Never let her go

Chapter 26

Lucy POV

We sat down on the couch in the living room.

I was fidgeting with my fingers nervously.

I was sitting between Theo and Noah, who looked just as clueless about the topic of this conversation as I was.

“What is this about?” Theo asked as soon as Liam sat down.

Liam looked at Ezra and then back at me, completely ignoring Theo.

“It’s about Jack and Brian.” Liam said.

I froze in my seat. What about them? Do they have any other questions? I had already told them everything. I really don’t want to repeat any of that. I want to keep it in the past and move on.

“What about the fuckers?” Theo asked, gritting his teeth.

“We are going to report them for abuse and sexual assault of a minor.” Liam said calmly.

I gasped and all I wanted to do was throw up.

Report? As in police, interrogation, lawyers, and court? No. No way in hell. I can’t do that. I can’t talk about this in front of strangers. I can’t talk about it in front of anyone ever again.

My body suddenly felt very cold. My palms were sticky from sweat, and it was getting hard to breathe.

Noah wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer to him, and Theo leaned forward, his gaze stone cold.

“Report?” Theo asked. “I would rather hunt them down and kill them.”

My eyes widened. Is he serious right now?

“Theo.” Liam said warningly. “You know we can’t do that.”

“Why the hell not?!” Theo asked, throwing his hands in the air. “You said we were going to make them pay!”

“We are.” Ezra sighed. “But we are not hunting or killing anyone.”

“That doesn’t sound like we are making them pay.” Theo said angrily. “It sounds like they are getting an easy way out.”

“Do you know what they do to child abusers in jail?” Noah asked him.

Theo turned to him and frowned. “I would much rather see them tied to the chairs in our basement. I would like to make sure that they get what they deserve.”

“Are you crazy?” I managed to mumble.

This whole conversation was making my head hurt.

“What?” Theo looked at me, frowning.

“You would go to jail.” I said, looking at him like he was crazy.

“I would gladly go to jail knowing that the fuckers paid the fair price.” Theo mumbled, clenching his fists.

My brothers snorted.

“You would go to jail?” Noah asked, teasingly. “You wouldn’t get to see Lucy and me every day. And when you would get a chance to see us, you wouldn’t be able to touch us. You wouldn’t be able to hold our hands, hug us, anything.”

Theo glared at Noah.

“Oh, and the first time Lucy would get sick or get in any kind of trouble, you would try to break out of prison, and we would have a much bigger problem on our hands.” Ezra added, chuckling.

“Not to mention that there would be no ladies to look at and no Ezra’s food to enjoy.” Liam smirked.

Liam, Ezra, Noah, and I laughed. Theo glared at us.

“I don’t think you are a prison material, bro.” Noah said, patting Theo’s shoulder.

Theo rolled his eyes, leaned back on the couch, and took my hand in his.

I turned to look at Liam. The playful look from earlier was gone, and it was replaced with a more serious one. He was looking at me expectantly.

“I don’t want to do this, Liam.” I said quietly.

“They have to be held accountable for their actions, Lucy.” Ezra said seriously. “We can’t let them get away with it.”

“I just don’t think I can repeat all that again.” I sighed, looking down at my lap. “Especially not in front of strangers. Also, I don’t want to sit in court for days and look at them.”

“We will be with you every step of the way.” Ezra said.

“I am a very rich man, Lucy.” Liam added. “I will pay whoever I need to, I will give any amount I need to make this process as painless as possible. I will see with Jason if we can avoid you going to court altogether. But we have to do this, love. I can’t let them walk free after what they’ve done.”

I bit my lip nervously. I didn’t want him to spend money on this.

“Why can’t we let it go?” I asked, looking up at Liam. “You finally found me. We are together after 10 years. Can we just focus on the future and leave what happened in the past? Also, I don’t want you to spend your money on me.”

Noah and Theo tightened their grip on me. Ezra gave me a soft smile. Liam frowned and looked at me apologetically.

I wasn’t going to win this fight, was I?

“First of all, it’s our money.” Liam said slowly. “I would give it all away if it meant that the four of you would be safe. Second of all, we will focus on the future. We can’t wait to spend each and every day with you and make up for the time we lost. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get punished for what they did.”

“As long as they are walking free, they are a threat to you, honey.” Ezra added softly.

Jack’s last words came back to me. He told me not to get too comfortable. He told me he would come back for me. Was he telling the truth, or did he want to scare me? Is he still a threat to me?

Just the thought of him being near me again made me want to scream.

“We will be with you every step of the way.” Noah said softly, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. “You won’t go through this alone.”

I gulped and looked at Noah. “Promise?”

“Of course, Sunshine.” he smiled at me. “We promise.”

I looked at Liam and Ezra. They nodded and gave me a small smile.

Theo pulled me to him and kissed the top of my head. “I promise, Lucy.”

I leaned my head on Theo’s chest, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath.

“Okay.” I said quietly. “Let’s do it.”

Theo wrapped his arms around me and leaned his head on mine.

I opened my eyes and saw my brothers smiling at me.

“I will talk to Jason and tell him to file a report.” Liam said, standing up and walking out of the room.

“What do you want to do, Lucy?” Noah asked, smiling at me.

“Can we watch a movie?” I asked quietly. “It’s been so long since I watched a movie.”

“Of course we can.” Noah smiled and stood up. “Ezra, are you joining us?”

“No.” Ezra shook his head. “I’m going to go help Liam. You kids enjoy yourselves. Lunch will be at 2 pm.”

Ezra walked over to me, kissed my forehead, and left the room, following after Liam.

“I’m going to make some popcorn.” Noah said. “Go choose a movie.”