A couple of days after talking with the boys everything seems to be better. We are not walking on eggshells with each other and we all have a better understanding of one another. It is nice and I feel like I am truly home and they will be able to help me get through the darkest parts of my life.
Walking out of Damon's bedroom, I hear the boys talking about something. I can barely make out their conversation, but I can see their stern faces.
With a couple of more steps, I make it to the table and their conversation abruptly ends with Brandon's, not so subtle, nod of his head in my direction.
"What are you guys talking about? Anything interesting?"
Neither of them says anything for the first few seconds before Damon speaks up. "We never told you how we found where you were. I mean, I had been there previously, but I didn't recall where I was or how we made it there, or how I came back. But, anyway, after you were taken I hired a private investigator to find out where you were. It took him longer than I would have liked but he eventually found where they had been keeping you. After a couple more days of planning, I went there to rescue you."
"Their boss wasn't there when I was. You don't remember what happened, I'm sure since you were in and out of consciousness, but I found you and Brandon went to look for their boss. Since we couldn't find him there, I kept the private investigator so he could look into it."
I don't need to hear what he says next to know what he is about to tell me. My stomach drops and my body feels faint, even sitting in the chair.
"...we found him."
His voice barely makes it through the sounds of blood rushing in my ears. Is he serious? What does this mean for me? Does this mean that I am finally safe? What about the bad man? Did they find him too? He hurt me the most.
Question after question swarms in my mind until it is a tornado of curiosity. I need to know more, but even with the boys' lips moving, I can't hear anything that they are saying.
My heart pounds in my chest, my palms sweat, and my vision goes in and out of focus. What is going on? Am I dying?
Damon and Bradon get out of their chairs and rush over to me. I barely register their hands touching me as I focus on trying to get air in and out of my body. It's never enough no matter how I breathe. Black dots start to cloud my vision and I can feel the panic in the way the boys are moving around me at a million miles an hour trying to get me to respond to them, but I feel paralyzed and helpless and I slowly fade into unconsciousness.
My eyes flutter open to the light in the room. Quickly throwing my arm to protect my eyes from the brightness, I groan and rub my temples with my other hand. What happened? What time is it?
Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I feel dizzy as I stand up. What the hell is going on? I take a few more steps to the closed door, most of my weight leaning on the wall. I haven't felt this bad since- since I was there. What the hell happened to me? Was I hit by a car or something?
Opening the door, everything is silent, unmoving. I try to rack my brain to recollect what happened. There is no way I just woke up from sleeping and feel like this. …Unless I had a bad nightmare last night and can't recall it.
Think, Rose. Think.
When nothing comes to mind, I press against my temples. I need to get rid of this headache, I can barely keep my eyes open from the intense pounding behind my right eye.
Slowly making my way into the bathroom, I keep the light off and rummage around in the drawer to find some aspirin. The quicker I get rid of my headache, the sooner I will be able to remember.
Grasping the bottle, I shake out two small pills and take them with some water from the sink. Since they take around twenty minutes to work, Igo back into Damon's bedroom to lay down until they kick in. Maybe another small nap will do me some good and give me some strength so I'm not a walking zombie.
A few minutes later, maybe ten, the apartment door opens and closes. The boys' voices are easily heard over the silent apartment. Tuning my ears, I can hear them say my name.
"...I hope she is okay…"
"...maybe we shouldn't say anything…"
"...she has a right…"
I catch only fragments of their conversation, but I want to know whatever they plan on keeping from me. As Brandon said, I have a right to know anything that involves me. I am tired of being kept in the dark. I can handle whatever they throw my way.
What if you already know?
How would I already-?
With my headache mostly gone, I rack my brain again for any recollection of this morning. I try to piece together the bits and pieces that I remember. I know I must have woken up prior to just now. So, I woke up and I usually have breakfast with the boys on the weekend. Okay, good. I woke up and had breakfast. Maybe something happened during breakfast. But what could have happened?
Damon walks into the room just then, his face tired and pale. He sits on the edge of the bed next to me.
"Hey. How are you feeling?"
He gently places his hand over mine, absentmindedly making small circles. I'm confused by his question. I don't feel good, but how would he know that?
Something definitely happened at breakfast.
"I'm fine. What were you and Brandon talking about? I want to know."
"You don't remember?"
"You fainted this morning after we told you. I don't want that to happen again, Rose."
"Damon, please. I don't want to be out of the loop anymore. I am not some fragile being that constantly needs to be protected." My voice sounds weak and not confident like I intended it to be.
"Rose…"
"Damon, tell me." I sound more forceful this time which I am thankful for.
"We found the boss who kidnapped you."
My world spins as this news hits me for the second time and my limited memories of this morning start to come back.
We did have this conversation earlier. Okay. Taking a deep breath, I steel myself so I can make it through the conversation this time.
"What now?"
"Well, now we are going to turn him in to the police. They were not aware of your disappearance because we didn't want you to get hurt, but now that we know you are safe with us, we will have them arrest him. Are you going to be able to testify against him?"
No! No. No. No. No.
How could he ask me to do this when I am trying to move on?
"I'm going to testify against him too. Hopefully, with both of us and a few unloyal employees, he will be found guilty and you never have to worry about him again."
My mind is torn in half. One part of me wants to say no and run away, but the other part of me wants this man and the bad man to pay for everything that they did to me while I was their hostage and everything after.
Before I can register what I am saying, "I'll do it" passes my lips.
Damon crushes me into his body as Brandon walks into the room.
"I'm assuming you told her and she said yes."
I weakly nod my head. I have no idea about what I just signed myself up for, but I do know that I am going to have to relive everything they put me through for what seems like the one-hundredth time.
"You both have done so much for me, but I need you to try and help me with one more thing."
Damon pulls away from the hug, his eyebrows furrowed. "What do you need?"
"I want the man who hurt me to be put away. The boss, sure he made the orders to take me, but that other man was the one who made it seem like hell."
"Okay, I will have the private investigator look into it. We will find him. Do you have any idea what he looks like?"
"No, not really, it was always dark and I was never fully there, after the first couple of days."
Their faces turn grim but determined. If I am going to get justice for what happened to me, I want every man involved to get what they deserve.