Page 15 of Kyle

“I’ll tell him, but you know Z, he’s gonna have a shit hemorrhage.”

My boss likely would have a few choice words for me.

“Never mind. Don’t mention it to him. I’ll tell him when he calls.”

“I’d appreciate that,” she sighed in relief. “Is there a reason why you’re acting so weird?”

“Weird?”

“Yeah, about this woman. She lived in Timor-Leste for six months, she knows the area. And from what I read about her, she’s used to flying around the world on her own. She doesn’t seem like the type of woman who needs to be taken care of.”

Anaya wasn’t that type of woman, and she’d likely not be happy I was treating her like she was, yet I still wasn’t going to let her out of my sight until I knew she was safe and sound back in the United States. At least that was the story I was telling myself and it was far easier to go with that than admit I simply wanted to be around her.

“Is there something more going on?” Violet asked when I didn’t answer her fast enough.

“Nope. Everything’s gravy. I just don’t feel comfortable with her flying back alone.”

And I didn’t want to think about why the thought of her leaving and me never seeing her again had my gut twisting.

“Right,” Violet muttered, her tone full of unasked questions. “You’ll let me know about my brother?”

“No, I won’t babysit him and check in with you, but I will take his back if he needs it.”

“But—”

“I know you’re worried. But he’s a big boy and you know he’d be pissed if I was keeping tabs on him and checking in with you.”

“Fine. You’re right,” she huffed.

“We’ll call in after we hit the city tonight.”

I disconnected and shoved my phone in my back pocket.

“My sister?” Declan asked from behind me.

It was disturbing how quiet he could be for such a large man.

“She’s concerned about your mental health.” I smirked. “I assured her you’re the asshole you always are, and your disposition is that of a starved crocodile. She seemed to be satisfied with my description.”

“Fuck. She’s pregnant, she doesn’t need to be worried about me.” Dec scrubbed his hands over his face.

Without warning Dec did something he’d never done, he shared. “When I was a kid, about seven, I lived in a foster home that was so wicked, I swear at seven I could feel it. I just knew. There were two of us boys sharing a room, next to us there was another bedroom, four girls lived in there. Every weekend my foster father would leave with one of the girls and be gone from Friday afternoon to Sunday night. No one talked about it, no one questioned where they went, no one asked why he chose the girl he did. It was business as usual. But one day the other boy who was older than me asked one of the girls where they went. Natalie refused to tell him. But not only that, even at my age I could feel the fear rollin’ off her.

“I’d been there almost six months when I came home from school and she’d hanged herself in my bedroom. First time I ever saw a dead person.” Declan stopped and shook his head, disgust clear as day. “I’ll never forget her hanging there. The cops came, the ME, the house was swarmin’. None of the other girls would talk, until a week later when the social worker and the police came back. Natalie was pregnant. She was thirteen when she killed herself. The five of us were removed that day and the Petersons were arrested.”

Declan paused and blew out a long, tortured breath. “Anaya reminds me of Natalie. Same color hair, same soft eyes even though they’ve seen more than they should. It doesn’t help that Anaya was thirteen when she was kidnapped and trafficked. All of this is dredging up shit I long ago buried.”

“Do you think it might be time to stop burying it and start dealing with it?”

“Fuck no. Once you break the seal on the vault all sorts of ghosts start making their way to the surface.”

“And Violet? You ever gonna open up to her?”

“That’s a hell no. She had a good family who adopted her, she doesn’t need to dwell on my shit. She has Jaxon, they live a good life, and they’re working on giving me nieces and nephews.”

“But—”

“Serious as shit, Kyle, I don’t want her knowing anything. I didn’t live through shit to dirty my sister up. I’ll talk to Anaya and I’ll keep my issues to myself.”