Protecting His Forever(25)

The silence around me is deafening. Nobody moves; the only thing you can hear is their breathing. Warm hands touch my arms. His smell envelopes me in a cocoon of security as he pulls my hand away from my face. Looking up, I see Kane staring at me with concern. Lifting my arms, I wrap them around his neck.

He lifts me off the ground and my legs wrap around his waist. He hugs me tightly to him. My face on his shoulder, tears running down my face and soaking his shirt.

I can feel him walking, but I don’t look up. A second later I feel the couch cushions under my legs as he sits down. Snuggling deeper, I all but try to crawl into him. His hand is on the back of my head pressing me into him where I can hear his ragged breaths.

He kisses the top of my head, and I let out a sigh. Everything will be okay. I have Kane.

~*~

I must have fallen asleep. Looking up, I see my mother sitting beside me and Dave sitting beside her, holding her hand.

My mom notices I’m awake, so she scoots closer and frames my face with her hands.

“Baby, I’m so sorry.”

“Mom, don’t be sorry. I’m so sorry that you had to go through all of this,” I start.

“Baby, that man. What he said to you…” A new batch of tears roll down her face.

“Mom, it’s okay. Trust me, I’ll be fine.” Giving her a reassuring smile before turning to Kane, I tell him, “I need to go to the bathroom.”

He nods, and I can feel his eyes on me as I walk out of the room.

After doing my business, I hurry back to Kane. He’s sees me coming back and his body relaxes. This event has put him on edge. Standing in front of him, his hands go to my hips. He pulls me down into his lap, holding me close.

Ethan sits on the couch in front of us. He’s looking down at the ground with his elbows resting on his knees.

“The police came and got him while you were sleeping,” Kane whispers into my ear.

“I need to tell you guys everything. I tried to protect you, but this changes everything.” She looks at me and then back to Ethan before she starts.

“Twenty-seven years ago, I was kidnapped.” Ethan’s jaw clenches and he looks over the wall by the door.

“I was walking home from work and this guy lured me into this house. I just moved to the city, and I was a country girl and where I grew up, I trusted everyone. He invited me in, and I thought why not?” She takes a deep breath and looks at her hands. “I was stuck in that house for four years. I never left, my parents think I’m dead. I was in Hell for years and I got pregnant with Ethan.”

“He wasn’t ever mean to Ethan; I was beyond grateful for that. This man thought that everything he was doing was normal. The only thing that kept me going was Ethan and my unborn child. Living in a basement apartment day in and day out was depressing.” She wipes her tears from her face and looks straight at me.

“You were born, Sydney. He didn’t like that you were a girl… actually, I’m not sure what it was. The way he looked at you was evil, pure hate. He wanted to kill you. I heard him plotting to kill you during one of the rare times he let me out of the basement. I was in the kitchen cooking his dinner, so I took Ethan and you, and I never once looked back. I hitched a ride with a trucker. Every few months I would pack up everything and leave again, because I was scared he’d find me and hurt my babies.” She sniffles and looks down at the ground, ashamed. Then her face crumbles. My strong mother who has done everything she possibly could for us is sobbing heart breaking sobs.

Crawling out of Kane's lap, I sit down beside her. When I pull her to me, she wraps her arms around me, sobbing onto my neck. Feeling a tap on my shoulder, I see Dave staring at my mother. His hands are lifted as if he wants to pick her up. Nodding my head, I let my arms go, and he picks her up off the ground. She sobs into his chest as he carries her upstairs.

Ethan's whole entire body is red; he is about to explode. I lean across to the other couch, placing my hand on his knee. “Ethan, it’s going to be okay.”

His head snaps to me. “Okay? Are you fucking stupid? He has it out for you, Syd. He tortured Mom.” He stands up and punches his fist through the drywall.

“Hey! Don’t ever talk to her like that again. Understand?” Kane tells Ethan.

“I’m sorry, Syd. Emotions are running high right now.” Ethan shakes his head and paces the room.

Kane stands and stalks over to my brother. “You’re not the only one. But, you have no right to talk to her that way. Not my woman. He and his buddies are a threat that I plan to eliminate.”

Standing up, I put my hand on Kane’s arm. “I’m fine, Kane. Ethan didn’t mean anything.”