Chapter 31
Avidya
The sound of the doorbell rang through the house, causing me to slightly jump as I followed Zachariah into the house as he kept a hold of my hand. Every time I met one of his men, I was kept on my toes, and I was sure this time was no different.
It was first Jonas as I didn’t count my kidnappers being properly introduced to me. Jonas had grown on me over the last few days, although it did help that he made sure to keep his distance. Surely, Jonas knew I wasn’t pleased with his actions. He had been a good family friend; one Cody was halfway okay with letting me talk to after church on Sundays. Jonas really was a good guy, but I needed time to adjust to it all.
Jonas was like family to me. He was the one I felt comfortable enough to talk to when I needed a listening ear, and a man that I knew would never want anything from me in return. He was my rock when Cody started becoming a bit more controlling over the years.
Entering into the kitchen, mumbled voices from the foray reached me. Zachariah gave me an encouraging smile over his shoulder as he pulled me further into the house. He seemed a bit too excited for me to meet his guest. A guest I was dreading meeting. People and I just didn’t mix well most of the time. Maybe it was due to me not being allowed to talk to certain people most of my life. Or possibly it was to do with me just liking to keep to myself if I could.
“Hey, Bro!” spoke a man I had seen before. A man that I knew without having to take a second look. His voice was deep as always as he greeted the man I had just agreed to marry verbally.
His blue eyes that were barely a shade darker than my own matched his chestnut blonde hair, which was also darker than my own. His round face was shadowed in tiredness, and he was in desperate need of a shave.
Before he had disappeared off the planet, a number of people had commented how alike we looked, which I always found odd.
“Travis,” Zachariah replied in greeting. He let go of my hand and did a man hug with the newcomer by a handshake and pulling each other into a brief hug. It seemed as though they knew each other quite well by the display of affection.
I stood there, hands fiddling with the hem of my shirt as Jonas took a stance beside me. I wasn’t sure how to react to his unexpected presence after so long.
“They’ve known each other for a long time,” Jonas explained. “At least since they were children. One of the families that Carlos knows adopted Travis when he was five or so.”
“On my fifth birthday, actually,” Travis supplied as he looked me over and Zachariah walked back over to where I still stood.
No introduction was needed as I knew Travis well enough. I felt like I wanted the floor to open up whole and take me with it. Cody loathed this man before me as much as he did Zachariah or more if it was possible.
I wasn’t a huge fan of him myself, not after the stunt he pulled. He had never treated me differently just because of who my father was, even when he would try to stop by and say a few words on Sundays. He’d been doing that for years; making Cody seethe silently at him constantly. Travis was never scared of Cody Ray, unlike so many other people. I always thought he was stupid to try to test Cody like that. Now, I still thought he was stupid, but maybe he did have a reason for getting on Cody’s bad side like he did.
“It’s great to see you again, Avidya,” Travis said in way of greeting. He wisely kept his distance from me as he shoved his hands into the front pockets of his faded jeans. His distance could have been explained by the burning glare I shot his way.
“Can’t say the same,” I stated flatly, folding my arms across my chest and leaning on one foot as the one went behind the other as I stood. I could remember all too well that stormy night I looked out the window, seeing him staring up at me in the dark as lightning flashed across the sky.
Travis gave me a small, apologetic smile. Was he sorry for disappearing for over a year without a word? Or was he sorry for spying on me after he returned?
“So, you do know each other,” Zachariah stated more than asked as though he didn’t believe it. “I wasn’t sure.”
“He went to Cody’s church,” I supplied, letting Zachariah pull me against his side. “I know him. Would have helped if he hadn’t have disappeared for a year without a word.”
“Hey now!” Travis said, almost appalled at such an idea. “The people that needed to know where I was knew. You were not one of those, for safety reasons.”
“And then you just show back up, looking into my bedroom!” I said, throwing my hands up in the air. I was filled with rage at the idea. The fact that he scared me so badly wasn’t even the worse part, surprisingly.
“You were spying on her?” Jonas asked out roughly before Zachariah was able to get a word out. He took a threatening step forward toward Travis.
“I just wanted to stop by,” Travis defended himself with wide eyes. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Avidya, truly. I just had to make sure you were okay. I couldn’t very well just walk up to your house.”
“And scaring me was okay?” I seethed.
Zachariah’s hand fisted into a tight fist against my hip as the words were passed back and forth.
“I’m sorry,” Travis said, sounding like he meant the words. “I . . . learned a few things on my trip away, and they made me second guess a lot of things. Including you. I had to make sure you were okay.”
“What things?” Zachariah asked, or more like demanded.
“A number of things that are not too important at the moment,” Travis answered carefully with hidden meaning behind the answer. “Avidya is safe, and so are you. Things will change drastically soon, now that I’m back.”
“Who else knows you are back?” Jonas asked, still giving the man a stare down.
“No one but you three, and Carlos of course. He was the one that picked me up after all,” Travis answered. “I’d like to keep it as such for now, if at all possible. Cody will not take kindly to my return.”
“He doesn’t take kindly to anything,” I muttered.
“No, he doesn’t,” Travis agreed easily. “But I do have a few things that need to be discussed, and they pertain to you, Avidya if you want to hear them.”
“Of course I do,” I said with an eye roll, which for some reason caused Zachariah to let out a small laugh at my display.
“She’s very capable of handling a lot of things,” he laughed beside me. “She’s not the same girl you may have known before you left.”
“Shouldn’t have expected anything less,” Travis said. “Cody will hate how you are learning the ways of life. And I can’t wait to see his reactions when he sees you again.” He gave us both a pleased smile with thoughts of what was to come.
