Page 90 of Soaring Free
I have never known fear like that in my life and I hope to never experience that level of terror ever again. My heart rate feels like a stampede of wild horses and I can’t catch a deep breath to save my life.
These men quite literally just saved me from an unimaginable trauma.
My acting was not enough to convince Kyle that I was in too much pain for him to take liberties with me. I’m calling it liberties right now because my brain cannot process words like sexual assault and rape, but instead, is simply trying to force myself to inhale and exhale with each step that Theo takes away from the madness. I will never forget Kyle’s face when he looked at me with such reverence and uttered words that will haunt my nightmares:“After everything I’ve done to be with you and allow us to finally be together, a little blood isn’t going to stop me.”
When I tried to put up a fight and push Kyle off, he picked me up over his shoulder, carried me into the bedroom, and dropped me onto the bed. He was trying to hold me down with his body weight and force my wrists into a handcuff attached to a chain. Seeing the chain attached to a hook in the wall released a level of feral strength that I have never experienced before, and I managed to draw blood from my scratching and hitting before the power went out. He was distracted by the unexpected darkness, which allowed me to knee him in the groin and roll off the bed to try and get away from him. I landed hard on the floor, and probably bruised my entire thigh, but I didn’t care. I was not going down without a fight.
I didn’t get far before his iron grip yanked me up off the floor by my arm and shoved me out of the room, muttering something about checking the network. Two steps out of the bedroom, I was suddenly freed from his grip as he collapsed on the floor screaming. I didn’t hear the shot, but after he collapsed, I saw the men wielding assault rifles converging on the room. Logically, I should’ve assumed they were here to save me, but the logic part of my brain was completely offline and all I saw was huge men and giant guns—that is until I recognized my brother Liam walking through the back door. Without thinking, I threw myself at him. I’ve never been so grateful to see one of my overbearing brothers in my entire life.
Feeling him hold me was balm to my soul, until Theo’s voice made me sob even harder. I was trying to logically think of a way to break free, but I had also quietly wondered if I would ever see Theo again. Liam passes me to Theo, and next I know, we are walking through some field. I don’t care where we’re going or what we are doing—just so long as I am with Theo and free from Kyle’s madness.
After getting situated in some type of giant RV, I hear Liam’s voice from a monitor. “Soph, please notify everyone to brace for detonation in sixty seconds and counting.”
Detonation? What is he detonating? I look around but no one else seems surprised, and who I’m assuming is Sophia looks in fact quite pleased at that announcement. She quickly responds, “Copy, we are secure. Hustle up, boys, and get out of that field. The blast zone should be limited, but you never know when a rogue piece of debris is going to fly further than we assumed.”
In a typical vehicle, I would have expected to feel the booming sound that rattles the atmosphere, but the water in the plastic bottles sitting on the table in front of me hardly rattles.
“Hi, Savannah. I do apologize for meeting you under these circumstances, but I am not at all surprised at how fierce and strong you are.” The woman sits in a chair opposite of me. “I’m Sophia and a colleague of your brother’s. I am also a trainedmedic; can I take a peek at you really quick to see if you need medical attention?” I nod, unable to form words at the moment.
“I think she’s in shock.” Theo’s voice startles me and I realize I’m still sitting on his lap. “Sav, is it okay for Sophia here to check you out? Yeah?” All I can do is nod. “Okay, I’m not going anywhere.” His grip around my waist tightens slightly as he places a gentle kiss to my temple, and I welcome his embrace as I lean back further into him. Somehow, my body still has enough energy for a slight tremor that continues to ripple throughout my entire body.
I’m aware of movement surrounding me, people making phone calls, coming in and out of whatever this vehicle is, and general activity, but the sounds all mush together. Liam joins us in the command unit at some point, but I don’t leave Theo’s arms. The only thing I’m acutely aware of are Theo’s arms around me, and the rise and fall of his chest as he breathes. I stopped crying at some point, and the adrenaline of everything crashes, completely depleting any of the minimal energy I had left.
Before I drift away, Theo whispers in my ear, “It’s okay, Kitten. We’ve got you now. You can rest, you’re safe.”
I realize two things before I give in to the exhaustion. One, Theo is never going to let go of that damn nickname.
And two, I am never going to let go of him.
Chapter sixty
I put my SUV in park and barely press the off button before a figure standing next to my window makes me jump. Placing my hand on my chest to catch my breath, I consider opening my door with more force than necessary but injuring my brother so soon after he rescued me doesn’t seem right.
