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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀 siblings all sat around the room in silence, chained by tight metal bolts to their chosen wall, forbidding them from moving, standing or doing anything but speak. Kaci was still resting on the floor, though. Paralysed. Any movement she once had in her body was gone.
Jordan didn't take his eyes off Luis, who was rocking the baby peacefully and acting as calm as possible. He almost didn't believe that his big brother was really alive. He felt like that if he allowed himself to blink, when he opened his eyes again, Luis would be gone. He'd still be dead.
But he wasn't. Luis Flores was alive. Truly.
His eyes then switched over to Kaci for a short moment. Jordan was terrified. He didn't know if he'd survive, nor did he know if his siblings would, if his nephew would. Only one month ago, he would've never imagined himself in a situation like this, but now it was his reality.
"Luis, how are you here?" the youngest boy spoke, voice quiet, though it echoed and bounced off the cold, white walls of the small room they found themselves trapped in.
Glancing back up at him, a soft, brotherly look in his eye, Luis sighed. He held Kaz in his arms still, careful to hold him securely and keep him safe. "It was a few months after Big John Routledge went missing," he began, his voice smooth as ever. "I was starting up as an intern with Ward Cameron that Autumn, and he and Dad weren't on good terms at all."
Jordan looked back over to Kaci. He kept checking on her every few moments, hoping for some sort of improvement, but she was still frozen. Pale and blue, almost dead.
"Ward was like an uncle to me — to all of us — growing up," the other boy went on. "So, when I started to notice him and Dad arguing a lot, it got me curious." He shook his head, lifting one hand off the baby to brush it over his hair. "Looking back on it, I was stupid — it's my fault I was caught. But, like I say, I was curious. So, one night when they were arguing, I hid behind a wall to listen through the crack of Wardʼs study door." He sighed again, looking back up to Jordan, who seemed almost scared of what he was about to hear. "Dad was angry with him, really angry. Ward was starting to feel guilty about what he did to Big John — how he killed him for the gold, and —"
"Yeah, we know that part," Jordan told him, cringing and not wanting to go into those details again.
Luis nodded. "Right, well, Ward was starting to get sloppy, and, naturally, Dad didn't like it. I heard him threaten Mr Cameron — he said that if one word got back about that boat trip, he'd kill Rafe, Sarah and Wheezie."
Jordan gulped, not having heard this part before.
"That was when he saw me, through the crack of the door," said Luis, eyes falling down into a dark look. "He took me, dragged me out into the night and locked me in the storage unit. He was my dad, I begged him for help, but —" He shrugged. "— Everytime I spoke, everytime I cried, he'd strike me. With a knife. I was one day away from death, before..." Confusion took over Luisʼs face. "...Before Ward found me. He shipped me off in a plane with a bunch of security, and I've been here ever since."
