Page 49 of Letting Go

That's when it hits me. The picture of Chloe. It was from the documentary. A still. She was there. In that field, his fucking garden of Eden. I can’t seem to breathe.

"Hey, you okay?" says Mateus, his gaze shifting to me.

"So, it's a cult, run by a fanatic, and that fanatic is your brother. Is this what you're telling us?" I don’t wait for any answer. I'm afraid I may throttle the guy. "So why is he looking for her?"

Raymond's cool demeanor seems to crack, and he rests his head in his hands. "This is hard. You know, I have spent my entire life devoted to helping others, to try to raise people up, and help them reach their full potential."

"You don’t need to sell yourself," says Jackson. "We know you have tens of thousands of followers and—"

"You don't need to pitch to us. We're not holding you responsible." Just saying this helps me unclench my fists.

"My brother is sort of the same. He's taken that same calling and twisted it up inside himself."

More of the documentary flits through my memory: In still shots, Reed was a younger version of Raymond, but with more muscle. Like a tan California surfer dude with sandy straw hair, a wicked smile, gleaming teeth, and bright blue eyes. At the time of the documentary, no one knew the Seer's real name, age, or where he was from. But there were speculations. A Reed Clifton from the South was floated but the Seer was British.

The Seekers gave up everything, their money, their family, young children. They were in Montana until they fled inexplicably to West Virginia to an old peach orchard where they re-established themselves and grew in recruits to over a hundred. One giant old plantation house with ten people to a bedroom.

My stomach churns. I swallow. "You think he's here?"

"I know he is. He's after a young woman named Chloe Russo."

I take a step back like I've been hit. To hear him say her name is hard. Really hard.

"You're sure," says Mateus.

"Yes," says Raymond. That's all he says and my world comes crashing down.

"How the fuck do you know her name?"

Jackson looks like he wants to run from the room, and Mateus, like he wants to punch me. The ringing in my ears won't stop. Everything clicks like a machine. Her grief, her remorse, her inability to forgive herself, and beyond that, changing locks, her erratic schedule, the go-bag.

Jackson looks even paler than he usually does, but says nothing. He loves Claire, and Devon, and Laurel. We all do. But … I love Chloe with a fierceness that leaves me struggling to breathe evenly right now.

Trying to keep my breathing normal, I ask the question I've been harboring all night. "Why is he looking for Chloe?"

"She's what he calls an Original, not a Seeker. She's one of the original four women he picked up and took to the Montana compound."

My heart flutters under my ribs. "Is he trying to kill her?"

"Kill her? No." He waves a hand. "He's threatened me for years. All idle threats. That boy wouldn't hurt me. He wouldn't dare. But this girl, this Chloe—he's fixated on her. I chose your security company when my people linked Chloe Russo to a story about that inn—Echo Bay Inn—on the internet. My people were able to trace her back to a state trooper station just outside Bethany where the compound used to be."

I try very hard to keep my voice calm and steady and low. "What does he want with Chloe?"

Raymond turned those baby blues on me. "He wants to repatriate her." He takes another sip of melted ice and sets the heavy tumbler down.

"Repatriate?"

"He wants to return her to Everlast and it's my belief he wants her to carry his child. I'm trying to get to him before he does something really stupid."

I can’t breathe. It’s not until I exhale, I realize I've been holding my breath.

Raymond just keeps talking. "Reed's always been against children. Now he's interested in populating his compound. He wants her to be the mother of his first born so he's come here to find her. He is a sick man. I mean I know that. I don't pretend that he's not, but he's my brother. I'm just trying to find him before he hurts somebody."

"I want to go back to where you say he's not trying to kill you and you knew this all along," says Mateus with an eye on his phone, checking to see if it's still recording.

"Well, that was a white tale. A way to rope you fellas in so I could maybe get close to Finn and those sisters and—"

"What? Do what exactly? Do you propose to tell her your crazy brother is after her?" My hands clench into sour fists again. "How much danger is she in? What is your brother capable of?"