Greya's POV...

He found us
HE FOUND US
He. Found. Us.

Pack your bags and move before it's too late!
Your identities too. Change those too.

Your loving mother,
Anna

"You have more of these letters?"

Liam nods.

"How long did his seizures last again? How many did he have?"

"Two. He had two. The first one was about 30 seconds and the second one roughly 10 seconds.... Don't change the subject Liam. How many of these letters do you have? And when did they start arriving?"

Chase is in the living room where Lox is currently sleeping on the couch. He has his air pods in his ears listening to music and hopefully not listening to us.

Liam shakes his head and pinches the skin between his eyes with his fingers, then goes into the pantry and comes back out with a stack of letters and places them on the counter in front of me.

He doesn't say anything at first, while he watches me open a few of them. They all have the exact same message written on them. What the Hell. Their mother really has gone off the deep end, though who would blame her after she's been hiding from a murderer all these years. Poor woman. Her poor sons.

"They're all the same," Liam confirms so I don't open any more of them.

"They started arriving a few weeks ago, one every few days. I've grabbed them from the mail before Lox had a chance to see them."

"Why are you hiding these from him?"

"For the very reason you happened to be here to witness an hour ago," he sighs.

"He's been doing good lately, Grey. Besides his leg giving him more trouble, he's been good. Happy. We all have."

He pauses and I take a moment to better understand his point of view.

"He knew he'd have a seizure today before he saw this letter, he wasn't feeling himself earlier." I try and point out.

I know what Liam's trying to say and I agree with him, but Lox's seizures happen for other reasons too sometimes.

Liam reaches up into the medicine cabinet and fetches the weekly pill container. "He missed a few doses of his seizure meds this week," he shows me.

Now he's got me wondering if I'm distracting Lox or if he's forgetting to take his meds because we've been out doing more things together this week.

"He forgets sometimes, it's not because of you," he shakes his head and puts the pills away.

"Am I that readable," I try and lighten the conversation.

Liam shrugs and smiles.

"Our mother is mentally ill, so who knows if she's telling the truth or only having an episode. Plus, I don't want to leave, Greya. We just got you all back. Lox needs you. We can't do it again, I won't."

"We're n...not g...going anywhere," we both turn towards the groggy voice.

Lox is leaning against the doorway, crutch in one hand. He looks exhausted.

I rush to his side to help him. He should be lying down.

"H...hug first," he gives me a small smile.

Of course I wrap my arms around him and squeeze. I rest my ear against his heart so the sound of it can remind me he's alive and breathing, because watching him have two seizures in a row is frightening and makes me feel completely helpless.

"Th...thank you f...for taking care of m...me. I know s...seeing me l...like that must be s...scary."

"It is scary. Mostly because there's nothing I can do to stop them, I can only hold you and keep you safe."

"That's d...doing a lot L...Love. Thank y...you."

"Let me help you to a stool." I lift his bad arm up around my shoulders and hold around his lower back with my other arm to help support him.

After he's sitting at the counter, Liam and I join him. We all stare at the letters for a few minutes, not knowing exactly what to say. There are a few obvious questions I think should be addressed so I get right to it.

"Mr. and Mrs. Collins should know about these." I state the first logical choice.

"I called them a few weeks ago," Lox and I both look over at Liam.

"Wh...what did they s...say," Lox rubs his eyes and then pushes his bent left arm off the counter and I catch him rubbing his tricep area. I'm sure he's sore and tired after what he just went through.

"They said they would look into it and check on mom and speak with her doctors. They said they'd talk to your grandfather too to see if he knows anything."

"Did they find anything?" I ask this time. I move closer to Loxley who looks like he might keel over. My hand moves to his back and I apply comforting strokes up and down his worn muscles.

"I was going to give them a call tomorrow," Liam admits.

"We c...can call th...them now." Loxley pulls his phone from his pocket and searches his contacts to find their number.

He shifts again, uncomfortable in his seat trying to hold his tired body upright while he places the phone on speaker mode and lays it on the counter in front of us.

I move my arm around his waist and pull him into me so that he has me to lean on. He gives me a small yet appreciative smile while we wait for someone to answer.

"Hello?" It's Mrs. Collins.

I look to Liam to speak so Lox doesn't have to.

"Um, hi Mrs. Collins. I have Lox and Greya here, you're on speaker. Um, we received another letter from mom with the same message on it."

