Page 100 of Shattered Silence Duet

“What did she just say?” Gideon asks, moving closer.

“I… I’m not entirely sure…” Dom trails off and I look at him, pleading with my eyes for him to give me a voice. “But… I think she said she’s twenty-one.”

Thank god!I nod my head excitedly, even though it causes pain to throb through my skull. Relief fills me, knowing they finally know the truth.

The biggest smile I’ve ever seen splits his face, and I look around at the others, who are also grinning. Max even starts laughing as he clutches his side and rests his forehead on Tucker’s shoulder.

“You heard them. Your services are no longer required here,” Gideon turns and tells the CPA officers, who are both staring at me with shocked expressions.

The woman shakes it off before she’s able to respond. “Now wait a minute, I need proof of her age before I can leave.”

“I told you her ID was fake. You were willing to take her away on the basis of her ID being fake, so why can’t you leave her on the same basis?” Ben asks.

“Well, it doesn’t work like that,” she huffs.

“You can’t take a twenty-one-year-old woman away against her will,” Gideon tells her.

She looks between us all, looking frustrated before she finally concedes. “I’ll be back after I talk to my superiors,” she says as she and her partner storm out of the room.

“You be sure to do that!” Ben yells after her.

“I’ll talk to you guys later. I’ll go see what she plans on doing,” the police chief says as he follows them out. Ben shuts the door behind him and then turns back to me. It’s just the eight of us now. My eyes dance around between them all, wondering if they will be mad I had previously lied about my age. But it’s not like I ever told them I was seventeen, my mother did.

Max and Jasper start laughing, and Ben moves in and leans down closer to me. “Are you really twenty-one, or did you just say that to get them to leave? Cause if you did, it was brilliant!” he says with a smile.

“It will only hold for so long, though,” Gideon adds from the foot of my bed, where he now sits.

“Move.” Atlas nudges Jasper out of the way to come to my other side. He’s been silent up to now. He holds my hand delicately and stares into my eyes.

“Malishka.” I smile at him and sigh.

“Are you really twenty-one? Honestly?” he asks.

I nod, and a huge smile crosses his face.

“I wish we knew that sooner, we could have gotten you out of there weeks ago,” he says with a frown.

“Why were you in high school?”

“How do you feel?”

“Are you alright?”

Tucker and the twins all talk over each other, but I keep my eyes glued to Atlas. I can see he needs me right now, and I want to be there for him. I want him to know how much it meant that he answered my call for help.

I take a deep breath and rasp out so quietly, it’s barely a whisper in the quiet room, “Atlas.” His eyes widen with surprise. “You came for me.”

I start coughing and a straw is quickly brought to my lips, and I drink down as much as I can while I watch him. I can’t stop the tears of happiness that escape. He pulls my hand up and kisses the back of it. I’m surprised when I notice my fingers are heavily bandaged, but what surprises me most is the glossy sheen in his own eyes.

“I will always come for you, Malishka. I’m so sorry I didn’t get there sooner.”

I shake my head, wanting to tell him it’s my fault for not asking for it sooner, but my throat is sore and I don’t want to hurt it anymore. My whole body hurts and I realize now just how tired I am.

“Angel,” I hear Jasper say from beside Atlas. “I gave you the perfect nickname. You sound like an angel.”

I blush and roll my eyes at him. My voice is terrible and raspy.

“Kitten, your voice is beautiful. I didn’t know you could speak,” Dom says from my other side.