Wronged

? 45 ?

"Shortie! Help me! I didn't mean it! I swear I didn't mean it! I—ah!" He squeals like a little two-year-old girl as Hayley gives it all she's got and yanks him out as fiercely as possible.

And that's all I witness/hear except for Hayley's last, "No one can help you!" followed by an evil laugh.

I stare in shock at the door and release Lily's ears as she laughs so hard liquid begins to sprout from the corners of her eyes.

Hayley's never been violent before, apart from the time in the school parking lot when she needed to be. But this time it was playful, of course. I think she knows that Nico was only kidding her...hopefully. He just doesn't know when to stop. Regardless, it's a hilarious matter.

So I laugh a little too. Lily grins at me. "That was so funny. He was so scared," she giggles.

I nod in agreement. "Terrified."

We laugh a bit more before my phone ringing interrupts us. Our laughter dies down, and I tell her to shush playfully with a small smile and she nods, crawling off of the bed to grab her little journal she got from the waiting room. It's just got four pages in it with lines, but it's been enough to keep her entertained so far. She grabs a pencil and begins drawing or writing something as I click the green button and press the phone to my ear. The caller ID is Lyma's.

"Hello?" I ask.

"Anna," she says nervously. "Hi."

It's been awhile since we've spoken, three days and three hours exactly. And when we did speak, it was about her giving information to my father. As I said before, I've forgiven her, but she's still nervous around me I guess. And it's hard to forget what she's done, so our relationship isn't the same as before.

Still, she treated me as her daughter. I thought of her as my mother. And I still do. She only wanted whats best for me. I know that. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else other than with this family. I am a Morgan. No longer a Cardale.

"Where have you been lately?" I ask, looking at Lily as a piece of her hair falls and she has to move it away with a puff of breath. I smile a little.

"I had to go collect the last of our things at the camp since the police are done investigating. They um..." She trails off and sighs into the phone. My brows furrow and my own nerves alight.

"What news does the detective have? They believe our story, right?" I ask in anticipation.

Lyma sighs again. "Sweetheart, they found a man down at the Forestry Shack - the one your brother and Aiden went to to rent out four wheelers for the day. He had been tracking down your father and Noah, and all by the authority of Aiden and Dakota. He was paid by them to try and track them down."

This news is definitely shocking. My gut twists uneasily, and I have a feeling what she's about to say isn't going to be very comforting. I sit up a little, worry forming inside of me. Lily gives me a quizzical look.

"What does that mean?" I ask steadily. "Why did they pay him to do that?"

"Aiden and Dakota love you in their own ways, Anna. To an extent where they'd do anything for you," Lyma says. "They told me that they just wanted to find them to...teach them a lesson about harming you. They wanted to stop them from hurting you, but I don't believe they would've killed them."

My left hand shakes, and I have the grip the white sheets to stop myself from completely freaking out. What Aiden and Dakota did is illegal without authority. In order for this to be legal, the man that tracked Noah and my father would have to be a—

"But the man that was tracking was an ex-FBI agent. Detective Morris said that this could help us in Aiden and Dakota's case even if he isn't in the FBI anymore, but..."

My heart races. "But what?"

"We're all going on trial," she finally says through a sigh. My heart sinks. "This isn't as easy as we thought. And we're not going home as quickly as we wanted to either. Even if the police know that Noah attempted to kill you and your father abused and sexually assaulted you, Aiden and Dakota could be put away for murder and acquainted murder."

I want to vomit. This isn't a simple thing. It's not like stories where the bad guys die and everyone lives a happily ever after. It's real life. It's always more messy in real life.

"We can't go home because this happened in Colorado. Therefore, the trial will take place in Colorado. You're up first in two days at eight in the morning. A selected jury will listen to you," Lyma explains.

I nod even though she can't see it. I'm staring off into nothingness. This is why Aiden hasn't seen me. He's been caught up in all this mess and didn't want to tell me. He's not disgusted with me at all. Or not me, but the thought of me not holding our baby.

I feel tears beginning to slide down my face, and I have to roll my lips up to stop myself from sobbing. Lily notices and stops writing whatever she was writing, pencil stuck in the same spot on her paper. Her eyes are wide with concern.

"Anna? Are you there? Did you hear me?" Lyma repeats.

I sniff once and rub underneath my nose, swallowing. Lily stands and rests her pencil on the paper, hopping up into the bed with me. She stares at me from the foot of the mattress.

"Yeah, I'm here," I say, but my voice shakes. I'm not sad. Or not completely at least. I'm just scared. I couldn't bare it if Aiden couldn't be with me anymore. And same with Dakota.

I stare at Lily. She stabbed my father. She was the one that killed him. But that was completely self defense. Sadly, it's only my word that can prove that. That, and the morality of a seven-year-old girl. What little girl would murder a man for no reason?

But she was in a home for girls with mental illnesses. I know the attorney for the dead is going to use that to his or her advantage in this case. But there's high doubt that they'll win. There's no way they'll put her in jail or anything like that.

Still, Aiden killed Noah. And Dakota helped. I'm a witness, and so is Hayley and Nico (even if Nico was unconscious). I couldn't deal with it if they were to be thrown in jail for trying to protect me.

All I know is that I'm going to have to be truthful about the entire thing. I'll tell them I was going to get Lily. It was an attempt at breaking the law, but I didn't actually do it. So they can't throw me in jail for that. However, they can for breaking and entering. Thankfully that's not for long. And I bet Lyma would pay the bail for Hayley and Nico and me.

"Get some rest, Anna," Lyma says. "We'll figure all of this out."

And then she hangs up.

I slowly remove my phone from my ear and let one silent tear fall. Then another. Lily gasps at this and tries to snuggle up close to me. She doesn't say anything, which I'm incredibly grateful for.

I wrap my arms around her smallness and sniffle as I cry myself to sleep. Please let Aiden and Dakota be okay. Please.

•••
A/N:
Whew.

HOW DID WE HIT 4K IN THREE DAYS?! I WAS LITERALLY AT 1K THREE DAYS AGO!

I've never had a book grow at this rate before. Albeit I've only written two but STILL. Thank you so much!