Page 231 of Redeemed

“Then an alarm will go off on my phone, and my security company will be notified. We’ll wake up, so he’ll have to get through all three of us before he’ll even see you.”

“Oh,” she says.

“Now get in your cage, angel.”

Haven does so, and Lucas reaches in to arrange the blanket over her body. She’s hugging her stuffed dragon to her chest, and a pang of envy hits me square in the chest. When I was twelve—right after my mother died—Mark forced me to donate all my stuffed animals. I begged him not to, but he didn’t care.

That doesn’t matter, though. I’m a fucking adult. I don’t need comfort items like that anymore.

“See you in the morning,” Lucas says softly.

Something about the way Haven smiles at him catches my attention. Did something happen between the two of them? Even though she’s scared, she looks… happy.

Xander exits the room wordlessly, quickly followed by Lucas. I take a few minutes to get ready for bed before climbing under the covers. Before I turn the lamp off, I glance at Haven. She’s watching me, the dragon still in her clutches.

“Night,” I say, wishing I could extract the fear from her expression and take it on myself.

“Goodnight,” she whispers.

I turn off my lamp, and it doesn’t take long for Haven’s breathing to even out. Despite how exhausted I am, I can’t fall asleep. There’s too much that requires my attention, and it all feels so urgent.

First, there’s Isaiah. We can give him another beating and dump him in the middle of nowhere again, but he’ll obviously come back once he’s healed up. I’ll repeat that process as many times as I have to, but dammit, I wish Haven would just let us kill him.

And then there’s the Glass Rooks. The recording that Greg gave us is undeniable proof that Mark is cheating all of us. Will that be enough, though? If he asked Stephen Lane and Greg to join in on his scheme, then he probably has most of the board on his side.

Will a sufficient amount of the lower-level members be angry enough to want Mark out of power? And will they be happy with a twenty-one-year-old taking over? How am I supposed to know?

Two hours slip by in what feels like a matter of minutes. Eventually, I’m able to calm my thoughts. Just as I’m finally drifting off, Haven makes a quiet, disturbed sound. My eyes snap to her cage, barely visible in the dark. All is silent for a solid ten seconds before she makes it again, louder this time.

“Angel?” The nickname comes out softer than it has in years, which startles me, but I push the thought aside for the moment.

She doesn’t respond, but her breaths are short and harsh.

“Haven.”

She jumps, the movement rattling the bars of her cage. I switch on my lamp to find her curled up under her blanket. Her dragon peeks out from underneath it.

“Hey.” I push back my covers and swing my legs over the side of the bed. “What’s wrong? You have a bad dream?”

“It was him,” she mumbles. “He took me back. He took me back, and I was trapped. I couldn’t get out, couldn’t hide.”

“You’re safe,” I remind her gently. “He can’t get to you here. Go back to sleep.”

“I can’t,” Haven whimpers. “I—I don’t want to dream again.”

Inwardly, I groan. I wasjustgetting to sleep. All I want to do is lie down again, close my eyes, and slip into oblivion for a few hours. But I don’t want Haven to suffer alone.

“You won’t have the same dream, angel.”

“He’s always there.” The tortured way she says it tugs at something inside me that I thought was long-dead. “Him, or Beckham, or Daddy, or—” She gasps again, like she’s having trouble getting enough air. “Colt. Colt, please, I’ll be trapped there again. I don’t wanna go back. I can’t…”

“You won’t. Now go back to sleep.” I try to keep the impatience out of my voice. It’ll only upset her more, but goddammit, I’mtired.

“I c-can’t.”

Stifling a groan, I rub my face. She’s right on the verge of a panic attack, and at this point, I’ll do whatever I can to calm her down. So I stand and move to the cage. Haven watches me with wide, terrified eyes, and she stiffens when I unlock it and swing the door open.

“Why don’t you come to bed with me?” I ask.

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