Lies Inside

by Lindsey Gray

  “Manicotti with some garlic cheese bread and salad. I think the girls want some mac and cheese though.”

  “Perfect as always.” He brushed her cheek before leaving to go get Camille.

  They quickly put their plan into action. Finn grabbed the bottle of powdered fiber Olivia had discovered and mixed it with part of the cheese filling for the manicotti. Lucy filled about half the pasta tubes with the fiber-cheese filling before Camille and Viktor even returned to the room. Finn filled the remaining tubes with regular filling. Viktor watched as Finn and Lucy finished the sauce and poured it in the baking dish.

  “It won’t take too long. I’ll just make the mac and cheese for the girls while it’s baking.” Lucy was confident as she slipped the dish into the oven. She just hoped the next time she cooked dinner, it would be for her real family.

  Soon they had settled at the table. The girls were enjoying Lucy’s homemade macaroni and cheese, while Camille and Viktor couldn’t get enough of the special manicotti.

  After dinner, the girls wanted to watch a video. They all piled into the living room and sat down to watch Chloe’s favorite movie. It was a long movie, and about halfway through, Finn took Olivia to bed. He made sure the girls’ shoes and socks were right by the door. When he made the decision to go, he wanted to get out as quickly as possible.

  When Finn returned to the living room, Chloe was perched on Lucy’s lap and Camille was missing in action.

  “Where’s Camille?” Finn tried to ask innocently enough.

  “She wasn’t feeling good. She went ahead and went to bed. Actually, I’m not doing too well myself.”

  “Me either. I’m guessing my stomach had enough cheese for one night.” Finn patted his stomach as he took his seat beside Lucy.

  “You think you guys would be okay to get Chloe to bed if I go up?” Viktor asked.

  Lucy’s eyes went wide as she realized what was about to happen. Turning to Chloe, she said, “Sure. You’ll let us tuck you in, won’t you?”

  “After the movie is over.” Chloe was very intense as her favorite scene was coming up.

  “Go ahead. We’ll get her up.” Finn nodded for Viktor to go upstairs.

  By the time the movie finished, Chloe was fast asleep. Finn left her with Lucy while he went up to check on Camille and Viktor.

  Viktor was moaning in their bathroom as Camille was curled up on their bed. It appeared as though the powdered fiber had worked. With any luck, these two would be sick all night. It took everything in Finn, but he put the next step of their plan into action.

  He walked carefully to Olivia’s room and retrieved the bags from the closet where he’d hidden them. He grabbed the cash out and stuffed it in his pocket. After he put Olivia’s shoes on her, he picked her up and took her downstairs.

  “You get the keys?”

  Lucy pulled a key ring from her pocket along with the infamous cell phone. Finn’s eyes widened in amazement.

  “How?”

  “Let’s just say it didn’t take much to distract him while I lifted it out of his pocket.”

  Finn kissed her hard on the lips. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too. Let’s go home.”

  They got the bags and the girls into the van and strapped them in their car seats. Finn opened the driver’s side door as Lucy opened the front passenger door. He put the car in neutral and they pushed it as far as they could down the drive before jumping in.

  Finn started it up and drove down the road. He had remembered the nearest town was about fifteen miles away. He sped toward the only lights in the sky. After about ten minutes, they made it to a truck stop. They gathered the girls and went inside.

  “Frank? What are you guys doing out this late at night?”

  Finn thought at that moment, George must have been sent by God.

  “It’s a long story, but I need some help.”

  “Anything, man. What do you need?”

  “A cell phone and, if you can drudge one up, a bolt cutter.”

  “A bolt cutter?”

  Finn raised the hem of his pants to reveal the ankle monitor still attached. He turned to Lucy as she showed him hers.

  George pulled out his phone immediately and handed it to Finn. “I know the manager on tonight. I’m sure I can find something.”

  He ran off to find his friend as Finn and Lucy took the sleeping girls over to a booth and sat down.

  Finn could hardly concentrate as he punched in all the numbers.

  One ring.

