Page 52 of Damaged & Deadly

When Oliver turns his head to meet my gaze, I can see the apprehension, fear, and pain in his eyes. I want nothing more than to give him a hug and tell him it will be okay, but I have no idea if it will be. I can’t even imagine the horrors Evie has endured in the last twelve years. It’s clear that she’s been abused, starved, and beaten, and those are just the scars I can see. The damage that’s been inflicted on her mind and heart… that’s gotta be on a whole other level, and I don’t know if she’s ever going to be okay. She’s got a long, challenging road ahead of her.

After a moment, he turns to look up the stairs again before hesitantly placing his boot on the first step. He unhurriedly makes his way to Evie as if he’s both desperate to lay eyes on her and unwilling to see for himself just how much the little girl he once knew has changed.

I stand and watch him until he disappears before moving to join Marcus in the living room. “Where’s Luc?” I ask, frowning when I don’t see him.

“The kids took him to the clubhouse.”

“Oh.” Disappointment courses through me. All I want is to hold him in my arms and reassure myself that he’s okay. I also have a hundred and one questions for him about what he went through at the hands of Giovanni and Santos. I feel like I need to know every little thing he endured. Not that it will change anything. It’s purely to torture myself.

“He’ll be better protected there,” Marcus explains, picking up on my despondent response. “He was okay, though. He’s a tough kid.”

Collapsing into a chair, I lean my elbows on my knees and bury my face in my hands. “He is.” Life has forced Luc to become tough. I did as much as possible to shelter him from the worst of it—and maybe that was stupidly naive of me. Perhaps all these years, I should have been toughening him up, teaching him to fight and bringing him with me on jobs instead of keeping it all a secret from him. I was trying to preserve his childhood innocence, but I see now that there’s no place for such innocence in Black Creek, and protecting it only makes the crash land to reality hit all that much harder.

“Stop beating yourself up. You did the best you could with him.”

Staring at the carpet, I purse my lips and shake my head. “I should have done more. Been there. Protected him better.”

“Bullshit.” The heat in Marcus’ voice snaps my gaze to meet his incensed glare. “We do our best with the crappy hand life dealt us. Sometimes shit happens that’s outside your control, and no matter how hard you fight or how much of yourself you give up, you just can’t win. You won this round. You got your brother back. Take the win, enjoy it, and make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice. We don’t all get second chances, and some of us would give up everything for just five minutes with our loved ones again.”

Pushing out of his chair, he leaves the room. I don’t know Marcus’ story, but clearly, he lost someone close to him, and he’s still carrying the blame for whatever happened. His words replay in my mind, and he’s right. Against all odds, I got my brother back. Despite the failures of tonight, we also achieved a miracle. We not only rescued Luc, but we found Evie, and those successes are what we have to focus on.

My eyes lift to the ceiling as I wonder how Cain and Evie’s reunion is going. I can’t imagine the rollercoaster of emotions and the emotional whiplash both of them must be experiencing. Especially considering Santos must have told Cain he’d killed Evie, then for him to discover she’s alive. Her ghost has haunted him for so many years now, even given her malnourished and abused state, he must be relieved to see her breathing.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I dig it out, bringing it to my ear. “Yeah?”

“Hey, Red.”

At hearing Jon’s voice, tension bleeds into my veins as I sit up straighter. “What’s wrong?”

He chuckles softly. “Nothing. He’s good. He’s asleep, and I just thought you might want an update.”

My shoulders sag in relief. “How is he?”

“As good as can be expected. We checked him over and there are no serious injuries. Nothing that won’t heal.”

“Has he said anything about…”

“No. He didn’t want to talk about it.”

Tears prick my eyes, knowing emotional and mental scars can last longer than physical ones, and while I’m relieved to hear he’s physically okay, I’m worried about what might be going on in his head.

“Okay,” I sigh. “Thank you for taking care of him. I’m sorry I’m not there.”

“We wouldn’t be anywhere else. We’ll keep an eye on him.”

I know I can rely on Jon and the kids to look after him. They’ve proven that they aren’t the thugs I first assumed they were, and despite their hellish childhoods, they are shockingly decent kids. I’ve no idea how they managed to retain their humanity. It only speaks to their inner strength and determination to survive. It makes them perfect Rejects. Perfect friends for Luc.

“Thank you, Jon. You’re an excellent friend. Luc’s lucky to have you.”

Jon is silent on the other end of the phone, clearly uncomfortable with my display of emotion. With a small smile playing along my lips, I say, “I’ll be by to check on him later,” before hanging up the phone.

Getting to my feet, I go in search of Marcus, finding him in the kitchen. Sitting in a chair at the kitchen table, he’s nursing a beer as he stares unseeingly at the floor.

“I’m sorry for whoever you lost,” I say softly, sitting down on one of the free seats around the table.

Lifting his head, he smiles sadly at me, pain shining in his eyes. “Meena. My sister.”

Pain slashes across my chest. I can’t imagine the heart-rendering grief that comes from losing a sibling. I’d literally do anything to ensure Luc’s safety, and from the sorrow in his eyes, I can tell Marcus would have done anything to save his sister.

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