“Oh, thank god,” she sighs heavily. “The security company has phoned the police and your dad is on the phone with Caden. He’s going to head down there and sort it out.”
“Ok,” I breathe.
“Nate. Jesse.” I hear yells from the bottom of the stairs. “Get your asses down here.”
“I go to go,” I tell mom. “Caden’s downstairs ready to go.”
“What?” she gasps. “You’re not g-”
“Bye, mom,” I cut her off before hanging up the phone. I throw my phone down as I hear Nate rushing around, already halfway down the stairs and realize I have to be quick. I grab my pajama bottoms off the ground and yank them up my legs before grabbing my phone and hurrying out after them.
I come out of my room to find Jesse in the hallway who looks like death warmed up. “What the fuck is going on?” he groans before narrowing his eyes on me and rubbing a hand down his face. “Why are you out of bed?”
“Someone’s breaking into my place,” I explain.
“What?” he grunts before picking up his pace and helping me down the stairs.
I get halfway down when I find Nate and Caden at the bottom. “Fuck, no,” Nate growls as he reads the intention in my eyes. “Get your ass back upstairs and get back in bed. No way in hell are you coming.”
“Bullshit,” I tell him as Jesse continues helping me hobble down the stairs. “It’s my house.”
“I don’t care if it’s the queen’s house. You’re not coming.”
“Actually,” Caden says to Nate’s horror. “It’s not a bad idea. Tora knows her home. The police will want to know if anything was touched or taken and who better to ask but Tora?”
“No,” Nate says, shaking his head. “Why can’t she come back in the morning or in a few days? What if it’s just an animal?”
I get to the bottom step and walk towards him. “It’s not an animal,” I tell him as he reaches out to hold me up even though I can manage on my own. “We have surveillance. If it was an animal, the security company would have seen it. For them to blow up my dad’s phone, they know it’s a break in.”
His face scrunches up. “I don’t want you there, especially not if there’s some random person breaking in.”
“Come on. It will be fine,” I tell him as I try to soothe his worry. “The police will check it out first and you’ll be with me the whole time, besides, the person is probably long gone. This is my home, Nate. I’m not about to sit back and do nothing.”
He lets out a frustrated huff. “Fine,” he says. “But you don’t leave my side the whole time.”
I resist rolling my eyes. “Yeah, I figured that out already.”
He lets out another groan, clearly not happy with this as he leads the way to the garage. We all pile into Caden SUV with Jesse in the back beside me. His leg bounces in anticipation, but it doesn’t last long as we pull up to the driveway of my home.
The gate is already opened wide and I wonder how it got that way. Whether the guy who broke in knows the code, the security company, or if dad did it remotely for the two police cruisers that are pulled up in front of my home.
Caden brings the SUV to a stop and all the boys jump straight out. I follow on and watch as three policemen come striding out my front door. One of the cops look to Caden in recognition and walk forward. He holds his hand out to Caden, who accepts it with a shake. “Caden,” the cop says with a quick nod before looking to the boys and then finally me.
“Mick,” Caden says before nodding towards the house. “What’s the latest? Did you find anything?”
“At this stage; no. We’ve done our initial sweep and have not found anyone. Nothing looks out of place; however, we’ll be going back in for a more thorough search.” His eyes return to me. “You must be Tora?”
A shiver takes through my body and I cross my arms around my waist, trying to keep warm. I step forward with Nate’s hand on my lower back. “Yes, that’s me.”
“Right,” he says. “I’m officer Michael Holden. We’re responding to a call for a break in. Is there anything you think we should know? Or anyone you suspect?”
I shake my head. “No,” I tell him.
“Alright,” he says. “Once my men are finished searching your home and deem the premises safe, you may go in and check that everything is in order.”
“Ok,” I say, latching onto Nate’s hand.
Officer Holden nods once again before returning his eyes back to Caden. Caden leads him away for a quick moment and I watch as they talk while Officer Holden points out towards the house and the backyard.