His chin hitched, and the sharp cut of his jaw had fading bruises. “Did you say the name Gemma?”
My uncle instantly crouched to the ground, both fisted hands coming together and up to his mouth. His head shook back and forth as he realized who had just walked in his door. It had to have been like looking into a mirror twenty years ago. The only difference between the two were their eyes. Gemma got her eyes from her father. Tobias must have gotten his from Emily.
“Oh my God,” my uncle mumbled, slowly rising to his feet with his eyes shinier than I’d ever seen before. “How did you find me?”
Tobias’ cut eyebrow bundled, looking at my uncle in confusion. Journey stepped forward, crossing her arms over her chest. “He didn’t find you. I brought us here.”
“Where have you been?” I asked. Journey had disappeared after that night, and Cade had let her. He had let her because he knew that if he was aware of where she was, he would have followed her and likely done more harm. We’d assumed that she was sent to a different school after receiving the medical treatment she needed. The farther away from us, the better.
Journey’s little jaw wiggled as her eyes darted to my uncle. “Do you know where I was?”
My uncle’s head shook as he graced her with a brief glance. “Sister Mary at the orphanage had said you were in the hospital, and afterwards, they would be placing you at a different school and with a foster family, if they could, uh… ” My uncle cleared his throat. “Find one that would be willing to address the issues.”
A high-pitched sarcastic laugh left Journey, and it was full of sarcasm. I’d know. It sounded a lot like mine most of the time. “That’s funny.”
“Journey, where were you?” I looked at Tobias as a heavy feeling fell upon my shoulders. “And how did you find him?”
Journey and Tobias turned toward each other before she addressed me. “I’ve been at the Covenant Psychiatric Hospital since the night I was taken from here.”
The room was instantly clouded with something dark and disturbing. The walls changed to black, the lights grew dim, and my heart thundered within my chest. Fuck. My nostrils flared, and I hoped like hell that she was a patient on the top floor and had no idea what was on the bottom floor, but with the fact that Tobias was standing by her side, I didn’t even want to know. I didn’t want to ask.
All I wanted was to move past this, walk out the fucking door, and go get Gemma.
It was like mountain after mountain just kept popping up and getting in my way. The path was winding, and I was sick of not knowing which direction I was being pushed and pulled.
“What?” My uncle’s fist was seconds from colliding with the desk again. “This whole goddamn town is corrupted by people like your father and Richard!” He pointed his finger at me, and I didn’t disagree.
“Richard? You know Richard?” Tobias crept farther into the office, the door shutting behind him, which was good because we had a whole lot of shit to discuss and not a lot of time.