After the Storm (KGI #8)(117)

As he issued the command, Joe stepped up and thrust a pair of fatigues and a T-shirt toward Donovan.

“Don’t move. Not even an inch. Strip where you stand. We’re going to wipe you down before you put on other clothing. Now hurry. We don’t have much time.”

After they’d taken care of Travis and led him over to the couch to sit before he fell, Donovan sat across from him to ask what he’d been dying to know ever since Travis’s words about the loss of Eve.

His tongue was thick and swollen in his mouth. The words knotted in his throat because he was afraid of what he’d hear. It took every ounce of self-control not to break down and to try to sit there calmly when every part of him was screaming that he’d lost Eve forever.

“What did he mean by the loss of Eve?” Donovan demanded. “Where is she? Did he tell you anything?”

Tears filled Travis’s eyes again, and he stared accusingly up at Donovan. “How could you have done it? How could you betray her that way? She loved you. You said you wanted us all to be a family. But you traded her for us? Do you honestly think Cammie and I could ever be happy knowing we were free because you handed Eve over to that son of a bitch? I trusted you. She trusted you.”

Donovan leaned forward and grasped Travis’s shoulders, frustrated that they couldn’t get to the heart of the matter. Eve. He needed to know about Eve. But he also had to reassure Travis that he’d never betrayed Eve, or Travis would likely be reluctant to hand out any information where his sister was concerned.

“Listen to me, son. I love your sister. She is my life. She overheard a conversation between me and my brothers about a trap we were setting for your father.”

“Don’t call him that,” Travis choked out. “Never call him that.”

Donovan nodded.

“We were setting a trap for Walt. We wanted him to think that we believed Eve was indeed mentally ill and that we were concerned she was a danger to you and Cammie. We wanted to set him up. We needed incriminating evidence. We needed something. And we had to find a way to take him out. Eve overheard the part that made it sound like I was going to give her up and that all I cared about was you and Cammie. But that’s not true, Travis. I want all three of you. I want to marry Eve and I want the four of us to be family. A real family.”

Hope glimmered in Travis’s eyes and then they dulled again. “But Rusty said—”

Donovan grimaced. “Rusty was pissed at me because she thought I’d betrayed Eve as well. She saw Eve. She knew what Eve believed. And she knew Eve was devastated by it. Rusty cares a lot about you, Travis. Eve and Cammie too. She has a huge heart and she was taking me to task for what she thought I’d done. She was angry because she felt helpless and she knew Eve was in danger.”

“You mean it?” Travis whispered. “You want to marry Eve? And you want me and Cammie?”

The hope in Travis’s voice broke Donovan’s heart.

“I very much want you as my son and Cammie as my daughter. One day I hope to have children with Eve, but in my heart, you and Cammie will always be my first children.”

Travis slowly nodded his acceptance.

“Now, Travis, listen to me. This is important. We can’t afford to waste any more time. I need to know if Walt said anything about Eve.”

Travis closed his eyes and when they reopened, the grief shining nearly sent Donovan over the edge.

“He wouldn’t tell me. He refused. I thought he might bring her here. He didn’t know I knew about this place. But I didn’t think he’d go back to his house. He tried to bargain with me. Told me I had to choose between my real sister and my half sister. He said if I’d contact you to expedite Cammie being returned to him, he’d give me information on Eve. But if I didn’t, he’d get Cammie back one way or another and I’d never know what happened to Eve.”

“I wish I’d been the one to kill him,” Skylar said darkly from behind Donovan.

“Did Walt come here often?” Donovan asked. “We turned his home inside out and couldn’t find anything that would lead us to Eve. I’ve investigated every angle. Except this one. A friend of mine came through for us with an in with the IRS who backtracked one of his fake organizations to this house.”

“I don’t know how often,” Travis admitted. “I wouldn’t have known about it all, but I overheard him on the phone with someone giving them the address and the key codes to disarm the security system.”

“Odd that he’d go to such extreme measures for a cabin in the middle of nowhere,” Joe murmured.

“Eve said that Walt had manufactured an entire medical history documenting her mental illness from an early age and that he even had a physician’s statement. She said he produced them the last time she called the cops to go to your house. Did you ever see those papers after that?” Donovan asked.

Travis’s eyes widened. “No. I didn’t. You would have found them if you searched our house. But maybe . . .”

“They’re here,” Donovan finished.

He abruptly rose.

“Edge, you and Swanny clean this up. Make it look exactly as I said it went down. Sam, you have the gun, right? Give it to me so my prints are on it. For the record, I shot the bastard.”

“No f**king way,” Sam said emphatically. “I shot him. You’ve got too much of a personal stake in this.”