45. Samuel

Perhaps this whole idea of sharing a bed wasn't his best.

Gingerly lifting Theo's leg by her ankle, Samuel rubbed his nose to make sure it wasn't broken. His daughter might be tiny, but she had a viciously powerful kick, and it hurt like hell when delivered directly to the face.

"I won't say you didn't deserve that." Evie lay on her side, watching him suffer. "They can sleep in their own beds."

"You just want me to yourself," he teased. "My body is not a machine, Evangeline."

"I don't need your whole body." She grinned, making his heart skip a beat. "Just one particular part."

He checked the time. It was close to one in the morning, which meant—

"I'm hungry."

This entire pregnancy had been wrought with every symptom imaginable. It started with morning sickness and went off in multiple different directions from there. Weird food cravings, extreme mood swings, and a sex drive that even he was having a hard time keeping up with.

"Ice cream or ham sandwich?" he asked. "Or both?"

"Both."

"Daddy, can I have somes pickles?" Eyes open, Theo whispered her request so as not to wake Harper next to her. "And somes chocolate?"

"No." Dropping a kiss on her head, he carefully got out of bed. "Go back to sleep."

Thanks to Evie keeping the glass wall in their bedroom uncovered, the full moon provided him with enough light to see. She might not enjoy the beach, but she loved to gaze out over it, especially on nights like tonight.

However, he knew she would crash into a deep sleep after eating and decided to close the shades. "We don't need the sun as our alarm clock."

Evie yawned, drawing Harper closer for a snuggle. "Sounds good."

By the time he finished with the curtains, all three of his girls were dozing again, and he took a second to stand at the foot of the bed, his heart and soul full.

Nothing on this earth would keep him from protecting them. Even if he would eventually lose moments like this. It had to be done. There was no going back.

When he married Evie under Haven's oaks, they had made a promise not only to love and protect one another, but to give up the ghosts of their past, and all the regret that came with them. In the beginning, it had been easy. They had years to make up for and spent every second doing just that.

And then Harper came along.

Their brilliant baby brought a love into their lives that neither of them expected. The word terrifying didn't quite cover the emotions of being a new parent, but they trudged through it together, and came out with enough knowledge that when Theo arrived, they didn't freak out quite as much.

Where Harper was a mastermind in her own right, Theo came into the world with a wildness like none of them had ever known. A perfect balance to her sister's seriousness, the two shared an unbreakable bond, and hardly did anything apart.

Except for when they entered Harper into a preschool program. Their daughter having social interactions with children outside the family had been important, and Harper had walked into that school with her head high and totally unafraid. It had been a big day for all four of them. Theo had cried hysterically when she realized they were being separated, and Samuel hadn't blamed her. On the inside, he'd been doing the same, sitting in his car outside the preschool with Evie as they nervously waited for an acceptable amount of time to pass before checking Harper out.

It took a few weeks to adjust, but eventually, Harper was able to spend an entire day at school without a single tear being shed.

But then Zanmi got wind of a Fairweather out in the wild and sent one of their members into the school to work as a teacher. With only Liam knowing the real reason, they unenrolled Harper, claiming to need a more challenging program.

The regret he promised to suppress returned then, sinking its teeth into his consciousness. Toby should have died in the graveyard. If he had, Zanmi wouldn't be more than a blip in a closed case file.

He was willing to admit that he had lost a piece of himself that day. Coming around the trail's bend, and seeing the scene, Samuel Fairweather didn't exist for a small speck of time. The darkness inside had taken the helm, ready to release its fury.

In the years since, it had thankfully lain dormant, the monster only whispering now and then.

Protect Evie.

Protect his girls.

No matter the cost to himself.

And now it was awake. The events at the doctor's office freeing it from its cage. The image of an angry Evie, covered in someone else's blood, burned a hole in his sanity, letting the monster loose.

It was time to end it, and if everything went as planned, their days of living in fear would soon be over.