  Two rings.

  Three rings.

  “Hello?”

  Finn felt the tears well up in his eyes as he heard a voice he thought he might never hear again.

  “Dad…Is that you?”

  “Finn! Thank God. Where are you?” His father’s voice was full of relief and loud and the most wonderful thing he’d ever heard. A lump filled his throat.

  “Uh…I’m not exactly sure. Some truck stop in Montana, I think.” Wiping away the tears in his eyes, Finn looked around for any signs of where they were. He held Chloe tight against his chest while Lucy cried tears of relief into Olivia’s hair.

  “Are you…okay? Is Lucy alright?”

  Finn could tell his father was getting choked up which made him lose what little control he had left. He let his head fall back while he closed his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Uh.” His voice cracked a little. He cleared his throat. “She’s with me and the girls. We’re fine. We just want to go home.”

  George came over with the bolt cutters. “Hold on a second, Dad.”

  Finn put the phone down, and George slipped the cutters carefully between Finn’s ankle and the monitor. As he cut, Finn felt a small shock as it fell to the floor. George then cut Lucy’s off, sending a small jolt up her leg. Finn placed the monitors on the table before turning to him.

  “I knew that Mr. Allen was a little off, but this?” George picked up one of the monitors, looking at it in shock.

  “Can you tell me where we are?”

  “Off of I-90, outside of Park City, about twenty miles west of Billings.” He grabbed a chair from nearby and brought it to the table to sit.

  “Dad, were at a truck stop off of I-90 outside of Park City, twenty miles west of Billings. We need to get out of here. I don’t know if they can still track us. We’re only about fifteen miles away from the house.”

  “Was it Viktor?”

  “Yes…Camille too. They’ve been tracking our every move with these ankle monitors they’ve had on us. Plus they have surveillance cameras all over the house. Camille set everything up. She set up the whole network. She was in on it from the beginning.”

  “We found the cameras here at the house. Sam and Lane are on their way to the source right now to check it out.”

  The fear of Viktor walking in at any moment loomed, but as Finn looked to Lucy, relief swept over his entire body. Finn covered the mouthpiece and whispered to Lucy. “They found the cameras. Your dad and Sam Weston are on their way.” Lucy gasped. “Jack’s on the phone with Lane right now. They’ll be there soon.”

  Finn moved his hand to speak to his father again. “Please, Dad…we want to come home.” Finn’s voice broke.

  Finn heard his dad’s voice hitch. “There hasn’t been a day when we weren’t doing everything we could to make that happen. I’m so sorry.”

  “Dad—” Finn started crying so hard his throat closed, and he couldn’t speak. He handed the phone over to Lucy.

  “Murphy?” She cried into the phone.

  Finn’s tears fell on Chloe’s cheek, waking her.

  “Finn?” She looked up at him. “Where are we?”

  “We’re safe.”

  “Away from Mommy and Daddy?”

  Finn brushed the hair from her eyes as she stared into his face. “Why do you say it like that?”

  “When Daddy told us you were sick, I wanted to see you. I saw him hurt you. I saw him hurt Lucy, too. He made me promise not to tell.” She lifted up h
er shirt and on the middle of her back were three black and blue welts.

  Finn pulled her in close. “He’s not going to hurt us, not ever again.” He kissed her forehead before taking her face in his hands. “I’ll try and make sure that you and Olivia stay with us. Would that be okay?”

  She wrapped her arms around him and settled her head in the crook of his neck. “It’s okay with me. I love you, Finn.”

  “I love you, too.” He kissed her on the top of the head.

  Finn and Lucy talked with Murphy for a few more minutes before they heard the sirens.

  The sound caused Lucy’s heart to race. They looked out the window as six cars pulled up. When she saw Sam get out of one car, she knew her father wouldn’t be far behind. Finn took both the girls as the door flew open, and Lane rushed in.

  Lucy ran through the agents that were piling into the truck stop and straight into her father’s awaiting arms. “Daddy!”

