Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

“ F air warning,” Jill said with a heartfelt sigh as she pulled the cookie sheet out of the oven and placed it on the kitchen island in front of the children that had taken her a week to convince them to leave their room, “no one has ever been able to resist my chocolate chip cookies before.”

When they only stared at her, the older one glaring, Jill shifted her attention to the chocolate chip cookies that she’d placed on a cooling rack and took her time placing them on a plate. “I’d love to share them with you. I really would, but I’m afraid that I’m not allowed to share them with children unless I know their names,” Jill said with a helpless shrug that had the two boys’ eyes narrowing on her.

“It really is a shame,” Jill said with a heartfelt sigh as she picked up a cookie and made a show of breaking it in half and-

“Caleb,” the little boy said as his hand shot over and snatched half the cookie out of her hand. Before she could say anything else, he was snatching the other half out of her hand and handing it over to his sister as he mumbled, “Emma,” around a mouthful of cookie.

That was followed by a groan of appreciation as he quickly finished off the cookie and reached for another one. “And your brother’s name?” Jill asked, watching as the older boy leveled a look on his little brother that-

“Shane,” Caleb said with a firm nod that had a muscle in his older brother’s jaw clenching as he glared down at him.

Unable to help but smile, Jill said, “I believe that deserves a glass of chocolate milk,” as she grabbed two of the kiddie cups that she’d asked Logan’s men for and a large glass for Shane and placed them on the counter.

“Can I have a straw?” Caleb asked around another bite of cookie.

“You can have anything you want, Caleb,” Jill said with a warm smile as she grabbed the chocolate milk and-

“What did you do to piss off the other leech?” Shane asked as they watched the man that disappeared a week ago walk into the penthouse, looking incredibly pissed as his eyes locked on her.

“Many things,” Jill said, thinking about that moment when Logan pulled her into his arms as she watched his eyes turn silver before they shifted to the children and shifted back to green.

“Why don’t you join me in the living room?” Logan suggested, shifting the black backpack in his hand as he made his way into the living room and sat down on the edge of the oversized coffee table.

“Why?” Shane demanded, throwing a nervous glance at the front door.

“Because,” Logan said as he opened his backpack and pulled out two teddy bears and set them down on the couch, “I thought you’d like to see what I brought you.”

Jill watched as the two little ones sent the teddy bears a look of longing before sending their brother a pleading look only to have Shane shake his head. When Emma and Caleb shifted closer to their brother, Jill felt her heart break for them. Forcing a smile, Jill made her way into the living room and joined Logan. “I guess if you don’t want them…” Jill said with a sigh, letting her words trail off as she picked up one of the teddy bears that she had to admit was pretty adorable.

“And this one is for you,” Logan murmured, taking her by surprise as he pulled out a teddy bear even more adorable than the first two and held it out to her.

Jill reached for the adorable teddy bear only to have it snatched from her hand and-

“Caleb!” Shane bit out.

-felt her lips twitch as she watched Caleb hug the teddy bear tightly against his chest as he climbed onto the couch. That was followed by reaching over and grabbing one of the other teddy bears so that he could hug them both.

“What about Shane?” Caleb asked, pausing to give each teddy bear a kiss.

“I got something special for him, too,” Logan said, pulling a boxed iPad out of the bag as Emma climbed onto the couch next to her twin brother.

“What’s that?” Caleb asked, giving the teddy bear that Logan brought for her another kiss before handing it over to his sister.

“It’s a handheld computer,” Logan murmured as he placed it on the coffee table before reaching into his bag and pulled out two kid versions of an iPad and handed them to the twins.

“We have computers?” Caleb asked as he handed the pink box to Emma.

“Do you like it?” Logan asked, placing the bag on the floor.

“I love it,” Caleb whispered reverently as he ran his fingertips over the package.

“What about you?” Logan asked Emma.

“Emma doesn’t talk,” Caleb said as Emma wrapped her arm around her teddy bear while she worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

“That’s okay,” Logan said softly as he reached over and picked up the other teddy bear and placed it on Emma’s lap. “Do you think you can take care of them for me?”

After a slight hesitation, Emma nodded and-

“Can I have Shane’s iPad if he doesn’t want it?” Caleb asked, making their lips twitch.