“Pretty sure he’s hated me all his life, but what else is expected from someone that doesn’t even share the same blood as me,” I said, head held high. As the days went by, I was glad that Cody wasn’t my father. I had no ties left to that worthless man who thought he could control my life. I still wondered if he killed Lynn before she was able to get away since I had yet to hear anything of her whereabouts.
“So, you know, then?” Travis asked surprised.
“That I was kidnapped as a baby?” I answered with a question. “Yes, Travis. I know Cody and Lynn aren’t my real parents, yet I haven’t found out who are. Everything is such a mess. Then you turn up here and make more of a mess on top of it.”
“How am I making more of a mess? That was why I left in the first place. I overheard Cody talking about your mom, and how he got you to be in his house. I went to track down your real parents, with some luck,” Travis replied.
“Shall we take this to the living room so we can at least sit?” Jonas hinted. “Sounds like this could take a while.”
“After you,” Zachariah said towards me. “Jonas is right, it could take a while. I’m sure we all will have questions.”
I looked up at Zachariah, trying to read his expression, which he kept carefully blank. He gave me an encouraging smile before nodding his head towards the living room.
What was I about to find out? Would it change my life more? Or would it be nothing I haven’t already found out on my own?
Zachariah pulled me into his lap as he took the chair while Jonas and Travis took a seat on each end of the couch. Zachariah’s arms pulled me against his chest. I was growing to love being on his lap with him holding me. There was nowhere else I loved more.
“Where should I start?” Travis asked himself, rubbing a tattooed hand down his face. I couldn’t see what the black ink was exactly, but it looked as though it went from his knuckles up to his sleeve-covered arm.
“I found a little over a year ago who my biological parents were,” he spoke after a moment. “I knew I was adopted, and it was never a secret growing up. My parents loved me and were always opened about the subject. Of course, growing up, I asked a number of times about why I was adopted, and who had given me up.
“It wasn’t until I turned nineteen that I finally got the answer of who gave me up. I learned through the years that my biological mother gave me up for adoption after being arrested for drug use. My father didn’t want anything to do with me, as he was a teenager when I was created.
“My real mother has since passed away, but she had a younger sister, who I was able to track down. My father – Aaron Hartwell – was not so easy to track down. I did find out that Lori, that’s what her name was, passed away from a drug overdose when I was ten,” he went on.
“Aaron was this huge big shot in school, and every girl wanted him it seemed. A number of his flings claimed to have children with him just to get some of the old money that his family had. It never worked. Ever. Even after DNA testing where the tests came back positive, his lawyers still somehow turned it around to where he never had to pay a cent to his offspring.
“He sure isn’t living the best now, though,” Travis laughed out. “Once I tracked him down, he had the balls to ask me for money, which he didn’t get. Although, I did get to talk to him a bit and find out a bit of information that I wanted.”
“You said you went on this trip because of something Cody said,” Jonas reminded him.
“Oh, yes,” Travis replied. “A couple of weeks before I left on this little trip, I overheard Cody talking to a man in his office. Now, that wasn’t all that abnormal for him, as he seemed to always be talking to someone. But what I heard that day changed how I thought of him, and you Avidya.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never wanted anything from you, sweetie,” he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and looking straight at me. “I knew of Cody’s . . . placement. That was no secret to Zach nor his family. Or to me either since I work closely to Zach. I thought I would maybe have a chance to talk to you more, get to know you and see what your life was like living with Cody, but he never gave me that chance.
“Anyway, that day I just happened to stop by, mostly to see if you were there by chance, and I overheard him talking to a man, Gemini, about marrying you secretly to get you out of the way. I’m not sure why you needed out of the way, but Cody seemed determined to get you away as soon as you turned eighteen.”
“So, Cody did plan for me to be kidnapped, then,” I summed up, really not all that surprised. “But so did Lynn.”
“Yes,” Travis said. “That was why I had to check on you when I got back. I heard in the newspapers that you were missing for a few days and then returned back perfectly fine. That didn’t add up to me one bit.” He shot a look at Zachariah before continuing on. “But it seems as though I did not need to worry.”
“Gem gave her to me,” Zachariah said with a shrug, his voice hard at the thought. “He’d dead, by the way. Shemoli was behind it too, but not sure who was the main brains behind it all. I’m assuming it was Gem and someone else, though. I plan to marry this girl, and she has nicely agreed to do so.”
“Why haven’t you taken Shemoli out yet, then?” Jonas asked out.
“I haven’t gotten what I need from him yet,” was Zachariah’s answer. “Go on,” he mentioned to Travis.
“I knew Gem, he was not someone that would have cared how you would be treated. At that time, I thought of offering my hand to marry you myself, just to keep you out of harm's way,” Travis went on. “But then, Cody said that your father, your real father, was going to come after you sooner or later, as he was already starting to poke his nose around looking for you.
“Your father wanted you back since he never did sign his rights away exactly. He wanted you to be used to get money, and maybe he would have been good for you, but I wasn’t about to risk it,” he went on.
“We also have another uncle, but I didn’t have any luck on finding him. Taylor isn’t one known to . . . live this life. He made sure no ties to him were left out in the open or easily found.”
I felt Zachariah stiffen under me, most likely already piecing things together.
“Did you get a name?” I asked, sitting up a bit straighter.
“Of course,” Travis smiled. “We share the same father.”
A pregnant pause filled the air before Jonas and Zachariah cussed at the same time.
“I killed him,” Travis said. “After meeting him, I knew Cody put him up to being a part in all this, and he wouldn’t stop. Cody promised him money. I offered him his life in turn for keeping you safe, Avidya. Gemini was Aaron's younger brother who tended to do just about anything to get whatever he wanted, money or no money.”
“And my mother?” I asked, fearing the answer.
“Is alive,” Travis said.