  “Luce!” He hugged her too tight, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t believe he was here in the flesh. Her dad had never been the touchy feely type, but holding onto him made her feel completely safe. She knew Camille and Viktor could never hurt them again.

  Lane pulled back and took his daughter’s face in his trembling hands. “Are you okay?”

  All she could do was nod. She looked over to where Finn was sitting with the girls and then to Sam. She gave him a teary smile. “We’re all fine. Take us home.”

  “We’ll get you home.” He put his arm around Lucy’s shoulders as they walked back over to Finn. “I think we’ll want to get you all checked out at St. Vincent’s in Billings first.”

  With all the commotion, it was incredible that Olivia was still asleep. Lucy picked her up and cradled Olivia in her arms as Finn held Chloe. The agents ushered them into an awaiting van. Finn and Lucy strapped the girls in for the ride to the hospital.

  Finn wrapped his arms around Lucy. “We’re so close.”

  “I can’t wait to lie in that chair of yours and listen to you play again.”

  “Sounds like heaven.”

  Lane was sitting in the front seat on his phone. He flipped it shut and turned to Finn and Lucy.

  “They’ve got Viktor and Camille in custody. I don’t think they’d even realized you were gone. They’re searching the house now.”

  “Dad, you’ve got to make sure they can’t take the girls away from us.”

  “I don’t know what they’re going to do, Luce, but we’ll try.”

  Finn turned to Lucy with a strangely serious look in his eyes. “He was hurting Chloe. She has welts on her back.”

  Lucy shook her head as he pulled her to his chest. “I was sure it was just us. I never thought he would.”

  “What did they do to you?”

  They both gave Lane an intense look before turning back to each other. Finn cupped his palm to Lucy’s cheek. “We can talk about it later.” Lucy looked at the girls.

  Lane nodded as they pulled up to the hospital.

  The agents ushered them in to the emergency room as Finn and Lucy cradled the girls in their arms. They had doctors, nurses, police, and FBI all over them. So many people were shooting questions at them that they were scaring the girls. Finally, Lane put a stop to all of it. He cleared the room of anyone who didn’t need to be there.

  They started the real examinations; taking their vital signs, checking them over, even a rape kit for each of them. Finn made sure that they took pictures of both his and Chloe’s torsos. Even though most of his welts had healed, there were still plenty of visible scars and bruises.

  Olivia checked out perfectly. They hadn’t started in on her, thank God. Poor Chloe had the welts plus a healing rib fracture. Neither Finn nor Lucy ever saw them lay a hand on her, but from the way Chloe told them about the welts, it wasn’t the first time.

  Lucy was fine, just a little redness on her ankle from the monitor. They then turned to Finn. They had taken blood and urine samples, and done x-rays on all of them. They seemed to want to do a little bit more on Finn, which started to concern him.

  When Finn finally had a moment alone, a nurse came in the room. He was wearing his jeans and a hospital gown, the drafty kind.

  “The doctor wants me to do an EKG. Do you know what that is?”

  “It’s a heart test, right?”

  “Yes. I need to place some electrodes around on your chest and then hook up these leads. This machine here will record everything. It will only take a minute. If you take off your gown, I can put these on and get started.”

  Finn swallowed hard. He had seen how the doctor and FBI agents had reacted when they saw the scars. He hesitated only a moment before he pulled it off. He heard her gasp, but she didn’t say anything as she placed the patches on his chest. She hooked him up to the machine and started the test.

  “This will be quick.”

  Finn closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. He could only imagine what he must have looked like to her. If she could only see the scars on the inside, she would have run away screaming. All that really mattered to Finn was that Lucy had seen them and still embraced him. She took the scars in as a part of him, kissing each one until his pain was lost in oblivion.

  “All done. Do you want me to take the patches off?”

  “No, I got it.”

  “Alright. I think I’ve got all I need. I’ll show this to the doctor, then he’ll be in to talk to you.”

  “Thanks.” Finn pulled off the patches and shrugged on his t-shirt.

