’s not that easy. “I just want to focus on finding this asshole.”
“Which is whatwe’redoing,” Jackson says, appearing out of nowhere and slapping his hand on my back. “You should be with Eden.”
I turn to him. “I want to hire an entire army to protect her and prevent her from ever living through this again.”
“And you basically have. Let us all do our jobs and work through the evidence. Come on, I’ll give you a ride back to the hospital.”
The ten-minute ride is silent, and I’m honestly thankful. So many conflicting thoughts are rattling around my head, and none of them are lining up to any conclusion. I want to run, take the two of them where no one knows us, and figure it out from there. I have enough money saved that we could last about six months, but I wouldn’t be able to work as a doctor again. We would have to become new people, which Sophie has already done once.
Still, even if she agreed to it, who’s to say they wouldn’t find us again anyway? Then, if they did, we’d be completely without aid.
The car stops, and Jackson sighs. “I can only imagine what you’re thinking, but I can promise none of it is a good idea.”
“Which is why I haven’t acted on it.”
“Good. I got a call from my guys in Virginia Beach, and after Zach asked them to run Theo and Sophie’s bank records again, they found a bank account number that matches your medical license. It wasn’t in the records we initially pulled, but it seems as if only you or Sophie can access it. I’d like to talk to you both and get your permission to see what exactly is there. Come on, let’s head inside.”
The two of us head inside and walk down the hall where security is standing along with Jackson’s guys. “Any issues?” he asks.
“None. The psychiatrist and a nurse came to talk to Sophie and Eden. They’re still in there evaluating them now.”
That would be normal protocol. They want to have someone make sure Eden is okay mentally, and a guard in the room would make things uncomfortable.
“I’m going in,” I tell them. I’m her father and am allowed there, and besides, I miss them.
When I enter the room, my blood runs cold. Sophie is sprawled out on the floor unconscious, and Kate is standing by Eden’s bedside, needle in hand, about to inject something into her IV.
“What are you doing?” I demand, taking a step forward and then freezing again as the cold barrel of a gun presses against my neck. “Kate? What the hell is going on?”
“I’m so sorry to do this, Holden,” Kate says, glancing back toward Eden. “If you had just given me back the money, it wouldn’t have gone this way. I never would have to do this to the people you love. Believe it or not, I actually like you, Holden.”
“Stop!” I say quickly. “Jesus, Kate! What are you doing?”
“I’m doing what I have to.”
“Have to what? What the fuck is going on?”
She shakes her head. “I will not let you people destroy everything. I heard all about the files and the box you have. No, I’m sorry, but I won’t leave any more loose ends.”
“You already have. What, are you going to kill everyone in Rose Canyon? Everyone you’ve ever met?”
Kate huffs. “No need. I’ll be long gone by then. But first, I’m going to get the money, and you’re going to help me.”
I shake my head. “You’re out of your fucking mind if you think I’ll help you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
