“I know you're all mad at the world, ready to spill blood at the first chance you get, but we need to stick together. What would she think if she came home to a broken family? We need to be stronger, for her, for ourselves, but most of all, for each other. She is the heart of this family. We beat for her, but we’re also a team. We can’t keep it alive without each part doing its job. And that means helping one another when one of us starts to break down,” Evie says.
Evie isn’t the chattiest person when it comes to us. She’s pretty quiet and keeps to herself, only coming out when around Rosie, Harlow, and now Sam. Sometimes I forget how smart she is, and not only with computers.
“She’s right,” I sigh, sitting down and putting my arms on the table. “I know this dynamic we have with her is different and far from normal, but so is Queenie. This works for us, for her. The woman we love is gone, and we need to hold each other together.”
“So, there's really nothing else we can do?” Axel growls, less harsh than before.
“I’ve tried. I’ve looked at camera footage, called every contact we trust, and called in every favor owed. I even looked into every person I could think of that would have a grudge against Harlow or be looking to take over her throne. Then I hacked into their business and personal systems. I came across some fucked up things that I’ll be telling Harlow about later because I know she will want to do something about it, but nothing that leads to her or who took her.”
“I know I don’t know her as well as the rest of you,” Sam says, looking over at us with tear stained eyes. His voice is so quiet I have to focus just to hear it. “But she's Queenie. If she can survive years of all the horrible things she had to endure, she will make it out of this. Sometimes even the mighty can fall, but it's on them if they stay down. Queenie isn’t the type to let anyone keep her down.”
He’s right. She would do every possible thing to get out of her situation. Only, how long will she have to be in it before she gets out of it? And what will she go through before it's over?