  Once the curtain was closed, Finn could hear the nurse’s breathing grow a little labored. He swore he heard her start to cry as she walked down the corridor. He couldn’t help but tear up himself.

  Finn looked in the mirror on the wall at the man he had become. He had dark circles under his eyes from all the sleepless nights. His skin was pale even though they’d spent hours in the sun. And his hair. He knew Rylan was going to have a fit.

  Home. He realized for the first time, he was going home. Rylan, Jack, and Aiden all waiting for him. Aiden, he must have been going out of his mind.

  Mom. A lumped formed in his throat. He couldn’t wait to pick her up and spin her around, and although Finn had heard his dad’s voice, he needed to see him. They’d ended their conversation when the FBI arrived, not knowing when they’d be able to see each other.

  When he saw the doctor, Finn hoped all the tests and check-ups were done so they could go home.

  “What’s the verdict, Doc?”

  He sat down across from Finn, looking over the chart.

  “I know you probably don’t have the answer to this, but I need to ask anyway.” He shut Finn’s chart as his expression turned deadly serious. “I know you went to your local doctor back home and got an STD screening, but he didn’t do any kind of drug screen.”

  “No.” Drugs? What was he worried about?

  “Do you know what kind of drugs you were given that caused the blackout episodes?”

  “No. I didn’t want to know. Is there something wrong?”

  “Prolonged drug use can have effects on your cardiovascular system. From your preliminary tests, you have an irregular heartbeat and a murmur. That’s a little odd for someone your age. I’m afraid those drugs might have had an effect on your heart. I recommend you get a full cardiac workup when you get home. For the time being, I’m going to give you a prescription that will help regulate your heartbeat. If you have any dizziness, fatigue, or rapid pulse, you need to get a hold of a doctor immediately. I see that your father is a doctor?”

  “Yeah, family practice, but I’m sure he knows a good cardiologist.” Finn laughed as he wiped his hand across his face. “After everything, my heart was the last thing I was worried about.”

  “I think we’ve caught it in time. I’ll make sure to get this prescription for you.”

  “Are we done?”

  “From my standpoint, you’re good to go. I’m done with the girls, but I’m not sure if they need to take you anywhere els
e for questioning.”

  “Have you dealt with many cases like ours before?” As soon as he asked the question, he regretted it.

  He sighed as he nodded. “Unfortunately, child abuse is prevalent no matter where you live. Never anything with this much national media coverage though.”

  “What?”

  “You don’t know, do you?” He put Finn’s chart down on the counter and took off his glasses. He slipped into a kind of father mode as he set out to explain what had been going on while they were isolated. “Your pictures have been on every news station and almost every paper for months. I saw that guy…Um…What’s his name?” He reached up and grabbed the back of his head as if he were racking his brain. “Jack Butler! Yeah, he was all over the news telling your story. We’ve had to call the hospital media director to handle all the press. They started arriving right after you did. You had the whole nation pulling for you.”

  “They all know?” Finn suddenly felt his chest get tight, his heart raced. His breathing became heavy and erratic as he felt the anger well up inside of him. Each scar burned with a new intensity. What he’d been trying to hide for so long was now common knowledge to the whole country. He could feel the air leaving his lungs, but it wouldn’t return no matter how hard he tried to suck it back in.

  “Calm down. It’s going to be fine. I hear the FBI has them in custody.”

  The doctor put his hand on Finn’s shoulder to steady him. “Nothing about this is fine!”

  Finn bent over, breathing heavily with his hands grasping his knees. He could hear the doctor move to the door, open it, and yell something, but the words sounded muffled. All he could hear was the blood pounding against his eardrums as his breathing continued to labor. Panic set in, and Finn started to rock back and forth.

  That’s when he felt her touch. He quickly wrapped his arms around her. She was his life preserver, his savior.

  “I’m here. I’m right here.”

  Finn pulled back, putting a hand on each side of Lucy’s face. He claimed her mouth with his in a desperate kiss made salty from their combined tears. He told her he loved her over and over again before resting his forehead against hers.