"Oh dear! Hi everyone, how are you all doing?"

"Hi Mrs. Collins, we're all doing ok, better if we knew what was going on," I add.

I'm holding Lox against my side and I've slipped my fingers through his fisted hand. This is all I can do for him while we get through this phone conversation.

"We've talked to your mother's doctors and they feel as though she's been having increased manic episodes. They confirm that no one's tried to contact her lately and they've begun monitoring the letters she sends out. This new one must've slipped by them."

"Are you sure? No one's looking for us?" Liam asks her.

"Lox, your father remains in prison and isn't allowed contact with anyone and your grandfather hasn't heard about anyone from your fathers gang who's been looking for you or even suspects your existence. We believe you two are safe," Mrs. Collins explains.

"Okay, th...thank y...you for looking into i...it."

"Oh, and Mr. Collins and I are taking a trip to see Cohen and the rest of you tomorrow. We have a few financials to go over with you as well."

"I can have everyone over my place for dinner if you'd like?" I offer up my home. I usually have our friends over on the weekends anyway.

"That sounds lovely, Thank you Greya."

"Thanks again. We will see you tomorrow," Liam says before ending the call.

Lox stays quiet and leans his head against mine. "I should make us all something to eat. You should lay down while I cook," I suggest.

"Yup, now that we know our mother's acting like the Riddler, we can try not to worry about people coming to get us," Liam tries to joke around. I guess its better to have a sense of humor about all this, otherwise the stress of it all will eat us up.

"I d...don't want to b...be alone. I'll s...stay here while y...you c...cook."

"Chase and I can make dinner, you two get some rest," Liam offers.

We graciously accept Liam's offer and make our way back to the sofa while Chase happily joins Liam in the kitchen.

Loxley slowly sits back into the cushions and rubs his forehead with his fingers.

"Come here handsome," I move to the end cushion and place a pillow on top of my lap and motion for him to lay down.

It takes him a minute to get situated until he's lying on his back with his head resting on the pillow.

I begin combing my fingers through his hair, spending extra time along his forehead, gently brushing along the scar that stretches from the top of his eye around to the back of his skull. He's quietly breathing while I continue lightly grazing his scalp.

His eyes are closed though I know he isn't sleeping. I'm sure his mind is racing with many different thoughts about his parents and those letters.

"How are you feeling about everything?"

He doesn't answer for a few minutes and I continue brushing through his hair.

"I r...remember us, l...like this. Y...you running your f...fingers through m...my hair. I remember l...loving the way it f...felt. Like someone c...cared about me, a f...feeling I wasn't used t...to when someone touched me. Y...you made m...me feel safe and l...loved and I was sc...scared. Scared t...to lose that. You still make m...me feel love even wh...when I have a h...hard time loving m...myself with everything that's wrong w...with me. Whatever's c...caused my mother t...to send those l...letters, isn't g...going to tear me away f...from you again. I'll make sure of i...it."

"Oh, B," now I'm crying.

"I do love you and there isn't anything wrong with you."

He snickers to himself when I tell him that.

"I'm l...lucky and g...grateful that y...you see past all th...this," He waves his right hand over his left arm and leg.

Time is the only way for him to learn to accept that he's so much more than his handicap. So I'll give him all the time he needs while showing him how much I love him.

"The letter d...didn't cause m...my seizures."

"I know," my fingers keep massaging his head. "I knew you weren't quite yourself today."

"I m...missed a few of m...my meds but I also h...haven't slept w...well this week....f...flashbacks of Jack k...keep appearing when I c...close my eyes at n...night. They're brief and d...don't make a lot of sense t...to me but k...keep me up anyway."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I'm not sure how to keep those horrible memories away but I'll do whatever he needs.

"Will y...you stay with m...me tonight?" His enchanting eyes find mine. Who could say no while looking into those?

"I was hoping we could stay tonight, I brought Chase and I an overnight bag. I didn't want to leave you after the day you've had."

"Thanks Love. And d...don't worry, we will t...talk to the Collins and get t...to the bottom of th...these letters. I won't l...let my father f...find us, I'll keep all of us s...safe from him no m...matter what I need to d...do to keep us all together."

Don't worry? Hard pass. Of course I'm worried. His biological parents are a mess in so many different ways, there's no telling what either are still capable of. There's no way any of us will let Lox and Liam go into hiding again and sounds like Lox won't allow it to happen either.

Whatever happens, we all stick together.