“Hot damn, Liam. You scared the daylights out of me. You couldn’t let me get out of the car?” I bark at him as I get out and slam my door shut but can’t keep the small smile off my face. My startle reflexes have been in overdrive after everything that happened, but I appreciate that my brothers still treat me like they always have—the normalcy is appreciated, but so is the distraction of the prank I will now be plotting to pull on Liam.
He opens his arms, and I lean in to give him a big hug. If I was considered a hugger before all of this—and I have always been a hugger—it’s only amplified because I wasn’t sure I would ever get to hug my people again. Although that comfort level only exists with my close family and friends right now. I am not a fan of being around a large group of strangers where I can’t see everyone and the exits; we discovered that the hard way the other day when Vivian and I went to pick up some baby items at the mall in the next town over. We didn’t know there was a big sale going on, and there were so many people. It didn’t end well for me, but Vivian got me out of there quickly. I barely made it to the car before I was having a full-blown panic attack.
We finished her shopping online from my living room couchafter that.
It’s been two weeks since Kyle Clark drugged, kidnapped, and attempted to assault me. There were probably other crimes he committed in the process, but his justice has already been delivered, and I hope the Devil keeps him on hot coals for all of eternity. I suppose I should maybe feel something about how his life ended, but all I feel is relief. I don’t know all the details, nor do I really care to know more than I do.
I was there; I lived it, felt it, and breathed it. That’s enough for me.
I do know that Liam made some phone calls and Sophia did some magic—which I decided she is actually part magic herself. The official cause of the cabin’s explosion was deemed a gas leak and considered intentional by Kyle himself as a distraction from wherever he allegedly really went. Sophia’s magic led whoever could possibly give two shits about Kyle to believe that the asshole had been embezzling money from clients at the law firm, and he took off to the Maldives, which unfortunately, does not have an extradition agreement with The United States. No one will care enough to look into it too much, other than maybe his cousin, but from what Liam said, his hacker cousin is in some deep, dark black hole and won’t be coming out anytime soon.
Sophia has checked in with me regularly, and I think we might even be on our way to becoming friends. She’s feisty and fierce—my kind of gal. She also personally oversaw the complete replacement of my entire home security system, as well the security system at Theo’s house. I don’t understand all the upgrades and changes, but I know that it helps me sleep a little better at night. Not much, but a little. I think Ryan is going to have her take a look at his security system too, if only to make me feel more comfortable when I’m over at his house.
The ability to be comfortable is a vague concept overall these days. It’s going to be some time before I sleep well, but I’m doing the work. Liam connected me with a trauma-focused therapist that has extensive training and experience in specifically working with victims of kidnapping. I speak to her two times a week right now, and I know that as I heal, we will space those sessions out.It’s nice that I can do it all virtually, so even though she is based in Charleston, South Carolina, I can talk to her anywhere in the world.
“So, what’s the verdict? Did y’all decide on a spot?” Liam asks as we walk from my car to Java Jive. He puts his lower hand on my back and moves me to the inside of the sidewalk. I don’t want to isolate myself to the point where I’m afraid to leave my house, but I need someone I trust with me when I go places. My therapist assures me I will feel differently as my healing progresses, and to be gentle with listening to what my heart and body need as I process everything—and to not get caught up on how I think I should feel or where I should be based on some self-imposed expectation. Thankfully, between Daddy, Theo, my brothers and brother-in-law, sister, and friends, I always have someone willing to meet or go with me.
I grin as I look up at my older brother. “We did. The architect Theo’s family likes to use is working with Finn on the floorplan, but the goal is to break ground in the spring. Our home will be a quarter mile south of Walker and Vivian’s, and we will extend the path between their house and Daddy’s, so it’s just a half mile walk between our house and Daddy’s. Ryan actually heard us talking about it, and I guess he’s been thinking about it for a while, but is now going to have his own walking path built the mile between his house and Daddy’s, which will ultimately connect to the one that will lead to Vivian’s, and eventually, our house.”
Liam nods in approval. “That’s great. The kids are going to love it, especially if that means the uncles need to provide their nieces with some toys to make it more like a racetrack.” I can see his wheels turning and I shake my head, but I’ll let them have their fun, as long as my girls wear helmets in whatever fun their uncles cook up for them. Plus, I know my brothers. They will use the excuse of buying four-wheelers or motorbikes for our girls, but really, they just want an excuse to play with new toys themselves.
We walk into Java Jive and wait our turn to order. Stepping up to the large square counter to order, Cami greets us with a big smile, but I notice it falls a smidge when she sees Liam. “Hey guys,what can I get for you today?” She plasters on the smile, but it doesn’t ring true to me. It feels … anxious? That’s odd.
“Hey, Cami. Can I get an iced vanilla latte and a blueberry scone if y’all have any left?”