"Hey, where's my food?" Evie opened one eye. "Your son is hungry."

His son.

Excelling as a husband and father had become his mission in life and taking on the role of a girl dad had been easier than expected. Not that he was crazy enough to think that would always be the case, but he had two perfect daughters and wanted them to understand how loved they were every second of the day.

But raising a boy—a Fairweather son—would require careful thought and planning.

"You're sure you want ice cream tonight?"

"With sprinkles."

"Fine." Leaning over the girls, he lightly kissed her. "With sprinkles."

Evie locked a hand on the back of his neck, holding him in place. "If I can hold it together, you can hold it together."

She knew him so well. And he wasn't the only one nearing their breaking point.

"I'm so proud of you, Evangeline."

Her eyes went round. "It is one o'clock in the morning. Do not make me cry."

"But I am proud of you. Every day of my life."

She pulled him in for a deeper kiss, and the binding love between them threatened to take him out right there. They were drowning together in their fears, both attempting to stay strong for each other and the girls.

"I love you, Mrs. Fairweather."

For all eternity, she belonged to him, and he to her. There was nothing he wouldn't do to see Evie and their children living a long life in peace. Even if it meant risking his own damnation.

"And I love you, Mr. Fairweather." Evie's stomach gurgled. "But please feed me."

With one last kiss, he went downstairs, his hackles rising the greater the distance grew between himself and them. He couldn't stand to have them out of his sight for very long and didn't know how he was going to manage this panic whenever it was time to return to normal. Hopefully, this last sweep would lead to Sinclair's arrest. Once he was out of the picture, things would calm down, although not end completely.

None of this would truly end until Toby was dead.

"What are you guys watching?"

The lights from the living room TV flickered over Josie and Holden's faces, the sound barely audible. Both night owls, they'd taken to staying up and watching an endless array of movies since Josie's arrival.

"It's a documentary about Will. I've already seen it, but Holden hasn't," Josie said, smiling up at him as he came over. "What's Evie's request tonight?"

"Ham sandwich and ice cream."

Wrinkling her nose, she stood. "I'll help."

"I'm capable of making a sandwich, Jos." He was thankful she was here. Not only did she provide an extra hand with the girls, but she also gave him a sense of peace. "Contrary to what you believe."

Josie marched past him. "Don't be a jackass."

Grinning, he followed behind her to the kitchen. They worked silently, with Josie making the sandwich and him scooping ice cream into a bowl.

"After she eats, I want you to sleep," Josie ordered, slathering mayo on the bread. "No getting up early to work."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And don't set an alarm. I'll take care of the girls if they wake up."

"Yes, ma'am."

"You two have a newborn coming, and it's important to get your sleep," she went on. "We all remember Theo's colic. You have to be prepared."

"Yes, ma'am."

Smacking the top piece of bread on the sandwich, she handed him the plate. "I thought I told you not to be a jackass."

"No jackassing over here." He lifted the tray, balancing a sandwich, ice cream and the giant glass of water Evie would want, but never thought to add to her order. "Promise."

"I love you, boy."

"Love you, Jos."

As he passed the living room, he said goodnight to Holden, who was readying to do a perimeter walk around while the documentary was paused. "Shouldn't take long. I just want to check the beach access gate."

"Call me if you need help."

Holden snorted. "I might be injured, but I can still do my job."

Heading up the stairs, Samuel shook his head. "Let me punch that hole in your shoulder and see if you're still up to doing your job."

He didn't have to turn around to know Holden was smiling. Holden the Hero as the girls called him. The only negative thing on the man's tally was that Evie found him attractive.

At the top of the stairs, he turned into their bedroom and stopped short. The shades were open again, moonlight illuminating the space. Evie stood in front of the wall, two palms flat on the glass. She grunted, and shifted to stand on her toes, like she was trying to see something in the distance.

On the bed, the girls slept soundly, and he set the tray down. "Is something out there?"

She didn't answer, soft whimpers heaving in and out of her. Realizing what was happening, he approached slowly.

