Page 25 of Levi
“Call the nurse in here,” I hear Mom say, but I can’t take my eyes off of the man I used to look up to.How could someone you love betray you in the worse possible way?
The door opens and an older woman comes through with a needle and sticks something into my IV.Immediately my eyes grow heavy and before I can fight it any longer, I’m lost to the darkness once again.
A cold cloth stretches across my forehead, jolting me awake.I push the cloth and the hand away, trying to get my bearings about me.In the corner I see Lincoln next to Reid, with his feet propped up, playing some game on his phone.
The nurse tries again to swipe the washcloth over my face and I’m not having it.Only Saylor ever gets to touch me.
“Get.Out.”I grit.She takes heed of my warning and hightails it out of there.
“Oh good, you’re awake.I thought we’d have to wait another three months to hear your voice again,” Reid says as they make their way over to the side of my bed.
I groan, thinking about earlier.I’m still having a hard time grasping that all this actually happened.What the fuck has my life become?
“I need to get out of here.I need to find my wife.”I try to locate the IVs, ready to yank on them, but Lincoln grabs my hands.
“They won’t let you, and if you try to pull these out then they said they would tie your hands to the rails,” Reid states.“Your guys are working around the clock to find her, Levi.Let them do their jobs while you recover.Your body has been through a lot.They said even after you leave here, you’re looking at a month of physical therapy to get your muscles back functioning, like Mitch is doing right now.”
I huff.I’ve never been one to sit around idly.
“Why are you so bitter towards Dad?”I finally ask after a few silent moments.
“Your relationship isn’t the only one Dad has put a strain on.”A sad regretful expression crosses Lincoln’s face.
“What happened Lincoln?”I genuinely ask.He looks about how I feel right now.Miserable.
He lets out a long-drawn-out sigh, then runs his hands through his hair like I do so often.
“We didn’t know that Dad wasn’t helping Saylor until the next day.Everly started asking where she was after he came back from the station, but he kept it very vague and said not to bother her until she contacted us.Said that she was fine but needed some time to herself to sort all this out.We believed him, but then as Everly tried on several occasions to call her and didn’t get an answer, she started to get worried.Then Sharilyn, Saylor’s grandmother, called not long after and told all of us about the divorce filing, and everything went to shit after that.He told us that the police had hard evidence against her and that they wouldn’t release her.He had said that filing the divorce papers was your idea, and even if you were incapacitated that he was doing it on your behalf.
“Everly flipped the fuck out and slapped the shit out of Dad.He’d made a low blow comment about making sure your money was secure, and that none of your hard-earned money would be placed in her hands.I had to literally pull her off of him.I stupidly jumped to Dad’s defense, saying something ridiculous to the effect that it might be plausible for Saylor to tamper with something after the restaurant scene you both made.”He looks shamefully over at me, and I wince thinking that Saylor could never have done anything harmful to anyone, much less me.
“But we were too late to right our wrong.Everly got ahold of Saylor’s grandparents, Sharilyn and Alan, after leaving here telling us that we’ll regret standing by Dad.Everly wasted no time trying to clean out her things from our apartment.She said she couldn’t be with someone who’d jump to conclusions before knowing all the facts, especially about Saylor.We both said some really harsh things, so she left.By the time I was calm and started to think rationally, I couldn’t locate Everly for days.By then, Mitch woke up and he set us straight as to what really was happening.”He pauses, rubbing his face with his hands as if reliving those moments.“Everly’s Dad came down here to help her and Saylor’s grandparents find Saylor but they were having no luck.When I finally found out where Everly was, I begged on my hands and knees, in front of the entire city, for her to forgive me.A few days later, she agreed to meet with me, and I’ve been trying to make things right ever since.She’s put a pause on our engagement until we work through all this.”
“I’m sorry about all this, Lincoln,” I tell him, seeing how torn up he is.
“It’s not your fault, bub,” he says, grabbing my hand.
“So there’s not a single bit of evidence of where she might be?Nothing?”I ask.
“Everly’s Dad is trying to locate Saylor’s father, to see if they can pull some resources together from their government connections to find a lead.He’s been out of contact for almost a year, and Tommy didn’t know if he was out of the country or not.It seems like her dad just disappears all the time.But I’m not sure they’ll be sharing that with us if they do, seeing how we’re enemy number one at the moment.”
He has tears in his eyes, and he’s trying hard to blink them away.I know this is hard for Lincoln.I’d gone with him to pick out her ring just a week before he proposed.Lincoln was never one to settle down, like me until I found Saylor, but he truly is so happy with Everly and I know she’s the one for him.
“Is that all that’s been going on?”
“When Mitch woke and told us about the threat to Saylor’s life, and how you pulled the scene at the restaurant to draw the guy out, we knew our lives would never be the same.Even Mom and Dad aren’t in a good place after Mitch uncovered what Dad did at the police station.I can only imagine what this will cause, now that he knew she was pregnant and left her there.Grandma almost had a nervous breakdown so Grandpa took her to their place in Montana.”
God, so many lives have been ruined because of this.
“I hope once I bring Saylor home, we can work on getting your life back on track with Everly.I love you and will do everything in my power to help get you there.”
The door opens and reveals Mitch, Ryan, Dean and another guy I don’t recognize.They have stacks of boxes in their hands, and Tina is behind Mitch wheeling him in.
“Thought you might want an update of what we know so far, sir.”Mitch says at the end of the bed.“This is William, he specializes in security and has a lot of connections in the government.”
I nod and look at my siblings.
“Go home and get some rest.I need to find my wife and baby.”
