Shattered Love

Chapter 4

Lyla's POV

Everyone finally left my room when they realized that I was physically stable. They said I was dehydrated and needed to eat something, but the thought of food right now made my stomach sick because I was here and safe, and we still didn't know where Kenzley was. I had to get out of here and find her. I tried to sit up on the bed and as soon as I did, I was dizzy. I sat there waiting for it to pass. I jerked everything off me that was hooked up but my IV. The machines started going crazy, and I knew that I only had a few seconds before someone came in. I jerked the tape off my arm and as I went to pull the IV out, the door was pushed open.

"What are you doing?" one of the nurses said.

"I have to leave."

"You can't leave. The police are on their way, and you need to stay and get some rest and get better. A few days at most."

"No, I won't tell the police s**t, and I can't stay. I need Avery," I told her. She would help me. She would understand.

"If I go get her, will you lay back down," she asked, and I just nodded at her, and she walked out of the room. I didn't lay back down, but I sat there on the edge of the bed waiting for her to come back.

A few minutes later the door opened again and Avery and Conrad both walked in. "What are you doing? They say you are trying to leave," Avery said.

"I have to find Kenz. She is scared and what if she is hurt?"

"We are working on it. I have a whole team of people looking. We will find her," Conrad said, but it didn't make me feel any better.

"Avery, can you get me some clothes? I can't be here. I have to go look."

"I'm already on it," she said, going against Conrad and the look he shot at her wasn't a good one, but I knew that she would be on my side. She was a mother. She understood it. Kenzley may not be my daughter, but I've raised her since she was a newborn. She was mine.

"Will you at least lay back and relax while we wait for clothes?" Conrad asked.

"Fine," I huffed, irritated that I couldn't leave right now. I needed those clothes.

"Why don't you tell me where you think she could be?"

"I don't know. My father inherited that house when his parents died before I was born. It's paid for. That is the only reason he has always had a place to stay. What if he sold her too?"

"He wouldn't. He has her somewhere and I will find her. If I go to help look for her, will you stay here?"

"No.

It took an hour for Avery to get me clothes, and it was all I could do to stay awake during that time, but I knew if I fell asleep, they would just let me sleep, and I would lose time. I was shocked when Everrette walked in with a bag of clothes for me. I didn't know him that well, but he was always nice.

"Sorry it took me so long. I grabbed a few other things you might need, like your cell phone and purse," he said, holding up a big bag.

"Thanks. Now everyone get out so I can change," I demanded, and they walked out, but I could hear them arguing in the hallway. I finished ripping off the tape from the IV that the nurse had to fix and jerked it out of my arm and blood started to trickle down my arm, but I just used the sheet on the bed to wipe it clean and got my clothes on.

I walked out into the hallway and the three of them were standing there arguing. "Let's go," I said, and headed towards the door. I didn't walk super-fast, and I knew I was going to fade out quickly, but I had to try. I would never forgive myself if something happened to her.

We finally made it to Avery's car, and I was out of breath, and I wanted to sleep so badly, but I just pushed through it and got into the back seat.

"Where are we going to start?" I asked.

"We are going to go to Rush's office. That is where people are headed to, and we will continue to look for her from there. I really need you to think of any ideas that you may have about where she might be."

It took everything in me to not fall asleep on the drive. The car was nice and cool from the AC, and I felt like I hadn't slept in days, but I wasn't going to give in to it. When he finally pulled into what I was assuming was Rush's office, I got out of the car without thinking twice and basically wanted to run in there, but Avery came over and grabbed my hand, and we walked in with Conrad behind us. He quietly directed us to where we needed to go, and we ended up in a conference room with a bunch of people there. When we walked in, all heads turned to us.

"What is she doing here?" Rush asked in a loud, angry voice, making me cower back just a little.

"She is here to help find her sister. She can fill in some gaps in the timeline, and she might know a place to look."