"It's a dream, Evangeline." He spoke gently so as not to startle her. "Let's go back to bed."

"There are so many."

Turning her around, the situation was exactly as he expected. His beautiful wife with her eyes wide and vacant. She couldn't see him, nor did she have any idea that they were standing in their bedroom. These vivid dreams where she sleepwalked were yet another side effect of pregnancy. The first time it happened had been during her second trimester with Harper, and it had scared the shit out of him. Waking alone in the middle of the night, he'd found Evie sitting in what would become the nursery and showing off where she wanted to put the crib to her invisible dream people.

"Come on." He guided her to bed. "Let's get some sleep."

Whenever she had these episodes, it usually meant she was overtired or stressed. At this point, he would wager it was all the above.

Evie allowed him to lead her for a few steps, but suddenly shoved him away as if angry. "No, there are so many," she moaned. "Too many. Mama needs help."

He shushed her, whispering soothing words to let her know they were okay. "We'll help," he promised. "Anything Laura Jean needs."

Hunched as if in pain, Evie continued to grunt, and returned to the window. Her hair hung loosely over her shoulders, swaying as she prowled. "Go away. Go away. Go away," she hissed at the moon. "You can't have them. You can't have me."

On the bed, the girls whimpered in their sleep. "Go away," they whispered, holding on to one another. "Mama said go away."

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. "It's time for bed."

Evie suddenly halted in her pacing, every muscle straining as she stood ramrod straight. An alarm went off inside him. A high-pitched warning so devastatingly loud, it obliterated the hum of white noise to where there was no other sound except his Evangeline's voice.

"Lock the door." Clear and present, Evie exhaled a shuddering breath, no longer lost in the dream. "Miranda said lock the door."

Maybe it was the urgency he heard in her tone, or how their girls repeated the order. Or maybe it came down to the echo of his mother, her voice resonating from somewhere deep inside him to merge with Evie's.

Whatever it was had him rushing from the room, and by the time his feet hit the stairs, the security system was already coming alive.

"What's happening?" he shouted as the heavy security shutters began their descent to cover the home's rear glass wall.

"People are creeping around on the beach and Holden set off the silent alarm." Heading upstairs, Josie rushed past him. "I'll stay with Evie and the girls while you guys figure out what they're up to."

This wasn't the first time. During one of Toby's appeals, Zanmi had set up camp on their beach. While Fairweather Holdings owned the sand, they couldn't own the shore, and there had been nothing they could do to evict the freaks until a large sum of money found its way into the right political pockets.

Hooking a left, he headed to the security console set up in his front office off the foyer.

"How many?"

Holden didn't look away from the monitor. "Four women. Dressed in white. One on each side of the house."

The images on the screen flipped through the exterior camera feed. A different woman on each side, surrounding them with vacant expressions.

"They look high."

Holden grunted in agreement. "The signal's not going through to Port Michaelson police."

"Send it to Hollingsdale."

"Already did. Same thing, and we have no cell service or internet."

Refusing to give up, and never without his phone, Samuel pulled it from the pocket of his pajama pants to call Liam.

"… We're sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed."

He tried his father next.

"… We're sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed."

Rowan.

"… We're sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed."

No matter who he tried, it was the same thing. Jamison. Abe. Simone. Annabeth. Will. Izzy. No call would go through.

And then no call could be made at all.

"I've tried 9-1-1, the direct lines to the police stations, and Klausen. Nothing." Holden leaned down to peer into the monitor with him. "The burners aren't working either."

The women had begun to sway, their mouths moving. Holden flipped on the sound, but whatever they were saying was unintelligible over the roar of the gulf.

"They're armed." Holden pointed to the flash of metal in one of the women's hands. "Looks like hunting knives."

A rage like he had never known tore through Samuel. A churning fury overriding all sense of self preservation. The force behind it propelled him into motion, but Holden wouldn't let him get far.

"You can't go out there."

