They hurriedly went to the hospital. Riley rushed to his room and shrieked in delight in seeing Matt's eyes open. They gowned up and walked into the room. She came over to him and grasped his hand. Matt squeezed it and gave her a small smile. "Hey beautiful," he whispered and than coughed forcefully. Kaiden grabbed him a glass of water that was on the beside table and he drank it gratefully.
"Glad to see you awake," Lucas said.
"Yeah, too bad, there goes our plan of stealing Riles away," Hunter grinned.
"Ha Ha, funny," Matt whispered as he tried to grin but ended up grimacing instead.
Riley looked over at him in concern, "Does your throat hurt?"
He nodded, "Hard to talk," he managed to rasp out.
Kaiden came over to him and put his hand on his shoulder, "Don't talk, we'll talk and you'll listen."
Matt half smiled and nodded. They filled him in on everything that had happened since being in the hospital. Apart from squeezing Riley's hand a couple times he didn't talk. Finally the nurse came in and shuffled them out. Visiting hours were over according to her. Riley kissed him gently on the lips and Matt smiled.
"See you soon," she whispered in his ear. Riley squeezed his hand one more time and they left stopping to talk to the doctor on the way out. Matt was going to be in ICU for a while still. But the doctor was confident he would make a full recovery.
"What a good day," Riley smiled as she leaned against Lucas in the backseat. Lucas put his arm around her and kissed her gently on the forehead.
The days following were filled with visits to the hospital. Every day Matt improved but still a long way to go before he would be stable enough to leave the hospital.
In between the visits to the hospital, Riley continued to see the therapist and everyday she seemed to improve a little bit more. She still wasn't able to go fully all the way with the guys' yet but she became more comfortable with physical touch from them. She appreciated that they never pushed, they went as slow as she needed. She felt so cherished and loved.
One day, Riley was sitting on the couch, reading a book when the guys came in looking concerned. "Hey Riles, we need to talk to you about something," Kaiden said.
Riley put the book down, "What's up? I'm all ears," she replied.
"Your parents," he stated, "We found them."
Riley gaped at him, "My parents?" She leaned back into the couch and ran her fingers through her hair, "I don't even know what to make of that, I haven't thought of them recently. I, uh, I don't know what to think."
The boys grimaced as they looked at each other. Hunter took a deep breath and than said, "Unfortunately, they're dead. A contact overseas found them. I'm so sorry sweetheart."
"Dead?" she stammered, "They're dead?"
They nodded somberly and Riley felt a tear run down her face. Since she did have a lot of her memories back, she did remember them. She didn't know what to think. One part of her was relieved that she finally knew about where her parents are and another part was saddened that she would never get to talk to them, ask them why her dad did what he did. See them again. She sighed as silent tears ran down her face. Lucas came over to her and pulled her into his arms. She buried her head in his shirt and sobbed quietly. Hunter came to her other side and rubbed her back while Kaiden got some Kleenex for her.
Once she composed herself she asked, "What happened? Where were they? Tell me everything."
"Your parents were in eastern Asia area, very well hidden. It seemed like your father had a game plan in case things went south. And unfortunately it seems like you were collateral damage," Kaiden said.
"Their bodies are being flown over along with their belongings and once they get here, we will go through their stuff and try to piece together exactly what happened with them," Lucas said.
"And as for your other question," Hunter softly said, "They were shot."
Riley blinked back more tears and nodded softly, "Thank you for telling me. I appreciate you guys not holding this information back." She paused for a second and than said, "What about the darkness? How will this affect him going after me?"
Lucas responded first, "We almost had him but somehow lost him in the shuffle of that day, so there is a chance he will be content with their deaths but more likely than not, he won't stop coming after you. He want's revenge and you are right now the one and only way to get it."
"He's not going to stop going after you but you don't have to worry about that," Kaiden responded.
Hunter chuckled darkly, "We'll get him before he gets you and this time he will not escape. We are in a better spot than before because we know what he looks like and that is a huge help to us."
Riley shivered at the darkness in his voice. She loved Hunter but there was still a part of him she didn't understand and didn't know if she wanted to get to know that part of him. She shook her thoughts from her head, those thoughts were for another time.
When they visited the hospital that night they caught Matt up on everything. Matt was at the point where he could sit up and he took advantage of that and had Riley share his bed with him when they were together. Matt groaned when they caught him up with everything. "I wish I could help you guys, I feel so useless lying here. I'm weak as a bug and it sucks."
Riley leaned over and kissed his cheek, "You're not useless. You are a shining light in all this darkness. I love you Matt."
Matt smiled at her with love in his eyes, "I love you Riles, more than life itself."
Later that week, the bodies and their items were in the possession of the guys and Riley. Riley had no desire to see the bodies so that guys' took care of all the funeral arrangements. All she had to do was show up. The day of the funeral arrived and it was a cloudy day. Riley was dressed in all black and they had a closed ceremony. It made the news so everyone knew that Riley's parents were dead but for safety issues they chose to only have a limited amount of people. The grounds were the funeral was, it was very well guarded. It was also a closed casket. Riley still had no desire to see the bodies. They had found photographs of her with her family in their belongings so she used that as a reminder of what they looked like. The funeral was short, the caskets lowered into the ground and that was that. The people who attended came up to her and gave their condolences. Riley was surprised she didn't shed a tear at all. She was sad yes but didn't have an urge to cry.
Later that night she brought it up with the guys. They were all sitting around drinking wine and eating chocolate as per Riley's request. "Maybe, you're just done with it all. I mean, no offence, but they were shit parents," Hunter said.
"I guess, but I mean, my parents are dead? Shouldn't I have cried at the funeral? I only have cried once and that was when you told me about them."
