Let them go

Chapter 6

Theo POV

“Stop frowning.” Lucy sighed as she pressed her fingers on the area between my eyebrows, trying to smooth out the wrinkle. “I will be in my room the whole time.”

“I don’t think that’s possible, Sunshine.” Noah chuckled as I moved Lucy’s hand away. “I think that his face is stuck in a permanent frown.”

I looked at my brother and rolled my eyes.

“I know that.” I sighed as I looked back at my sister. “I don’t like who you are going to be with.”

“I’m sure that she is nice, Theo.” Lucy said softly.

“You will come and get us if something happens, right?” I asked as I felt a wave of nervousness rush over me.

I always felt nervous when I had to leave her alone. The nervousness only grew when I had to leave her alone with other people.

I knew that Ezra wouldn’t bring home anyone who would hurt our sister. I knew that Ezra trusted her. I knew that Liam trusted her. But there was still a tiny possibility that Sienna could do something to Lucy. Just thinking about that had me ready to throw up.

“Of course.” Lucy said, smiling at me. “I will come and get you if I feel uncomfortable.”

I nodded, pulling her toward me. I wrapped my arms around her and took a deep breath.

I heard the door to my room open, and I heard Ethan’s voice.

“Hi, guys.” Ethan said. “Hi, Lucy.”

I let Lucy go, and she turned around with a smile on her face.

“Hi, Ethan.” she said softly. “Hi, Aiden.”

“Hey, Lu.” Aiden said, giving her a small smile.

Lucy turned back around to look at me. She leaned in and kissed my cheek.

“I will be in my room.” she said as she stood up.

Noah pulled her into a hug and kissed her temple. He whispered something to her, and she nodded.

“Why don’t you stay with us?” Ethan asked.

“I’m hanging out with Ezra’s girlfriend.” Lucy said as Noah let her go.

“Ezra has a girlfriend?” Ethan asked, surprised.

He looked from Lucy to Noah and I.

“Yes.” I nodded. “We met her yesterday at dinner. She wanted to get to know Lucy, so they decided to hang out tonight.”

Ethan looked at Lucy, and I could see worry in his eyes.

“Are you staying here?” he asked her.

“Yes.” Lucy answered, smiling at him. “We will be in my room.”

Ethan nodded and sat down at my desk. The worried look was still there. Why was he so worried about my sister?

“I will see you later.” Lucy said as she walked away from us.

I wanted to jump up and stop her from leaving. She opened the door, turned around to give us another smile, and left the room.

I took a deep breath as I watched her close the door behind herself.

This was so fucking hard. So fucking hard.

“Are you okay, Aiden?” I heard my brother ask.

I looked at my friend and saw a very worried look on his face. He didn’t even hear my brother ask him a question.

“Aiden?” Noah called him again.

Aiden finally looked up at my brother.

“Hm?” Aiden mumbled.

“Are you okay?” Noah repeated the question. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing.” Aiden said, shaking his head. “I just don’t like leaving Riley alone.”

“She is not alone.” Ethan said softly. “Our parents are home, Aiden. She will be okay.”

“Is there something wrong with Riley?” I asked, confused. “Is she sick or something?”

Ethan looked at me and shook his head. “She is okay. She isn’t sick.”

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at Aiden. He was sitting on my bed. His fists were clenched tight. He seemed very fucking nervous. Something had to be wrong.

“Aiden?” I called my friend.

He looked up at me and took a deep breath.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him worriedly.

“I’ve been having a hard time ever since Lucy was kidnapped.” Aiden sighed as he looked down at his lap. “I’m sacred that Riley...”

He stopped talking and took a deep breath.

“He became as overprotective as you, Theo.” Ethan said as he stood up and sat down next to Aiden.

My eyes widened as I stared at my friend.

“Why, Aiden?” I asked. “Riley is safe. Nothing will happen to her.”

“You don’t know that.” Aiden mumbled as he looked back up at me. “You thought that Lucy was safe too, and look what happened. If something like that happened to Riley. If I lost Riley...”

Aiden stopped talking and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, and I could see his hands shaking.

I glanced at my brother. He was leaning on the wall. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he was looking at Aiden with a worried expression on his face.

“Nothing will happen to our sister, Aiden.” Ethan said softly as he pulled Aiden into a hug. “Riley is okay. She is safe. We would never let anything happen to her.”

“Do you think that Theo and Noah let Lucy get kidnapped?” Aiden mumbled. “Shit happens, Ethan. You can’t always control everything. There are evil people out there.”

He was totally right. There were evil people out there. There were millions of Brians and Jacks just waiting to hurt someone. Aiden was right to be afraid, but I didn’t like seeing him so worried. Did I look like him the whole time?

“There are also a lot of people who love Riley and who would never let anything happen to her.” Noah said after a few moments of silence.

“There are also a lot of people who love Lucy, and she still got kidnapped.” Aiden sighed as he pulled out of Ethan’s arms.

“What happened to Lucy was horrible.” Noah said as he approached Aiden and Ethan. “It was the worst thing that ever happened to us. It was the most painful thing that ever happened to us. But it doesn’t mean that it will happen to Riley. What happened to Lucy happened because of mistakes that our family made. Starting with our mother, who ran away and took Lucy with her, and ending with us assuming that Jack and Brian weren’t going to do anything because they were too weak and cowardly. But we learned from those mistakes, and we won’t make them again.”

Aiden looked at Noah and took a deep breath.

“I just...” Aiden mumbled and looked down at his hands. “I can’t imagine my life without her. I never really thought about the possibility of losing Riley until Lucy got kidnapped. I never thought that it would be so easy to lose her.”

Aiden stopped talking to take another deep breath.

“Riley was always next to me, you know.” Aiden continued. “She was with me from the moment we were born. I don’t have a memory that doesn’t have Riley in it. Just thinking about her not being here...”

I knew exactly what he was talking about. I couldn’t imagine my life without Noah and Lucy. When I remembered those two days without my sister, I wanted to rip the whole world to fucking pieces.

Ethan clenched his fists and tightened his jaw. He placed his arm around Aiden’s shoulders and pulled him closer.

“Riley will always be here.” Ethan said softly. “She will always be with you. She will always be with me.”

Aiden looked up at his brother and gave him a small smile.

I looked at Noah. Both of us knew exactly what Aiden was talking about. Both of us knew the pain of losing Lucy.

Noah was right. We made a lot of mistakes along the way. The biggest one was when my family assumed that Jack and Brian wouldn’t do shit because they were cowards. My biggest mistake was not fighting with them harder and proving to them that Lucy wasn’t safe anywhere else but beside Noah and me. I should have fought harder. I should have stopped grandpa from taking her outside that day. I should have screamed until they listened to me.

Noah looked at me and gave me a small smile. He reached out and took my hand in his.

A sickening thought came to me.

Were we making the same mistake when we assumed that Sienna wouldn’t hurt Lucy?

My heart stopped beating, and I jumped up.

I needed to go check on my sister.

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Hello, my dear readers! 😄

Thank you for reading, voting, and commenting. I hope that you are enjoying the story so far. We are just at the beginning, and I have so many ideas! I hope that you will like it! 😁

I just wanted to tell you that I won't be posting another chapter until Monday.

I'm wishing a Merry Christmas to all my readers who celebrate. To the rest of you, I'm wishing a wonderful, joyous weekend. 🥰

I'm sending you all a ton of love and hugs. 🤗❤