Samuel shoved him, playing dirty and applying direct pressure to the knife wound. "I have no problem ending this."

"Ow, asshole!" Holden shoved him back with one arm. "I don't have a problem with you ending it either, but you're Samuel fucking Fairweather, and you have neighbors with cameras. The world is watching. Zanmi would love to get you on video doing something violent so they can prove you're what they say you are. The awful cousin who tortured poor Tobias Miller as a child and made him into the killer he is today."

And that's when they heard it.

Police sirens.

Firewater Beach and Haven House remained the only civilization for miles, with the next closest developments being on the edges of Hollingsdale and Port Michaelson. If the police were out this far, it had to be for them.

Within seconds, there were more. One on top of the other, the sounds of help gaining speed as they raced to the rescue.

"Likely one of the neighbors saw the women and called 9-1-1." Holden flipped the security feed to a traffic camera position at the single light on the highway between Firewater and Haven House. Sure enough, flashing lights approached. "Nosey old people are awesome."

But as the emergency vehicles neared, they abruptly turned off the highway before reaching the entrance to Firewater.

Samuel's entire body went cold. "They're going to Haven."

A powerful thud struck the house, and the security system went into overdrive. Every light flashed in time to the bleating chaos of the alarms.

"Turn it off!" Samuel shouted over the noise. "I don't want the girls scared."

"This is all in place to disorient intruders."

"And we don't need that right now."

"Yes, we do."

Switching the image on the screen, Holden returned the feed to the women in time to see one of them running full force at the front door. Even over the alarms, the hard slam of her body against the wood could be heard.

"They're trying to get in."

The statement was hardly out of Holden's mouth when a second woman flung herself at the side beach entrance. Samuel flinched at the impact, watching as she fell to the ground only to rise again, and return to her original sentry position like a zombie.

"I agree that they're drugged, but we need to anticipate them going into a frenzied state once they lock on to their target." Holden continued to try to call for reinforcements but was met with dead air. "And in case you're wondering, I would say you're the target, Samuel."

Zanmi wouldn't hurt Evie. They would take her, but never harm her. Not when Toby had given them explicit orders.

Then again, the women's positioning, their drugged state, it was all too coordinated, and more along the lines of something a military man would set into motion.

The lights blinked, and time stopped. They were going for the power.

"Holden?"

Eyes lifted to the lights overhead, Holden shook his head. "The generator will kick on, but the delay…"

"Twenty to thirty seconds. Long enough for them to get in." Swiping a hand through his hair, Samuel watched a third woman catapult herself at the rear door. "Let's go while we can and get the girls settled."

They had practiced. Pretending it was for a hurricane, they had practiced how to hide. It made him sick every single time, but the girls were well versed on what to do so they wouldn't be scared should it come down to this.

The power flickered, leaving no time to think. No time to figure out his next step. Bolting from the office, Samuel ran through the house with Holden right behind him. They made it to the top of the stairs just as everything plunged into absolute darkness.

Inside the bedroom, Samuel closed the heavy door, engaging the manual security measures to seal all of them in. Installed four years ago thanks to his paranoia, the entry to each of the upstairs rooms functioned as an impenetrable barrier and didn't require their home's main power to remain activated.

With a brave face, Evie sat huddled on the bed with Harper and Theo. "Here he is," she said cheerfully. "I told you Daddy would be right back."

"Do we need to go to the closet?" Harper asked. "Is there a storm coming? The lights went out."

"Not yet, baby." The power kicked on, and everyone except him and Holden gave a sigh of relief. "But be ready."

"I be brave." Theo showed off her muscles. "And strong."

Dead.

If they entered this room, if they came near his family, those Zanmi women were dead. Drugged and innocent pawns or not, Samuel knew right then he wouldn't hesitate to end their lives.

"That's my girl."

Sensing he was losing it, Josie pulled him across the room so Harper and Theo wouldn't hear. "Start talking."

