Page 93 of Five
At first, I agreed with Oscar’s plan. Let the police and the naval academy cadets figure things out. They didn’t need us.
But then, Oz visited last night. He fell asleep clutching me to him, and it had a weird dual effect on my feelings about the situation. As much as I loved being held and protected like this—something I didn’t get as a kid—it made me want to do something. Act, rather than just wait for an outcome.
Even if my contribution was small and insignificant, I wanted to help that little girl who didn’t have the same safety and solace I did.
Something niggles at the back of my mind at the thought. Our parents were in the middle of a contentious divorce when Nicholas was abducted. We were with my father at the time of the kidnapping, a man whom I loved dearly but who was clueless about taking care of children. It was nothing for us to be out and about well after the streetlights began blinking on, looking for something to occupy ourselves with so we didn’t have to go back home to a house of chaos.
It makes me wonder about the girl’s family life. Was she as vulnerable as we were?
It bore investigation. When that beat cop had found the backpack on the ground and my shattered laptop was pulled from it, everything got a little more personal. He has that child now because of me—because of something left undone and unresolved years ago.
As frightening as the entire thing was, and as much as I recognize my own culpability in putting myself in harm’s way, I can’t suppress my instinct to help.
To fix things, if I’m honest with myself. To set things right. I’ve never told anyone that Nicholas’s abductor tried to take me, too, but maybe it’s time I did. These men who have chosen so readily to help me and protect me need to know the entirety of the story.
“I want to go back out,” I say aloud. “Finish what we started yesterday.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Oliver sits up straight, his expression thunderous.
I take a careful sip of my coffee. It doesn’t surprise me. I expected the most resistance from him. He knows, after all, what it was like to be held prisoner. Yesterday had to have brought back terrible memories for him.
Cope comes in, hair still wet from the shower, and grins a cheeky smile before bending to press a kiss to my cheek. “Good morning, beautiful.”
“It is a good morning.”
Cope glances around as he grabs a plate, aware suddenly of the tension that fills the room. “What’d I miss?”
“Oh, nothing much,” Oliver snarks. “Neve was just telling us how she wants us to take her back to the big island for a repeat of yesterday.”
I set my fork down. “That’s not what I’m asking. Hear me out, please.” Folding my hands in front of me, I outline what we know. “The police figured yesterday was just a case of ‘wrong place, wrong time.’ Their take is that the guy was probably looking in the office for keys to a rental boat and couldn’t get to his own vehicle when the crowd showed up, leaving him trapped.”
Remi’s eyes narrow. “You don’t agree.”
“No. And Oz didn’t, either. If that was the case, the suspect could have left on foot before we ever arrived. Or he could have lingered in the crowd and then left when things calmed down, but that’s not the choice he made.” I pause, letting my gaze settle on each man before continuing. “He knew who I was. Knew I would be there if he created a disturbance. He targeted me…or, rather, us. He targeted us.”
The guys exchange a glance. Remi shakes his head, unconvinced. “I’m sorry, Neve, but that feels like a leap.”
“Not if you know what I do.”
“What are you talking about?” Oliver asks.
I feel ill all of a sudden, the pancakes I’d been eating sitting like lead in my stomach. “You know he took my brother. Or the person he’s copying did.” It’s not a question, but they nod, anyway, confirming that my past was no secret.
Most of it, anyway.
“What you don’t know…what no one knows because I didn’t tell anyone…is that he tried to take me, too.”
The faces around me are stunned, Oliver’s most of all. “You mean—”
I nod. “I got away. He had Nicolas by the waist, and me by the hood of my jacket, and I managed to twist until the jacket was all he was holding…not me, not any part of me. And then I ran.” Tears I thought I was finished with years ago stream rivers down my cheeks, tears of rage and guilt and an endless well of sadness for the brother I lost. “I knew if I tried to fight for Nicky, he’d get me again, and I’d never be able to help Nicky if he had us both, so I fucking ran.” I swipe at my face. “I didn’t tell my dad. I couldn’t—”
“Jesus, Neve.” It’s Jesse, surprisingly, who shoves his chair back and comes to me. He lifts me with ease from my seat and resettles himself with me on his lap. It’s not the first time he’s done this, and I marvel at the depth of compassion he’s capable of hiding. “You must have been terrified.”
I sag against him, letting the weight of my secret drop and fall, leaving me, if not weightless, then lighter, at least.
Oliver stands and begins to pace the width of the terrace, his hands steepled at his mouth. “Okay. So, we have a perp we’re nearly positive is the same one from our pasts, and if he’s not, he’s someone close, at least. He would’ve learned from the original, been mentored, perhaps. There’s been a string of isolated abductions over the years. An attempted abduction at your daycare, a break-in, threatening messages…what did those say, again? Something about your destiny?”
“That’s what really locked it in for me. He did the same thing when I was a child…called me Wendy. And yes…he told me it was time to embrace my destiny.”
