by Diana Fisher
“He was so mean to her after we arrived at her house. She doesn’t know that I know all the stuff that he did to her. She stood up to him once because of us, the way that he treated us, and he grabbed her around the throat. I thought he was going to kill her. I really thought he was going to break her neck. Kane, she stayed there dealing with him hitting her, choking her, degrading her. He beat her one night. I heard him. I heard him beating her, and she stayed. She stayed because of us. She loved us that much. Why? Why did she choose to leave us now when we all were so happy?” The tears rolled down his face as he choked out a cry. “God. I miss her. I miss her so much.”
Wrapping my arm around him, I just pulled him over to me and tried swallowing the thick lump that was sticking in my throat. I hoped that this was what she wanted. I told her that walking out on us would devastate the kids, and it was. Jordan wasn’t dumb. He knew that I fed him bullshit about her having to work and needing some time alone.
But, I had to give them something, and they both knew I was just blowing smoke at them. I was just trying to cover my own feelings by shrugging it off when the thought of her walking out on us was descending me into the depths of depression. I didn’t want to eat, sleep, do anything that just reminded me of her.
“That night that I snuck out and you found me before I went into the house, when she said what she did to me, I never even realized that she was worried about me. I never had anyone care about me, Kane. Not even close. I was so scared when she told me that I needed to go. All I thought was that she was sending me away, and I was so scared.”
“She wasn’t meaning that she was sending you away.” Reaching over, I patted his back, trying to cheer him up. My own heart was dragging down on the floor and my stomach was sinking even further into the pit of despair.
“I know. I just … I wanted her to hold me, to tell me that everything was okay. I figured out that my dad took our money and I wanted to confront him. I wanted to just give her something for everything that my dad took from her. I never meant to hurt her or scare her.”
“She knows that.” Forcing back the hot, searing pain in my eyes, I straightened up, allowing my stomach to move even further down in the hell she put me in.
“Does she? She left us, didn’t she?” His eyes shifted up to mine, cutting through me. What in the hell was I supposed to say to that? Nothing was adding up about her wanting to send us away. She wouldn’t just walk away from the kids. Not that woman. Not after everything that she had gone through just for them. “Do you think that there’s something else going on? Do you think that she’s just protecting us from something?”
My heart jumped a little. Keri was a strong woman. It had taken a lot of her to ask me for help, to accept my help, but seeing her with those two kids, I wanted to help her. I wanted to make sure that those three stayed together. And I would do it all over again. But, was it possible I didn’t see through the smoke of the bomb that she dropped on me?
“What do you mean?” My heart faltered its rhythm, and my breath hitched for a quick second.
“I mean, you saw how she went after me that night and then she just held me tightly. You see the way that she is with Sky. She told Sky that she would never let a monster touch her again. It would have to be over her dead body. I mean, someone who would just choose to walk away would never … She was being honest, Kane. She meant everything that she said to me and to Sky. She would never walk away from us. She would never hurt us like that if there wasn’t something making her.”
But what? What would make her walk away? If there was anything, she knew she could come to me about it. She could have told me. I let her lie on the report about the break-in by saying the three were together when they managed to get out of the house. I told her what to say. I told her how to lie about Jordan not being there. She knew that I would lie for her. She was … lying to protect them. She was…
How blind could I be? She was protecting them! She was protecting us! Jumping up, I went to the window and looked out. But why? What from? She was begging me to forgive her before I left. It wasn’t that she was asking me to take the kids and leave. She was begging with her voice. Inside of her. Her eyes. She was … scared of something she figured out.
Grabbing the phone off the dresser, I dialed her number. I had to talk to her. I had to find out what was going on. Damn it! She was setting something up! That was the whole reason why she asked me to take care of the kids if something would ever happen to her. She was planning this all along.
“Hello?” The sleepy voice answered softly, making my chest tighten.
“What in the hell do you think you are doing? You better talk to me right now, and I don’t give a shit where it is that we talk, but it will be right now and you will tell me exactly what you are doing.” I couldn’t let her back down. If she was into something that was illegal, I had to stop it and bring it around to the legal way. And my family’s lawyer would certainly help with it. There wasn’t a reason to be afraid.
“Coach Kane?” Her voice caught a little.
Looking at my phone, I swallowed hard at the number. It was Keri’s number. It was hers, but why in the hell was I getting Sky? Why was I talking to the little girl that was sound asleep in the other room? “Sky? Is that you?”
“Coach Kane, I was just sleeping.”
“Why do you have Keri’s phone?”
A little sob came from her as I could hear her rustling in her bed. “I don’t. I have my phone; the one you gave me.”
“Call me right back.” Hanging up, I gritted my teeth. She could have just changed the number in my phone … No. I dialed her number. Keri’s number. It was programmed…
The call came through, and it was Keri’s number. How in the hell … Sky said she had her phone the whole time. Hers and not Keri’s. She would know the difference. Sky would know if it wasn’t hers by the pictures she had of her and Alicia, basketball practice, and the one she showed me of her, Ben, and Alicia.