"Four. Armed. Cell service down," Samuel whispered, holding his wife's gaze so she could use the connection to stay grounded. Or perhaps it was vice versa at this point. "Alarms to the police are down."

"I heard sirens."

"They were going to Haven House."

Holden joined them. "Whatever is happening is a distraction. From us or from them, but if we can't talk to anyone over there, they're probably having the same issues we're having."

Evie waved a hand to get their attention. "If cell phone service isn't working, what about a landline? Simone still has that old portable one in the hallway, and I remember how we could use it even when the power was out because it ran off a charger or something?"

"We can't call out from our cell phones," Holden said. "The service has been taken down."

"I gotta a stove phone!" Theo announced proudly. "Wills dat works?"

She crawled off Evie's lap, and Harper went with her, the two of them running for their stuffed animals propped in the corner of the room.

"Papa gave us phones the other day, but don't be mad at him." Harper unzipped the back of her teddy bear's head. "They're not activated, and we only use them to play games."

Stove phones.

Burnerphones.

It took Samuel a split second to realize what his beautiful girls had stored in the hidey pockets of their stuffed animals. "I don't think they'll work either."

Harper shuffled her feet guilty. "I didn't want to log onto our internet because Unc said we needed to be careful, so I figured out the password to Mr. Belcher's Wi-Fi next door. It's his dog's name, plus his house number if you need it." She pulled up a web browser and conducted a search to show him. "See, it's slow, but it works."

Genius.

His daughter was a certifiable genius.

"Try it."

Already with his phone out, Holden's fingers flew over the screen. "What's the password, Harper?"

"Duke4953."

Ringing. Holden's phone started ringing. "9-1-1. What's your emergency?"

Holden hurried into the bathroom, speaking to the operator in a hushed voice to not alert Harper and Theo as to what was likely standing right outside the door by now.

Wrapping herself around his right leg, Harper stared up at him. "Are you mad?"

"No, you did good." He stared at his own phone, unable to remember Haven's phone number. He'd called it so many times as a kid, but with the world collapsing in on him, Samuel couldn't calm his brain down enough to recall the exact sequence of numbers. "My girls are the best."

"Then cans we haves a pony?" Theo draped herself around his other leg. "Two of dems?"

Continuing to stare at the phone screen blankly, he nodded. "We'll go buy them tomorrow."

Holden's muted voice relaying the details to the police came through the closed bathroom door, and suddenly Evie's warmth was there at his side. Samuel looked up from the screen to see the tears welling in her eyes. She could hear everything.

Winding her arms around his waist, she gave him a shaky smile. "Why aren't you calling the house?"

How had he allowed it to come to this? How had he allowed Toby to continue terrorizing them? Bent principles. Crooked paths. He knew the rules. Liam knew the rules. They had talked it over a thousand times. Made a thousand plans to stop Zanmi dead in its tracks.

And after years of hesitating, this was the result.

"I don't remember the number."

A soft knock on the bedroom door had everyone freezing. The girls didn't hear it, too busy going over pony names together, but Evie squeezed him tighter. They couldn't get in. He'd spared no expense, and a couple of Zanmi fanatics would never overpower it.

Josie took the phone from him. "As much as you called Selah growing up," she dialed the number and handed it back, "I can't believe you don't remember."

It rang for what felt like an eternity. Each harsh, pulsing wave of sound shredding him from the inside out.

Finally, the call connected, but no one spoke.

Samuel frowned. "Hello?"

Breathing. Hard puffs of air as if the person on the other end were straining for air.

"Simone?"

A feminine giggle assaulted his ears. "No."

"Who is this?" There were shouts in the background, along with the occasional whoop of a police siren. "Where's Simone?"

"Simone can't come to the phone right now," the woman said matter-of-factly, the sick glee in her voice growing. "She's playing just like you're about to play."

"We're not playing anything."

"Oh yes, you are, Samuel Fairweather," the woman whispered with a cough. "Run, run, run as fast as you can."