Page 65 of Forever Found
“It has to be painful though. How about I go and find an ice pack? They should have them around here, right?” he fussed.
“Stop worrying so much,” I told him with a slight smile. I had forgotten what a mother hen he could be. I’d missed that too. “It doesn’t really hurt.”
“I’m so sorry, Addy. This is my fault, You’d never have even been out there if Kane and I hadn’t…”
“Don’t! Please Adam. I can’t…not yet. I can’t even think straight right now,” I pleaded. “I’m glad you and Kane are here. Can we just leave it there, for now at l-least?”
“Okay, baby,” he agreed with a nod and a tense smile.
“Did you f-find anything out…about why, I mean? Or who?” I looked up to Ash for answers.
“I don’t know who. The FBI are working on finding out who the dead guy is, but I think I know why,” he hedged.
“Tell me,” I told him firmly.
“You’ve been called to testify against Max Kline at his trial. The witness’s they had lined up, the girls from the warehouse, they ran. The police can’t find them and the lawyer believes they fled back to Eastern Europe, where they were brought from.”
“I didn’t even know they had any witnesses. I thought Max just stayed behind the scenes?”
“He didn’t. He was more heavily involved in the trafficking than we knew, and he used to take girls from the warehouse before they were sold, and hurt them. The two girls who recognized him were going to testify in exchange for citizenship, but something spooked them and they fled the safe house they were staying in.”
“Max.”
“The FBI think so, yeah. He must still have some loyal men out there who he can give orders to from behind bars,” Asher confirmed.
“So I have to testify…like in court?”
“I have a lawyer looking into it all, and seeing what he can do, but at the moment, yes. They can compel you if you don’t agree to do it,” he explained woefully.
“This really will never end, will it?” I sniffed as I deflated against him and bit my lip hard to stop more tears from following.
“It goes deeper than we ever imagined it would, Addy, but the FBI are still working the case and they will catch everyone involved eventually,” Ash tried to reassure me, but it fell flat. We had definitely been here before.
“No matter what, we’ll find a way to keep you safe. We’re not going to allow any of these lowlifes to ever hurt you again,” Adam added. He moved his hand like he was going to reach across and touch me, but he pulled it back at the last second.
It hurt that he pulled back, but I knew it was as much my fault as it was his. He should have told me upfront that he didn’t want me any longer, but it wasn’t as though I could blame him. I had almost got him killed, and now there was even more danger coming his way because of me.
“No,” I whispered as I shook my head.
“No what, sweetheart?”
“No, we’re not doing this. Those girls ran away. I can do that too…run away. Can you get me a fake passport?” I asked as a new determination filled me. I looked up to Asher hopefully.
“What? No! Addy, you’re not going anywhere. You’re staying with us so we can protect you,” Asher told me.
“No. I cant do this again. I cant face any of it, and I refuse to put all of you in danger. I have to go…run. I can take cash, and if I h-have a fake passport I can get far away. They won’t come after me. They just….they want to stop me testifying, right?”
“That’s not happening, baby. Not one of us is going to let you go off alone like that,” Adam chipped in.
“Y-you can’t stop me…I…I’m an adult. I get to choose, It’s m-my decision,” I told them defiantly, but some of the anger was lost in the tremble of my words and the tears trickling down my face.
“We’d only come right after you, little dot. We love you way too much to let you just go off on your own when you’re in so much danger. It’s not happening.” Asher was definitely putting his foot down judging by the tone he used, and I knew he was speaking the truth. They weren’t going to let me go, no matter how much sense it made.
“I don’t w-want any of you to get hurt again…I can’t. This is j-just too much, Ash,” I whimpered.
“I know, and I wish like hell I could spare you from it, but I can’t. There’s nothing any of us can do but keep you safe and try to shelter you from as much as possible. That’s what we’re going todo, as much as we possibly can. You’ve already been through way more than any one person should ever have to face.”
“I want to say you don’t h-have to do that but I…I don’t know if I can survive any more Asher. I’m not st-strong enough. I was never strong enough for this,” I admitted as I broke down and just cried.