Page 8 of Forever Found

“How much gas do we have?” I asked as the thought came to me.

“About half a tank. Hopefully, we can get to a phone before it runs out,” Eli answered.

“Okay. Give me your shoes.”

“What? Why do you want my shoes?” he asked with a smirk.

“I’m driving, and I can’t do that barefoot,” I explained as I looked down to my bare feet.

“How did I not realize you weren’t wearing shoes?” Eli asked as he started to slip off the paint covered sneakers he usually wore in his studio.

“We had way bigger problems,” I reminded him. He nodded, and stepped back from his shoes so I could slip my feet into them. They were way too big, but they’d be better than driving barefoot.

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive? Your head? I suspect you have a concussion.”

“I’m doing better then you right now. Hopefully, we won’t have to go much further,” I said, praying I was right.

“Okay. Let’s see how it goes,” he agreed. We both climbed into the car, and I spent several minutes adjusting the seat andmirrors, since Eli and whoever else had driven the car were taller than me.

I was nervous as I started the car. Not only had I never driven anything anywhere near as big, but it had also been a really long time since I drove at all. Add to that the pain shooting down my back, through my torn up wrists, and thudding through my skull and I knew it was going to be a trial, even on this long straight road.

But I reminded myself I was keeping my calm and not freaking out, and just got on with it. I had to get Eli some help and I needed to get us both to safety before Max, or whoever he sent after us, caught up.

CHAPTER 4

KANE

I tensed and moved my hand towards the gun at my hip, as the front door of the penthouse apartment, at the Lyle building, opened. I knew it could only be Jordan or Asher. I had secured the entire building myself so we were the only ones who could enter or exit, but I was tense and feeling jittery.

“Just me, brother,” Asher spoke up as he walked in and looked to where my hand rested over my gun.

“Sorry.” I moved my hand and winced when Zara started yelling from where I had her cuffed to a chair in one of the bedrooms.

“We’re all on edge right now,” Asher told me. “You got her?” he nodded to where the screeching was coming from.

“Yeah, and she was screeching and yelling like that the whole fucking way here,” I ground out. “Adam?”

“He’s holding on. He survived the surgery and they’ve moved him to intensive care. Jordan wasn’t doing well, but he told me to get back here and find Addy and Eli.”

“Fuck!” It had been a rocky road for me since Addy came into all of our lives. I had fucked things up at first. Then, when I finally got my head out of my ass and agreed to give things a go with this weird relationship, that she not only wanted but seemed to need, I found something I hadn’t even realizedIneeded. I found myfamily. I had family of course. I had my sister, plus Ash and Eli had taken me in too, but I had never felt completely comfortable before Addy. I’d held myself back and allowed my demons to stop me. But Addy had changed everything, and in recent weeks as she, Jordan, Adam, and I all worked at this complicated thing building between us all, I had found myself not just willing to keep trying, but starting to enjoy being together. Adam, Jordan, and I had formed this kind of brotherly bond, centered around the woman we all loved, and it just seemed to be working. I had begun to feel a part of something real and strong. I had begun to feel that they were my family. Now it had all been blown apart.

Addy was gone. Adam was fucking lucky to be alive and able to keep fighting, and Jordan was broken. Jesus, I was pretty fucking broken too. Addy had been taken by the sick psychos who had already almost destroyed her, and I had zero leads to follow in order to get her back.

“Did Zara say anything?” Asher asked. “Other than profanity?” he added when Zara started spewing threats at us through the walls.

“Not yet. I thought it might be better if you were there. Her obsession with you might get her to open up,” I explained. If that didn’t work? Well then, Zara was going to see a much more menacing side of me. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to get Addy back. Eli too. He and Asher had done so much for me and I cared a lot about the pair of them.

“Anything from Harris and the guys?” Asher asked hopefully.

“Nothing yet, but Aleks is good. If there’s anything to find, he’ll dig it up.”

“How did I let this happen?” Asher growled as he seemed to just crumble before me. He dropped to his haunches and wrappedboth of his hands around the back of his head. “They have not just Addy this time, but Eli too, and I let it fucking happen,” he repeated more brokenly.

“This isn’t on you, Asher. I brought Leo in. I was the idiot who trusted him.”

“We have to get them back, Kane.” He looked up at me and I saw the moisture in his eyes. He looked way too pale and his eyes were filled with fear and pain that I wasn’t sure I had ever seen before. He had tried hard to stay strong since we drove through the gates of the house and found Adam looking dead already on the steps, and he had done a pretty great job of it, but now he was struggling.

“We will. I have the registration of the van that left our property and I called in a favor with a guy I know. He’s going to scour traffic cameras for the direction the van headed. Aleks, Harris, and the guys are working on it too, as are the FBI, and we have Zara to question. We’re doing all we can and we will get them both back,” I told him with certainty. I would never stop until I had Addy back in my arms once again.