Can't Outrun The Past {Book 3}

Chapter 1: The Call

*Ellie's POV*

The front door to our apartment stood wide open, something that was not normal. The door was always shut.
"Did I forget to close this when we left, Noah?" I asked.
Noah shook her head. "Nope." She said popping the p. "I watched you lock it."
I nodded and pushed cautiously on the open door. "Okay, come on." I stepped inside. "Hopefully Jan just forgot to close it when she came home."
I ventured farther into the room. "Jan?" No answer.
I never leave the front door open, it wasn't safe to do that. "Janna? This isn't funny." I searched the kitchen and living room quickly.
After finding nothing I decided if someone was here Noah shouldn't be alone. "Noah!" I called. "Come here, please."
Noah skidded into the room from outside. "Yeah?"
"I need you to stay right here where I can see you, okay?" I said putting my hands on her shoulders.
Noah nodded. "Should I get Con from the hall too?" She asked.
"Why is he in the hallway?"
She shrugged and pointed for me to follow her, so I did.
"Connor Hendrixs, what are you doing out here?" I demanded, upon finding my ten year old son leaning against the wall in the hall.
"I didn't want to go in there in case someone was there. But Noah went in anyway even after I said she was gonna get killed!" Connor over exaggerated, holding Ellis tightly in his arms. He had a tendency to do that a lot.
"I'm not going to get murdered, Con!" Noah sarcastically answered her twin brother. "I already survived what should have killed me." She added quieter.
"Noah! I don't want to here you say that ever. Is that clear?" I was tired of this.
"Crystal." Noah sarcastically answered.
"We'll deal with this later." I sighed. "Just come inside." I took their hands and led them to the living room. "Stay, okay, I've got to make sure sissy is in her room."
They both nodded and hopped onto the couch.
I slowly made my way to Janna's room. "Thank God." I breathed.
The redhead lie on her with headphones on. "Janna!" I snapped, jerking the headphones off.
"What the heck, Mom." Janna demanded, annoyance laced through her voice.
"You left the front door open." I stated.
"So?"
"So you're not suppose to do that." I said, sitting on the edge of her bed. "You know the door has to stay closed for obvious reasons."
"Yeah, but no one has tried to hurt us in years, plus my uncle's pretty the police captain so no one is that dumb." Janna stood up. "I'm sorry I just forgot to close it." She hugged me.
"It's fine just try to remember in the future." I kissed her head. "Come on Connor has been waiting all afternoon to tell you about what happened today."
"What happened today?" Janna asked as we began to walk.
"I'll let him tell you."
"Janna!" Connor squealed, jumping up from playing leggos with Noah. He ran over and hugged her.
"Hey, Buddy," Janna ruffled his hair. "Momma says you have something to tell me."
"Oh yeah," Connor thought a minute before launching into some story about what Nancy and Caleb had done at lunch today.
"I'll get it!" Noah reached for my phone right before it started ringing. It was scary how she could do that sometimes. "Hello, Mummy's phone." She greeted whomever was on the other end. "Hold on." Noah held the phone out to me. "Here ya go."
I took the device and held it to my ear. "Hello, Eleanor Hendrixs speaking."
"Hello, Eleanor, this is Ralph Stonem. I'm calling about your brother Jasper Bates." The man on the other end explained. "I'm from the precinct."
"Yes, what can I do for you?"
"He has a hearing on Tuesday. The hearing is about his sentence being up." He paused.
Has it really been that long?
"And?" I pressed.
"Well this is somewhat hard to tell you, ma'am. Your brother holds you responsible for what happened all those years ago." Mr. Stonem told.
"Yes, I am aware of this matter." I walked into the kitchen where the kids couldn't hear. "What about it?"
"He's threatening to come after you and your friends. Sadly that isn't enough to keep him in jail. As well as a Grace Tyler, do you remember her?" He inquired.
"Yes very vividly, Sir."
"They are very much still friends in jail and plan to carry out the threats together. Both of them claiming you and your friends ruined their lives."
I laughed softly, "Funny because they are the ones who tried to kill me."
"I'm just warning you, Eleanor." Ralph warned. "I'd hate to end up seeing you lot dead."
"Trust me, Sir, many have tried to kill us, and it'll take more than my brother and some use to be drama queen to take us down." I looked out the window, down into the streets filled with people.
"There are other people in the threats besides you."
"Like who?"
"Alex Russo, our late captain's son, Jerica Jones, Magnus O'Malley, Raphael Turner, Jack Grey, and Mackenzie Russo. I figured I'd let you tell 'em about this." He listed off.
I hadn't seen Magnus and Jerica in years.
"I honestly don't know some of those people anymore, but I'll try to contact them about Jasper. Thank you, Officer." I bit down on my lip.
"Good day, Miss Hendrixs."
"B-bye." I hung up, and went into the other room.
Ugh why after all this time does Jasper and Grace have to get out now. I mean they murdered a guy, tried to kill me, and almost successfully killed Mack, not to mention everything else Jasper has done; shouldn't they get longer than this in prison?
I watched the kids play for a moment. They didn't need this, not after everything. I barely have the old Noah sometimes. If anything happened to anyone, I fear, any of them could be gone.
Noah looked up and smiled, her eyes meeting mine. "What's wrong, Mummy?" She asked, her accent very noticeable. "You're crying."
I wiped at my eyes. "Nothing, baby, I just got to run next door to see Aunt Mack." I kissed her head. "Jan is in charge til I get back, alright, so be good for her."
Hopefully Mack still talked with Jerica or Magnus; if not maybe Rafe could be of use.