"Sit," Rush barked out again, and one of the guys that was sitting up at the head of the table stood up and spun the chair around for me. I slowly moved over to the chair and sat down and started paying attention to what was going on. They had a picture of Kenzley up on the screen and a map and from what I could tell they had places that my father would go to frequently, places they'd looked and potential places to go.

"When did your father show up at your house?" Rush barked out. This man needed to work on his tone because it was scary as s**t.

"Friday," I basically whispered. I didn't know what day it was right now. I grabbed my phone out of the sweatshirt pocket and powered it on. I'm not sure why I didn't do this sooner. It sang out while it powered on and all heads turned towards me, but I ignored them and waited for my phone to boot up.

I had many voicemails but the one that caught me off guard was from Vanessa. She was the social worker who helped me get custody of Kenzley, and she has remained on our case and continuously helps me. I listened to her voicemail and my heart sank. I quickly dialed her number, and it rang three times before she answered the phone.

"Lyla, is that you?" she asked.

"Yes. Please tell me that you have Kenzley?"

"Yes. What has happened?" she asked with concern, lacing her voice.

"My father. Where can I get her?"

"She is in state care right now, but I'm going to start the paperwork for you to get her back. Can you meet me in my office in twenty minutes?"

"Yes. I'm on my way," I told her, and hung up the phone. When I looked up, everyone in the room was staring at me.

"The state has her, and I can go get her now. I need a ride."

"Let's go," Avery said, jumping up, along with Conrad.

I had a rush of energy or adrenaline or something because I was no longer tired. I just needed to get Kenzley, and things would be OK after that. Although I think I am going to have to leave everything behind and go into hiding from my father. I wasn't sure how yet, but I'll figure it out once I have her.

The drive to her office took a century, but when we got there, I practically ran inside and was out of breath when I got inside. The girl at the front desk looked alarmed when I walked in.

"I need Vanessa, she is expecting me," I said in a rush and then bent over, resting my hands on my knees, breathing hard. I felt a hand on my back. Looking up, I saw Avery standing there rubbing my back.

"Lyla," Vanessa's voice came from the doorway and when I stood up all the way, she came over to me and wrapped me up in a hug. She is an older lady who has honestly been a godsend. She helped Kenzley and me out so much the last time this happened. She helped me get full custody of her and also a birth certificate for her and everything that would have been done when she was born. The courts had some concerns about my age and our circumstances, so she has stayed on as a caseworker and helped us anytime we needed it.

"Where is she?" I asked and pulled out of her hug.

"She is on her way down here. I've explained everything to my supervisor and there should be no concern about anything. We are all aware of your situation, but you are going to have to file a police report."

I turned around and looked at Conrad, who just nodded his head. I knew the s**t that went down at that house was not even close to legal to get us out of there and wasn't sure what to say. I didn't want to get anyone in trouble because without them, I would have died.

We all followed Vanessa back to her office where she offered us water and Conrad stepped out as soon as we were back there to make a phone call.

"When will she be here?" Avery asked.

"Within thirty minutes," Vanessa said, and I relaxed a little bit. "Your emergency contact information is no good. We tried calling the two numbers you have listed, but they were both disconnected."

I looked over at Avery, who had tears in her eyes now. I knew she blamed herself for this. They were the contacts, and they changed their numbers a while back. I'm not sure why, and it really doesn't matter now. I gave Vanessa the updated numbers and I had to tell her what had happened. I left out the gruesome details for her sake and mine. I may not have remembered all of them, but I know what happened, and I don't want to ever relive it.

I wiped the tears just as fast as they fell as I told her everything, but a light knock stopped everything. Vanessa told them to come in, and I stood slowly as the door opened and Kenzley was standing there crying, holding her stuffed kitty. The second she saw me; she dropped it and ran into my arms. I hugged her forever. I never wanted to let go. I didn't want to lose her again because I know this time we were lucky, but it could have turned out so much worse.

"Are you OK?" I asked her as I pulled us out of our hug.

"I was so scared. I didn't think I would see you again," she sobbed and threw her arms around me again. It took me a minute to get us moved back to the couch and as soon as we were she was in my lap and not letting go of me.