Forest *Complete* ✅

Chapter 8

~~~~~~~The next day~~~~~~~

Zoey POV

Here I am, on my way to some secret place where hopefully Darren can't find me or anyone else. Blake is driving while I'm supposed to be sleeping in the backseat. He said it would be a couple of hours and since we were up most of the night he thought it would be best if I tried getting some sleep.

I can't sleep though so I'm just staring up at the car ceiling, wondering what's going to happen next. Darren won't stop until he gets what he wants and I already know that Blake won't let that happen. The only other option would be imprisonment or death. There's still a risk he could get out so Blake is probably going to kill him.

Most people would think that would be absurd, but when everything you love is being threatened it doesn't sound like such a bad idea.

"You awake back there babe?" Blake asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Hmm," I hum.

"How are you feeling?"

"How am I supposed to feel when I know my fiance is going to kill someone who used to be one of his best friends because he's after me and everyone we love?"

Moments of silence pass as he figures out what to say next. I can tell he's nervous from the tapping of his fingers on the steering wheel. He only ever does that when he's nervous or doesn't know what to say.

"I don't really care about your answer to that. There is no true emotion that could describe what I should or could be feeling. Why did you choose this life, Blake? Out of everything you could've been or every choice you could've made, why this one?"

"I wanted to rebel against my parents, mainly my dad. Darren suggested do that since I could also get a ton of money out of it. Maddison, Darren, Joseph, and Lukas wanted to rebel too and that's how it all started. By the time I realized how bad this business is, it was too late to back out. I kept working to be the most feared so that way maybe there wouldn't be as much of a chance my family would get hurt because I would have the resources to protect them."

The rest of the ride is in silence. We get to the safe house that's in the middle of nowhere and he helps me get my luggage out of the trunk. I'm given the grand tour by Blake and Maddison, ending up with Hannah in the drawing-room where we'll do our schoolwork. We say goodbye and seal it with a kiss. Maddison goes to her room and Blake leaves.

"Why do we have to be here exactly?" Hannah asks.

"Remember when I was kidnapped?" I ask/answer.

She nods and continues writing, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"When they found me the guy who kidnapped me escaped and is still after Blake, me, you, pretty much anyone he cares about or knows what happened then."

"Then why isn't Ruby here then?"

"She has a job that she and Tyler can't afford her to lose because she has to go into hiding. Dallas should be coming to stay with us soon as there is no other family to take care of him and Ruby doesn't trust in anything enough right now to put him into daycare."

"So we're gonna have two babies and a two-year-old in the same house for an amount of time no one knows?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Fun."

She continues writing and sketching out random stuff on the side and I take that as my cue to leave. I wander around and listen for the sound of any voices. I hear the crying of babies so I follow that to what appears to be a nursery. I scan the room and see Paisley desperately trying to calm down both twins.

I take one out of her arms and gently rock Phoebe back and forth until she falls asleep in my arms. Soon after Perseus is asleep too and we set them down in their separate bassinets.

"Gods, thank you so much for your help Zo. West usually helps but since he's not here I'm the only one who's really paying much attention to them."

"Why aren't Layla or Hannah trying to help?"

"Layla did, but she isn't the best with kids, and Hannah is finishing up schoolwork and trying to not think about the fact that we're stuck here for a while."

"Well, I'm here now and I will gladly help with these two."

She smiles and decides to go to bed while they nap. I unpack and do the same thing.