Tangled Hearts.

~Chapter 81~

~Colby~

We finally pulled up to the house after what felt like an eternity. The night had been long and grueling, but we had Raelyn back. She was in rough shape, though, and I could see the pain etched on her face. I jumped out of the car and rushed to her side, Isa right behind me.

"Rae, we're home," I said softly, trying to keep my voice steady. "We're going to take care of you now."

Raelyn nodded weakly, her eyes filled with tears. "It hurts, Colby," she whispered, her voice trembling.

"I know, I know," I replied, my heart breaking for her. "We're going to fix you up. Just hang in there."

Isa and I carefully helped her out of the car and into the house. The rest of the crew – Sam, Jake, Corey, Katrina, Devyn, and Tara – followed us inside, their faces a mix of worry and exhaustion. Aspen and Blake were already inside, looking scared and unsure.

"Mommy, is she going to be okay?" Blake asked, his eyes wide with fear.

"She'll be okay, Blake," I said, trying to sound confident. "We're going to take care of her."

We laid Raelyn down on the couch, and Isa immediately started tending to her wounds. I held her hand, trying to comfort her as best as I could. She cried out in pain as Isa cleaned and bandaged her injuries.

"Shh, it's okay, baby," I murmured, stroking her hair. "You're safe now. We've got you."

Raelyn's grip on my hand tightened, and she fought to stay awake. "Don't leave me, Colby," she pleaded, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm not going anywhere," I promised. "I'm right here."

The room was filled with a heavy silence, broken only by Raelyn's soft cries and the sound of Isa working. The rest of the crew watched, their faces filled with sadness and helplessness.

"Is there anything we can do?" Sam asked quietly, his voice thick with emotion.

"Just be here," I said, glancing around at my friends. "That's all we can do right now."

Katrina knelt down beside Blake and Aspen, pulling them into a comforting embrace. "It's going to be okay, kiddos," she said softly. "Your mom is strong. She'll get through this."

Devyn wiped away a tear, her voice breaking as she spoke. "I can't believe this happened. I feel so useless."

"You're not useless," I said firmly. "We're all in this together. We just have to stay strong for Raelyn."

As the hours passed, Raelyn cries grew quieter, and she finally began to drift off to sleep. I stayed by her side, holding her hand and watching over her. Isa finished bandaging her wounds and sat back, looking exhausted.

"She'll be okay," Isa said, her voice filled with a mix of relief and worry. "She just needs time to heal."

I nodded, feeling a weight lift off my shoulders. "Thank you, Isa. I don't know what we would have done without you."

Isa gave me a small, tired smile. "We're a family, Colby. We take care of each other."

As Raelyn finally fell asleep on my chest, the room was filled with a heavy silence. We all sat there, the weight of the night pressing down on us. Sam was the first to break the silence. "We can't stay here anymore. It's not safe," he said, his voice low but firm.

Jake nodded, his face serious. "I agree. We need to find a new place, somewhere they can't find us."

I looked around at everyone, seeing the agreement in their eyes. "Yeah, we need to move," I said. "I'll start looking for houses first thing in the morning."

Corey spoke up, "Why wait? We can start now. There's no way any of us are getting back to sleep after that."

Katrina nodded, "He's right. Let's start looking now."

We all pulled out our phones and started searching on Zillow. Devyn suggested, "We should look for something further away but still close enough that we can get to our jobs and schools."

Tara agreed, "Yeah, we don't want to be too far away, but we need to be safe."

As we scrolled through listings, Liam, who had helped Raelyn escape the bunker and was now part of our group, said, "How about this one? It's in a nearby neighborhood, has a big backyard, plenty of bedrooms and bathrooms, and it's two stories."

I looked at the listing he showed us. It seemed perfect. "That looks great," I said. "And don't worry about the money. Thanks to my dad's pack, we have more than enough. He left billions to my mom, my sisters, and me in his will. We split it 3 ways, part with Kalani and Gigi, part with my mom, a part with me."

Isa looked relieved. "Thank you, Colby. This means a lot."

Blake, who was eight, and little Aspen, who was one and a half, were both asleep, unaware of the chaos around them. "We need to think about them too," I said, looking at the kids. "They deserve to feel safe."

Everyone nodded in agreement. We continued to look through listings, finally deciding on the house Liam had found. It was perfect for us, and we were ready to take the next step.

"We'll go house hunting first thing in the morning," I said, feeling a sense of determination. "We need to get out of here and start fresh."

As I held Raelyn close, I knew that we were making the right decision. We couldn't let the past haunt us any longer. It was time to move forward and find a place where we could all feel safe again.