That was followed by the teenage boy in question glaring down at his little brother as he joined them. When Logan went to hand the iPad to him, Shane hesitated before he took it. “Why are you giving us this stuff?” Shane asked, sending Logan a questioning look.

“Because I keep my promises,” Logan said, his gaze flickering to Jill as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a black remote that had the children going still.

“We weren’t bad,” Caleb mumbled hollowly as he tightened his hold around his teddy bear.

“No, you weren’t,” Logan murmured softly. “We’re going to remove your cuffs.”

“No, it will hurt!” Caleb cried, frantically shaking his head as he released his hold on the tablet box and grabbed hold of Shane’s hand while Emma buried her face against his other arm with a whimper.

“I’m going to make sure that it doesn’t hurt,” Logan promised as the mystery man that Jill had been wondering about walked through the front door.

“How?” Shane asked, swallowing hard as his gaze locked on the remote.

“I’m going to give the remote to Tomas and when you’re ready, you’re going to tell him to hit the button and I’m going to pull the cuff off,” Logan said as he typed in a three-digit code and handed the remote to Tomas.

When Shane hesitated, Logan said, “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“What do you need me to do?” Jill asked, hating feeling this useless.

“Just hold his hand,” Logan said as he reached down and grabbed hold of Shane’s leg and placed his foot on his thigh.

“I don’t need her to hold my hand,” Shane bit out as he watched Logan slide his fingers between the cuff and his skin.

“Tell me when you’re ready,” Tomas said, holding his thumb over the remote.

Swallowing hard, Shane said, “Ready,” even as his gaze became panicked and-

He reached over his sister and grabbed hold of Jill’s hand when Logan struggled to hold back a pained groan. Jill wrapped her hand around Shane’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze as they watched the muscles in Logan’s jaw clench as he pulled on the cuff until it finally snapped open.

As soon as it was off, Jill felt her stomach drop when she spotted an old burn healing over the scar tissue wrapped around Shane’s ankle, making her wonder how many times he’d been punished over the years. Her gaze shot up to Logan to find his jaw clenching as he glared down at Shane’s ankle.

“Who’s next?” Logan asked as he forced himself to look away from the scar that would follow Shane into his immortality and focused on the twins.

“Did it hurt?” Caleb whispered as he sent his brother a questioning look.

“I didn’t feel anything,” Shane said, pulling his hand away and reached for his little brother and pulled him onto his lap. “Just close your eyes and hug your teddy bear tightly and it will be all over before you know it.”

“O-Okay,” Caleb mumbled, closing his eyes as he raised his leg and placed his foot on Logan’s knee.

“Ready, Caleb?” Logan asked, sliding his fingers between the cuff and Caleb’s skin.

“Ready,” Caleb said with a firm nod as Jill reached over and placed her hand over his. After a slight hesitation, he wrapped his tiny hand around hers as a muffled grunt of pain drew her attention back to Logan and felt her stomach drop when she saw the white smoke rising off his hands as he tightened his grip around his cuff and pulled. Within seconds, the cuff was pulled off Caleb’s ankle that bore the same burn and scar as his brother’s ankle and fell from Logan’s trembling hands as blisters began forming over his skin.

“Logan,” Jill said, reaching over to touch his hand only to have him shake his head as he bit out, “It’s fine.”

Swallowing hard, she watched as Logan focused on Emma. “Are you ready?”

“It didn’t hurt,” Caleb promised her as he climbed off Shane’s lap so that Emma could take his place.

Without a word, she settled back against Shane and hugged her teddy bear tightly against her chest as she closed her eyes and-

“Ready,” Shane said as Logan slid his trembling fingers between Emma’s cuff and her skin.

“Here we go,” Tomas murmured softly as he pressed the button and forced Logan to clench his jaw shut while white smoke poured off his hands. When he struggled to pull her cuff free, Jill reached over to help him only to have Logan bite out, “Don’t,” as silver eyes locked on her.

After a slight struggle, the cuff fell to the floor and Logan was gently moving Emma’s tiny foot off his leg and getting to his feet. “Call James and have him take a look at those burns,” Logan bit out as he stumbled towards his room and-

“Tonight, Angel.”

-reminded her that she was finally going to get answers.