Page 67 of Restitution

She wipes her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re here, Dad.”

He hugs her again – she pulls away and kisses his cheek then looks over at me and Base.

She screams when her eyes land on me.

We launch ourselves at each other, and my best friend wraps my arms around her. “Oh my God! I missed you! Are you okay? I couldn’t find you. They pulled me out of that room and straight into a car. I was so worried, Stacey. So, so worried.”

“I’m fine. I missed you too.”

Lu cuddles me back and nods against my shoulder. “I was scared. I didn’t know my dad got you until I saw Base. I thought I’d lost you.”

I sniff as a tear slides down my cheek and pull her tighter against me. Her dad looks at Base. “Thanks for bringing our daughter back to us.”

“It’s no bother, big man.”

Before Tobias can sneer at him, Barry sprints past us, trailed by numerous guards who begin fanning out around the lodge. “Kade’s gone! He ran out the back door five minutes ago!”

My eyes widen as Base drops his bags and runs with Ewan. Aria stares at me in horror as Tobias runs into the woods.

Lu, Aria, Jason and I all join in the search around the woodland, yelling Kade’s name, or for someone to go this way or that way, to look for him on the main road and down beside the river.

I trip over something hard and hit the ground, and Lu helps me up, both our eyes landing on a gun… a sniper rifle. The one he used to shoot me? He said he left it here. We both frown, and our heads snap up when someone yells that they’ve spotted him heading straight for the cliff.

Panic is rising between us with every passing moment, and Aria is in tears, begging out loud for him to stop, to stop running from us.

My lungs are nearly on fire as I run alongside the others, the rain pelting off my face. I slip on patches of moss, my shoes and clothes drenched, and mud splashes up my back. Jason helps me back up just as Base, who’s circled back to join us, takes Luciella’s hand when she slides.

We reach the cliff, but there’s no sign of him. Tobias appears and shoves someone out of the way so he can look down the steep drop. But the rocks beneath are clear – there’s no blood from a splattered body.

As I glance around, I have a sudden urge to walk into a small bit of woodland next to the drop. It’s dark in there, and it seems like the perfect place to hide.

Ewan, Barry and his men keep searching in the pouring rain. We’re so far from the lodge now, there are no cameras in place, andTobias is fuming that we didn’t install more of them further out.

“Does he have a phone?” Base asks, only to be met with an annoyed look from Tobias. Aria shakes her head in response, and they look down the cliff again, just to make sure.

I walk to the small patch of woodland, pulling aside nettles and branches, stopping when I see Kade sitting in the middle. He’s hugging his knees with his head down, muttering to himself, far too low for me to hear or understand.

Breathing deeply in relief, I glance over my shoulder. “He’s here.”

I step closer, and a stick snaps under my shoe. “Kade?”

He doesn’t stop muttering – shaking his head and rocking back and forth. There’s blood down his arms, probably from falling and running through sharp branches. He’s covered in mud, soaked from the rain, and his body trembles with each strangled sob.

There’s movement, then Jason comes up behind me, glancing between us both. Tobias and Aria are next, then Lu and Base. We all stay quiet – the only sound we can hear is Kade begging himself to stop, to make it stop, sobbing hard enough to crack his voice.

Jason slips past me, slowly walking towards Kade. He kneels in front of him. “You aren’t there anymore,” he says quietly, calmly. “You’re here, with me. You’re safe.”

“N-No. I… I…” He shakes his head and starts rocking again. “Make it stop. Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop.”

“Look at me, Kade.”

He doesn’t. “He’s not there. He’s not there. He hates me. He hates me.”

Jason moves closer. “Itisme. Jason. And I could never hate you. I’m your big brother. I’m the one you call when you get yourself in trouble and need me to bail you out. I’m the one who picks you upwhen you’re drunk and lose your wallet. I snuck you a beer when you were sixteen, remember? And I gave you chewing gum when you didn’t want Aria finding out you smoked weed.”

Kade stops rocking but doesn’t say or do anything.

“I took you to your first boxing class when you were nine, and we got fish and chips on the way home. Do you remember what we did that night?” When there’s no reply, he keeps going. “I pretended to Aria you were asleep whenever she came to check on you in my room just so we could playGrand Theft Autountil five in the morning.”