Page 98 of Drag You Down
The other one is for Logan Reed, born on the twenty-ninth of February, twenty-two years ago.
Logan, not Levi.
I wonder if he’d want to go back to that name.
I stuff the box in with the other things, then head out to the small living room. Levi is pacing back and forth, clutching a duffel bag.
“Are you done?” I ask. “Anything else we need, we can simply buy. Just don’t leave any identifying information behind.”
Levi nods. “I have everything.” He stops in his tracks, then says, “Wait. I think Eve has some documents that we need.” He starts for her room, but I stop him.
“I already have them,” I say.
He tries to smile, but it’s obviously forced. “Oh.”
I glance at the door. We need to go, but I don’t want to leave this for later. “Do you remember your old name? Before Levi?”
His expression turns bleak. “Yes.” He doesn’t elaborate. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
“Do you want to be that person again?” I ask. “Do you want to be Logan?”
For several moments, he’s quiet. “I think… I don’t want to beLevianymore.”
I go up to him and tilt his chin up. “You can be whoever you want to be, little lamb. As long as it’s at my side.”
He looks up at me, his eyes searching mine. “I don’t have anything,” he tells me.
“You have me,” I tell him steadily.
He smiles, for all that it’s strained. “And Eve.” He shakes his head. “Evelyn. She hates Eve.”
His smile falters.
“She’s going to need so much help. He… He poisoned her mind,” he says.
“We’ll figure it out,” I promise. “Together.”
He gets on his toes, and I lean down to give him the kiss he’s silently demanding.
When he pulls away, Levi says, “I love you, Daddy. So much. You… you saved me. You make me feel like I’m good, and right, and… and nottainted.”
My heart sings in my chest.
“I love you too, my lamb,” I answer, my smile so wide it strains my cheeks. “I never even knew I needed somebody so badly until I met you.”
There’s still so much to do tonight, but I have my lamb with me.
I’ll have him forever.
EPILOGUE
“Police have offered a thousand-dollar reward to anyone who has credible information about Dave Kline, a conman who has used the names Joshua Baker and Zachariah Carpenter, among others. He is currently wanted for his involvement in a cult that abused women and children right here in New Bristol.”
Itilt my head at the TV screen in the corner of the store, trying to recognize Father Zachariah in the picture the news shows. He’s clean shaven there, a few years younger than he was when I knew him.
The TV cuts to footage from apartment 302. The blood-stained wall and the whips hanging on display seem more ominous through the camera than they’d been in real life.
“Are you buying?” the bodega owner asks. “If not, get out of the line and let others pay.”