Going over to Sky’s room with Jordan on my heels, I took the phone and looked through it. That was one of the rules I had about the cell phones. I would be able to go through it any time that I wanted or thought there was something else going on. And everything was the same as last night when I checked through the phones. Even the new song that I let her download. The games, music, contacts, photos. And the one of her and Keri on the screen. The exact same picture.
“Fuck!” Balling my fist around the phone, I looked at the kids. The length that Keri was going to in order to keep those kids protected was more than I ever thought someone would go to. That woman copied everything from Sky’s phone to her own to cover her tracks, but for what? Why not Jordan’s…?
This had to be something with Alicia’s disappearance.
“Fuck!” Raking my fingers through my hair, I had to think. I needed to think. What would be so important that Keri would have to swap phones with Sky? Why would she have to push us away?
Looking up at the tears rolling down Sky’s face and Jordan just looking at me, scared to death, my chest compacted and my heart was trying its hardest to push the blood through my body. Whatever Keri was up to, it was because of Sky. What, though?
“Who’s been contacting you?” Swallowing hard, my brain began to pulsate with an irritating tick and the alarms were ready to activate and go off. Keri wasn’t walking away from us. She was doing what she could to protect us. Now, I just had to figure out what was going on so that I could get her before she got herself killed.
“No one. I haven’t had anyone…” Pulling the blankets tight to her chest, she cowered into the corner of the bed.
“Who was contacting you?!” I didn’t mean to yell at her, but damn it. Sky was the reason why Keri traded phones and gone to the extreme of copying everything so Sky wouldn’t have known. It wasn’t like she had to call any of us lately. We were all together since Keri decided to leave us. “You better tell me right now!”
“Kane, Sky hasn’t been talking with anyone.” J
ordan sat on the bed as he looked back at his sister and her dark, hurt filled eyes. “She knows better than to talk to strangers or people that she’s not supposed to.”
“Keri left me! What is the point? She said that she would never leave me! She did!” Rolling into a ball, Sky cried as hard as she could. “She said that she would never let anything bad happen to me, but she walked away from me! She said that she would never hurt me, and she hurt me!”
“What is going on in here?” My mom walked in, pulling her robe tight to her body. Her eyes shifted over the kids as her own glassed over.
“Stay out of it, Mom.” Slamming my hands down on my hips, I studied Sky. I wanted to just pick her up and hold her, tell her that everything would be okay, but I wasn’t sure if it would be. There was a reason why Keri had swapped phones. There was a reason why, and it was something to do with what Sky wasn’t telling us.
“You have her so scared…” Sliding over the bed, my mom rubbed Sky’s back, trying to calm her down. “It’s okay, Sky. It’s okay.”
“Who have you been talking to? You have to tell me now.” My heart jumped into my throat. Sky hadn’t trusted any of us enough to tell us what was going on. Someone was contacting her, and Keri found out. Keri knew, and I was sure that night she came out of the basement pure white and asked me to take care of the kids if something happened to her was when it happened.
That was when Keri knew everything. That was when she started to push me away. She had been planning this since that Friday night. It was right there on her face, and I completely overlooked it. It was the reason why she was holding Sky like she had in the kitchen during their little freak out moment. It wasn’t because she felt bad for Sky. She knew what was going to happen. She knew, somehow, that Sky was supposed to be the next abduction.
“She knows better than to talk to someone who she doesn’t know. And you made it clear that if our dad contacted us…” Jordan’s eyes glassed over as he looked at his sister. The color drained from his face as he dropped his hands to his sides. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything.” The loud cry came from her, causing my mom to wrap the girl in her arms. Her heart was broken, and I could understand that. So was mine, and so was Jordan’s, but not telling me could get Keri killed.
“Sky, you need to tell me who has been contacting you.” Rubbing my forehead, the air exploded from my chest. I had to figure this out before Keri tried anything. She didn’t have the means to do anything against those guys. How would she stop someone who was trying to abduct Sky?
Keri didn’t have a very stout body. In fact, she was almost as scrawny as Sky was...
She was going to put herself out there, pretending to be Sky. That was why she had taken the girl’s phone. She was going to contact whoever was talking to Sky and lure them in so that they would take her instead.
“Sky, please. Tell me who has been contacting you. You’re not going to get in trouble over it, but I have to know. I need to know right now.” There was a short rope dangling in front of me, and I had to grab hold and not let go. It was the only way to get to Keri before anything happened.
“It doesn’t matter. Keri left me, and it hurts so bad.”
Rubbing my chest, I could feel my heart pounding through the muscle. If Sky had only known what Keri was doing for her, what she was really up to, the little girl would never forgive herself. She loved Keri so much, and knowing that Keri was putting herself in the way of danger, and whatever else was coming, would devastate Sky. She would hold herself accountable for Keri’s death for the rest of her life. It was just how soft and kind hearted the little girl was.
“Sky, it does matter. I need to know. Please, just tell me who has been contacting you. I need to know so that I can protect Keri.”
“You’re going to go and get her?” Her dark eyes opened as they looked at me. “Kane, go get her. Bring her back. Please. I need her.”
