Page 137 of Valor

Lani takes a deep breath but avoids my gaze. “It’s stupid.”

I gently grip her chin, tilting her face to look at me. “Nothing with you is stupid. Talk to me,” I repeat.

“I never felt like I wasn’t a part of the Hunt family.”

Realization dawns on me, and even as I want to stop her now, tell her that sheisa Hunt, I sense her need to vent. So, I keep my mouth shut—for now.

“They treated me like one. Ruth and Tommy took me in like the daughter they never had, and Bradyn, Elliot, Riley, Tucker, and Dylan always treated me like their little sister. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t blood. But—” She trails off and takes a deep breath. “I’ve always known that I had a different start. There are times when I think I can even remember, which is crazy. I was two.”

“It’s not crazy.”

“I think I’m afraid to be a burden because I don’t want to be left behind. If that makes sense?” Her bottom lip quivers. “My brothers are all so strong. They’ve literally been to war and back. They fight monsters on every mission, but I spend three days in a closet and it feels like I’ve been to hell.”

My heart breaks, the tightness of grief returning. This time for the woman Lani refuses to see when she looks in the mirror. “Do you really think your brothers didn’t come back unscathed? That they managed to walk away without any lost sleep?”

She closes her eyes as tears continue to spill through. She shakes her head. “Of course not. But it’s different.”

“You’re right. It is.” She looks at me now, and I know she’s expecting me to agree with her. “Because theychoseto be in those situations. You were kidnapped. Abducted. Yet you stillfought.I stood in your apartment. I saw the damage.” My throat constricts. “And I saw where you were held. I witnessed the horror of what you went through. You didn’t give up because that’s not who you are.” I reach forward and cup her cheek. “I wish you could see the strength I do when I look at you. I wish you could feel what I feel when I’m near you.” I take her hand with my free one and place it on my chest, right over my heart. “You were in a living hell, Lani. Trapped in a dark room with no idea as to who put you there or why. You had no idea if you’d ever see the sun again, but you still called out to God. You still fought your way home.”

“You were there?” she all but whispers it. “You found it?”

I nod. “I saw it. All of it. And I have to tell you, Lani, the strap that held your right arm down—the one you said came loose?” She nods. “It was still closed, and far too tight for you to have slipped your arm free.”

She stares at me, eyes widening. “I don’t—I don’t understand.”

I lean in and rest my forehead against hers. “God was with you. While I can’t understand why He let you get taken, I do know He was there. Right beside you the entire time. You were never alone.”

Her shoulders shake, and she breaks again, tears flowing freely as she tightens her hand in the fabric of my shirt. She grips me close, and I wrap my arms around her, pulling the woman I love more than life itself closer to my chest.

I’d tell her now. Just how deeply I love her. But I don’t want her to ever think I’m only saying it to make her feel better. So even though it physically hurts to hold it back, I do.

For now.

LANI

The apartmentI’ve lived in for the last seven years feels completely strange to me now. I was so happy here before. It was home.

Now, it’s haunted by the fight.

I stand in the kitchen, and flashes of that night come back to me.

My heart beating hard against my chest as adrenaline kicked in.

The echo of glass breaking.

Gibson is behind me, Bradyn beside him, and I know they’re both watching me closely so they can catch me if I fall apart.

I’m determined to hold it together though. Gibson’s words echo through my mind on repeat. According to him, I shouldn’t have been able to break free. Even if I don’t understand anything else, I believe that God saved me. I know He did.

Why? Who knows. But I’m going to continue fighting for the truth even if it kills me. The first step in me pushing forward was returning here, to a space violated by a stranger too cowardly to even tell me why.

“Are you okay, Lani?” Bradyn asks, every bit my big brother.

I turn toward him and nod. “I’m getting there.”

“If it gets too hard?—”

“I can do this,” I tell him, then take the first step inside. Glass crunches beneath my boots, but I continue forward, my gaze landing on the broken coffee table, my blood still staining the carpet below.

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