Page 30 of Lost in the Light

“I’m s-sorry. I can’t d-do this,” she whimpered as she looked between her brothers. She turned to Jordan, then buried her face against his chest again. “I can’t listen to an-anymore,” she cried, the words muffled and sounding so defeated and broken.

“I’ll take her to lie down and stay with her,” Jordan said as he looked between us all, his expression filled with all the pain I was feeling at having Addy seem so broken.

“You should go too, Eli. Stay with her. Adam can stay and hear the rest with me,” Asher added.

“I’m sorry I’m letting you down,” Eli said sadly as his gaze lowered to the floor.

“Hey, look at me!” Asher clipped as he turned Eli to face him. Eli looked up, but he looked pretty defeated himself too. “You have never ever let me down, Eli, do you hear me? I thank my lucky stars every day that I have you at my side. I’d be lost without you. Right now though I need you to look out for Addy, okay? I need to know she’s safe so I can handle all of this.”

Eli nodded but tears had filled his eyes as he looked up and met Asher’s gaze again. “I hated him. I hated him all my damned life,but he…he was still my dad, Ash. Our dad, How could he? What he did…it was so sick. How could he do that?”

“There are some seriously fucked up monsters in this world, Eli. That’s why I’m so insufferably over protective. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you and Addy safe. Jordan and Adam too. I’m just pissed I didn’t realize we were living and working every fucking day with the devil himself,” Asher growled. He pulled Eli into his arms and they hugged briefly, both of them completely wrecked by what they had discovered. I worried about how much worse this was all going to get. Would there be more horror to unravel?

“Go on now. You and Jord take care of Addy and we’ll handle all of this. We’ll fill you both in later,” I said as I looked between Eli and Jordan, both of whom felt like my kid brothers. Addy was still pressed hard against Jordan, her body vibrating violently against him.

“I’ll be close by if you need anything, okay baby?” I whispered as Jordan dropped to his feet beside me, Addy in his arms. I leaned in to kiss her cheek softly, hoping she’d heard me.

Asher kissed the top of her head and whispered that he loved her, then we both just stood and watched as Eli and Jordan headed down the hall towards the bedrooms.

“Jordan will look out for them,” I assured Asher.

“I know he will,” Ash nodded. “I just wish I could spare them both all of this,” he added with an exhausted sigh.

“We’ll get through this, Ash. We just need to stick together.”

He nodded again, then turned back to where the other guys had been busying themselves for the last few moments.

“What now then?” Asher asked.

“I have a lead,” Aleks spoke up. “There were payments from the LYFE Corp account to pay for a warehouse just outside of Vegas. Since Vegas seems to be the center of all of this, I think it’s worth checking out.”

“Addy said she was held in a warehouse, right?” I asked, looking to Asher.

“Yeah, just after she was taken. She spent a few days caged up with other women there. She said it had armed guards.”

“You want to check it out? We’re up for some action if you’ve got weapons?” Harris offered.

“I’m coming too. Don’t even try to argue,” Kane growled as he looked to Asher with a glare. I hadn’t taken much notice of him before, my focus on Addy. But now I looked at him I realized just how pissed off he seemed. His fists were balled and he was almost vibrating with rage.

“I should stay with Addy and Eli,” Asher said as he glanced towards the hall behind him.

“I’ll stay here with them. Jord too. We’ll be okay. You should go. I think you need this right now, Ash,” I said, knowing having a mission to focus on was exactly what he needed in that moment.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” he nodded.

“We can be there and back in two days if we can use your fancy jet,” the blonde guy spoke up.

“Okay,” Asher gave in. “But if you come you’re staying in the car, Kane. You’re not up to any action right now.”

“Just try it,” Kane growled menacingly. Asher just shook his head. I didn’t know what had Kane so riled up, but I was glad I wasn’t gonna be trapped in a plane with him and his gun, on a flight to Vegas.

CHAPTER 9

ADDY

The sound of a door slamming hard has me jolting and sitting up, instantly on alert and terrified all at once. I try to look around me, but the room is dark, the only light coming from a dimly lit bulb on the ceiling above me. My head feels like it weighs too much and I can’t seem to keep it up for longer than a few seconds. My vision is swimming and my stomach is turning violently.

I look down at myself and realize I’m naked and laid on a bare mattress. The metal bed frame it sits on is set in the center of a small room, The walls around me look like they’re crumbling down, paint peeling, and mold growing from the ceiling, seeming to crawl down the walls towards me.

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