“So do I, Sky, but you have to help me here. She’s…” How did I say what I had to without scaring my little girl even more than I already had tonight? Sky scared easily, and when she was to a certain point, she shut down. And Keri was the only one who could get that girl to function after that. “When she said that she would protect you at any lengths, Sky … she meant it. I need to stop her before—”
“My dad. It was my dad. I told him to leave me alone and not to talk to me. It was just that one time. He was asking where we were at, and I didn’t tell him. I just deleted his messages. I hate him, Coach Kane. I hate him so much. He hurt Keri. I don’t want him to hurt her anymore.” Crawling over the bed, she wrapped her arms around my neck, shaking and sobbing into my shoulder.
“I need you to listen to me, Sky. I need you to stay right here. I need you to stay locked in the house with my mom and Jordan. Do not talk to anyone else except for them. Do not let anyone inside. Do not be alone. Can you do that for me?” Rubbing her back, the trembling was still running through her petite body, reminding me of Keri. Keri was built to be very petite, though she could wreck everything in a china shop if needed. But, all it took was picking Keri off her feet to stop her from charging.
“Coach Kane, don’t leave me, too.” Pulling back, her dark eyes met mine, and the pain gripped my chest and held on tight.
“I am not leaving you. I need to go and find Keri before…” Before she got herself killed. It was my fault that I hadn’t seen this coming. I hadn’t seen those signs that she gave all of those times. Creating that huge fight, insisting that I wanted something more with Sky. It was all a façade, and I bought right into it. “You all need to stay locked down. Turn the alarms on and do not let anyone inside. I don’t care who it is. I will alert security.”
Passing Sky over to my mom, I swallowed hard, knowing what Keri was up to now. She was going to put herself in Sky’s place and let herself get abducted. That was her whole reason why she attacked Ben the way she did. She knew that the abductors were there already. She had known that something was going to happen to Sky, and she was going to tell me. It was in her eyes when she came to the rink after work Tuesday. She was going to talk to me about what she found out, but then Sky said that Alicia hadn’t called her at all. That was what had changed her mind. Finding out that Alicia was missing was what set her mind toward doing the unthinkable just for those two girls. How could I not be proud of her? But, she was going to get herself killed, and I couldn’t let us lose her for good. I had to find her before everything went down. I just needed to think like her. If I was Keri, how could I lure in a predator?
Chapter 30
Dressed in Sky’s little shorts and tank top, I looked like her. My hair was just as dark as hers, but I was a little more filled out. Then again, Joe hadn’t seen her in quite a few months. I was just lucky that I lost all that weight when I had first taken them in, before Kane entered our lives.
How I desperately missed him. I missed Jordan. I missed Sky. When they found out what I did for them, they wouldn’t hate me. They would love me forever.
I sent the text message, and I knew that he was coming. I knew that he would be there any minute. Now what? I could take him out, but I could only take him out as long as he was alone. If he and Mr. George had the pleasure of stopping by then I might not make it to find Alicia, and I had to. I had to find her. I had to find out anything that I could for Ben. Kane would keep Sky safe no matter what. He was smart, and he would figure it out by looking for me.
Tucking myself into Sky’s old bed, my stomach clenched as the downstairs door creaked. What the hell was I doing? How could I do this?
What if Joe killed me before I could find out where they were holding the girls? I had to find that out, no matter what, and leave it in a number message for Sky. Once Kane found out that I was here, he would see the message and know that Sky could crack it.
But if Sky heard that I died, her mind wouldn’t be able to focus. But she had Kane and he could calm her down once he figured out how to do it. They would be able to figure e
verything out. They had to in order to save Alicia and the other missing girls. I just wished I had a better plan to go by. Maybe I should have told Kane all I found out so he could use the legal resources to bring this down. I still could have been the pawn, but with Kane’s help, I would have had a tracking device on me. But, I didn’t think about that. I just needed to do what I could in order to save my own daughter.
The footsteps on the staircase were heavy and a larger man’s, Joe’s footsteps. He was coming. He was on his way for me—for Sky. I couldn’t wait until he figured out that it was me. Those times that he slapped me, choked me, and that night he forced himself on me … oh, he was going to pay. I would make damn sure that he would know that it was me before I took him out. I would make damn sure that he never thought about his daughter again either. I can take his shit. That girl … I kill him for his thoughts about her. Prison or death for me, but I would make damn sure that I killed him for her.
My heart picked up a notch as the steps came closer and closer. I could feel him in the room. I could feel him looking me over. It was disgusting. It was as if I was that little girl lying there, having a monster’s eyes roaming over my innocence. It felt … so familiar.
I wanted to scream, but the fear was lodged in my throat and I couldn’t make a sound. I wanted to just get up and stab him, over and over, until I had no strength left. I wanted his last breath for Sky, for what he did to me, for Alicia, for all those other girls. When I got the chance to, I would make sure that I had gotten a hit for each of them, and a couple extra for Sky.
“Daddy’s here, baby.” His voice was sickening and putrid as he lowered himself onto the bed. “I missed you so much.”
My body stiffened. The slime layered over me in a blanket of sweat. What if I couldn’t do this? What if I couldn’t stop this? Alicia would never be seen again, and Sky would always have to live in fear. I had to. I had to let him do what he wanted right now. I had to let him touch me, thinking it was her.