"Maybe you have unresolved feelings with them," Lucas thought out loud.
"Do you feel mad at them?" Kaiden questioned.
"I guess so, I mean, they left me here. They didn't even bother coming back to try to find me. They must of known that I disappeared."
"Everyone grieves differently," Matt said through the video call, "Maybe this is how you do it. You cry once and than that's that."
"I don't know," she responded, "I think I want to continue going through their things and see what I find." She stood up to go do just that.
"Do you want us to come with you?" Hunter asked.
She shook her head, "No, I want to do this by myself."
"Okay sweetheart, whatever you want. We will be right here if you need us," Lucas said.
Riley went into the room where some of their things were that still were not sorted. As she was digging through she found a DVD. It had no markings on it, it had no distinguishing features. She held it for a moment and looked at it. Did she want to watch it? She didn't know what to expect. She brought it out the guys and they looked at it with interest.
Matt was the first to speak, "Do you want one of us to watch it first and tell you what's on it?"
"I want to watch it with all of you."
Hunter took it from her and put it into the DVD player. They settled on the couch and pressed play. Riley gasped as her dad filled the screen. He cleared this throat, adjusted the camera and sat in a chair that was stationed in front.
He looked straight ahead, took a deep breath and started talking. "My dearest Riley, if you are watching this that means I'm dead. I hope you are well and safe. Words can't even describe the horror I feel at what I did to you and Henry. I put my own safety and your mother's safety over you guys. I can never make up for what I did. I did some very bad things. I made good money but I was greedy and I wanted more. I stole from some bad guys and they threatened your mother. However I was too blind to see the big picture and I put your mother over both of you and it was wrong. I should of taken both of you away with us when the threats started coming. I thought that if we were away, they men would be focused on finding us and keeping away from you. I was wrong. When I heard what happened at the house, I was appalled and horrified. I wanted to come back instantly but I didn't want to risk mine or your mother's life. I'm sorry. I should of come back immediately and looked for you. I still had a few loyal guys there so that's how I knew about your disappearance and Henry's death. I was a coward and there is nothing I can do to make up for it. There is money in an offshore account for you. Hidden in the case of the DVD is the information for it. I know there is your regular account which once you turn of age, you will have access to the full amount. And before you ask, yes, the money is legal. I did nothing illegal for it. However the money in the offshore account, part of it is what I took. I left it for you and Henry. If you want to use it, it's all yours. If you want to give it away, that's your choice. All I wanted to do was keep you safe and make sure you were cared for. Your mother and I are very well hidden over here. No one should be able to find us but if they do and I'm dead, I hope that this DVD finds you. I have instructions with some guys here that in case of our deaths, this is to be shipped to the guys. I know they will take care of you and they will keep you safe. I know you don't need it but I want to give my blessing to you and all those guys. I was blind back than and I didn't see how good they were for you and for that I apologize as well."
He stopped for a moment to compose himself as while he was saying that, tears started coming down his face. He took another deep breath and started talking again. "I wish I could see you in person but I know that as soon as I step foot back in that country, I will be a dead man walking. These guys I took from are the pinnacle of evil. They will stop at nothing to do what they want regardless of who they hurt. Their organization is called Night Moon. It's a very well hidden organization, not a lot of people know about it. They have a lot of legal front's they use for cover. Hotels, malls, etc.. They are led by a guy named Darien Cross. He is the worse of the worse. Darien and I knew each other back in the days when we were younger. I was an idiot and fell in love with the girl he was engaged to. I seduced her and got her to leave him for me. Shortly after I met your mom and what I felt for this women was nothing in comparison to my feelings for your mother. Than this women got pregnant and I was horrified that your mom would find out so I cast her out and forbade her from every coming near me again. I found out later that there was an issue with the pregnancy and she died from complications. Darien found out and that was the last straw for any good feelings between us. That is why he is so focused on revenge. He wants to take everything from me because I took everything from him. Stay away from him. I hope you are with the guys. They are the only ones who are powerful enough to take care of Darien. Information I got about this organization is also in the hidden compartment of the DVD. Give it to the guys, they will know what to do with it. I have to go now Riley but I want to say again I'm sorry and I love you and I hope one day we can see each other again. I know I was a crappy father to you growing up and I now regret how distanced I was in your childhood. You are amazing and I'm so lucky to have had you. Goodbye my Riley."
The screen went blank and the DVD stopped. Riley just started into space. Tears were coming down her face and she didn't know what to think. So much information from her dad over powered her brain and she didn't know where to start processing it from. She faintly noticed Hunter getting up and ripping open the case. A piece of paper fell out along with a SD card. Lucas grabbed his laptop and inserted it.
"Holy crap," Kaiden said, "So much information."
"We can get this sucker now," Hunter said excitedly, "I have no idea how your father got this information Riley but he just made it a lot heck of a lot easier for us."
Riley smiled weakly as she tried to stop crying. She was thankful to have a better understanding of what went down and thinking to herself, she decided that she might actually be able to get closure about her parents. She knew she was mad at them, she didn't want to forgive them even if they were gone but after seeing her father and hearing his voice and what he said, the anger inside her subsided and she felt more sad than angry.
Later that day she spilt all her conflicting feelings to the therapist and after a nice long chat, Riley started to feel at peace about her parents which was something she hadn't felt since getting her memory back. There was a part of her that was still angry at them, sad at the events but she felt calmer when she thought about them. She knew that she could start working on fully healing herself now and for that she was thankful.
While she was at the therapist, the guys' were going through every single piece of information on the SD card. Riley could see the relief and excitement in their gazes when she got home as they talked about plans and what they should do and she was happy for them and for her. Soon this would be all over. Soon she could have a normal life. She smiled inwardly to herself, normal couldn't come soon enough.