Here, she was protected. Donovan wouldn’t allow anything to happen to her. What had happened to make her take off on her own?
He knew she was protecting him and Cammie—just as she’d always done. But why leave? It didn’t make sense. What had driven her to this act of desperation? What did she know that he didn’t? What hadn’t she told him?
Rusty burst through his door just then, her glance going toward the bed. Then she grimaced when she took in Travis’s expression and the note he held in his hand.
“You know,” she murmured.
“What do you know?” Travis demanded. “Do you know where she is, Rusty?”
Rusty sighed. “No, I’m sorry, I don’t. But we’ll find her, Travis. I swear to you we’ll find her. Sean is letting Donovan know. Believe me when I say my brothers on a mission is a scary-as-shit sight.”
“I don’t understand,” Travis said, allowing his frustration to leak into his tone. He was barely managing to keep it under control. He was scared. More frightened than when it had been just the three of them on the run, constantly looking over their shoulders and worried that they’d be discovered at any moment.
But they’d been together. And now Eve was God-only-knew where, and he and Cammie were just supposed to stay here with Donovan and have a happy life when Eve wasn’t in the picture.
To hell with that. If this was what bought them security, then he didn’t want it. He’d rather take his chances—with Eve—with his family intact, even if it meant running for the rest of their lives.
Rusty put her hand on his shoulder as if sensing the turmoil of his thoughts. “We’ll find her, Travis.”
He looked bleakly at her just as Cammie stirred and called out softly.
“Trav?”
Travis stared hard at Rusty, telling her without words not to tell Cammie what was going on. If Travis had his way, Cammie would never know. Eve would be found. Excuses would be made for her absence. But she would not know that their sister had left them in Donovan’s care and had fled.
Travis still didn’t understand any of it. He was sick to his soul and he damned Walt Breckenridge with every breath in his body. It sickened him that he was of his father’s blood. That he shared that bond. How could he have come from such a monster, and what did that make himself?
No, he’d never be like him. He’d die first. Never would he hurt others as his father had.
Travis walked over to the bed just as Rusty’s cell phone rang. When she answered, her eyes widened in surprise. Then she only said, “Okay, we’ll be here and ready.”
Travis picked Cammie up, looking at Rusty in silent question.
“Nathan and Swanny are on their way over to get us,” Rusty explained quietly. “You remember them.” Then her gaze shifted in Cammie’s direction and then back to Travis in silent communication.
As much as it frustrated Travis not to demand information, to know what the hell was going on and if his sister had been found, he wouldn’t traumatize Cammie that way.
Rusty walked over and smiled at Cammie. “What do you say I help you get dressed? Nathan and Swanny are on their way over to get us and we’re going to my parents. Your grandparents,” she said, emphasizing that they should be considered Travis and Cammie’s grandmother and grandfather.
Tears burned Travis’s eyes because they weren’t his family. Eve was. Without her he had no ties. No one who loved him unconditionally and who had sacrificed everything.
Cammie looked cheered by Rusty’s declaration, and then she brightened as if a sudden thought had occurred to her.