Broken Compass

“You can’t leave us again, man.” West lifts his head to look down at me. “You told me I can’t go. You can’t, either, hear me?”

“It’s dangerous. My uncle—”

“You let us worry about your fucking uncle,” Nate growls. “Syd gave the police everything—your journal, the combination of that safety deposit box in Chicago.” He hesitates. “It is a safety deposit box combo, right?”

I lurch upright, making Syd and West groan. They scramble to sit up, too, as I turn to stare at Nate. “You found it. My journal. And you figured out… How?”

“Now wait a sec, you think we’re stupid?” Nate mock-growls and pulls Syd to him so she’s seated in his lap. “This genius, right here,” he trails his hand down her cheek to her neck and over her tits, making her squirm, “insisted we had to find the journal, find the clues. She figured it out.”

“We figured it out together,” she says, sighing and leaning sideways against Nate’s chest. “We told the police everything. With your uncle acting all strange, first announcing you’re back home and then that you’re dead, well… they made up their minds to really look into it.”

“He what? Fuck…”

“How long ago did you escape, Kash? Was your uncle expecting to have you by him, to sign any documents he wanted when he caught you?”

“They said they’d take me to him,” I reply, sorting through my fuzzy memories. “But then they decided they wanted more money from him to hand me over, and it was taking forever, and then… I made my way out and left.”

“And that’s when he announced you were gone, and he was keeping control of the management of the casinos,” West finishes up. “Fucker.”

A wave of cold goes through me. I knew, of course I knew this was my uncle’s doing—the kidnapping, and the murder of my family—but even after I escaped, I never felt safe enough to process all that took place.

All it means.

“How did you get out?” West drags

me up to his side and drapes an arm around me, his body warm, calming my shivers. “From that basement.”

“I broke the door.”

“Okay, Superman.” Nate sends me a doubtful look. “You did what, again?”

“It was rotten through.” I close my eyes, grateful for West’s hold. My head feels heavy. “I kicked in the lock one night, when I couldn’t hear them moving around upstairs.”

“And then you walked?” Syd comes back to me, abandoning Nate’s lap in favor of mine. Her weight on my legs and her head on my chest is like a warm, comforting blanket.

I tangle my hand in her hair. “For days. Nights. I can’t remember it all so well. I could see a city in the distance. Tall buildings. Lights. So I headed that way.”

“Here.”

“Yeah.” I don’t tell them about the blind fear that rode me all the way, of my captors coming after me, beating me and kicking me like they had in that fucking basement, how hunger and thirst broke me. How I wished for everything to end, and yet kept going because I had to come back.

“You didn’t forget us,” she whispers.

“You’re the only reason I made it out of there,” I tell her, opening my eyes. “You guys.”

Confusion hadn’t been a constant thing. It became worse toward the end, but I remembered them. Of course I did. How could I forget them? Even when I didn’t recognize them, I’d been searching for them.

My family. My people. My home. I’d have gone through death and fire to find them. I knew if I got here, I’d be fine.

Succumbing to the exhaustion weighing my body like lead, I let them support me, hug me and hold me in a cocoon of safety as I pass out.

It takes me days to get enough of my strength back to stay awake for more than an hour at a time. The infection in my blood is kicking my ass, and the lack of proper food for so long it’s taken its toll on my body.

Getting there, though. Antibiotics, vitamins, serum, and West’s cooking mean that soon I’ll be back on my feet.

The police have informed us they found the safety deposit box, opened it, and found photos and documents connecting my uncle to the events that took my family’s lives and shady people who are wanted for various crimes. He’s already in jail, awaiting trial.

We also have police detail, undercover of course, near our building, in case my uncle’s people find out I’m here and send someone after us.