Author's note: Thank you so much for the reviews on Chapter 25 :)
4th April 2020
The two drawings, both of a dog, were placed beside each other for the two artists to look down upon. Both were comparing their works of art, the girl's face in a frown as she concentrated as if this were a very serious matter indeed.
She finally came to a decision and voiced her opinion. "Yours better, Killy."
In response, Killian chuckled a little and shook his head. "Nah, I think yours is the best one, Willow. I really admire your bravery of making the dog red with green spots. Those colours aren't commonly used together, it can be very controversial. 'Red and green should never be seen', and all that. But your dog looks very cool, Willow. You definitely win this round."
The little girl grinned a toothy smile, her eyes lighting up. She smiled the same way Gracie did, small at first before it grew into a huge grin, eyes crinkling at the edges and head tilted to the side just a little. "Willow win always!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air in happiness.
To keep her busy – which seemed to be the best way to keep a two year old content – Killian got Willow drawing again, glad that she seemed to enjoy his suggestion of fun. Her drawing tended to be more scribbles than anything else, as was to be expected for her age, but she just managed to be able to do a somewhat similar shape of what it was she was drawing.
Watching her focus and hold tightly to the crayon in her right hand, Killian couldn't help but smile. He had quite enjoyed looking after her for the past two days, even if it was hard when she had her little strops. Being the youngest in his family, he had never really experienced looking after young children. Even at the care homes he'd lived in, the youngest was always around six or seven.
Killian had never imagined himself having kids in his future but spending this time with Willow had made him change his mind. Looking after her made him kind of broody if he had to be honest, and he could now fully imagine himself doing this on a daily basis with a child of his own.
He wasn't sure whether or not he'd like a big family like his own; probably he'd just want one of each, a boy and a girl. And he definitely wanted all of that with Gracie. She was the only one he could picture himself having kids with and the thought of creating a family of their own with her sounded so perfect to him right now. He would make sure that he was a brilliant father that never let his children down, never let them suffer even a fraction of what he had.
He found it so strange that he was sat there thinking about creating his own family instead dwelling on thoughts of his actual family. He hadn't thought of his parents or siblings in a while now, hadn't wondered what had happened to them or where they were now. He hadn't even thought about whether or not he would ever see them again. As for Alfie, Killian didn't see him as family despite their blood ties.
Gracie was his family now. The only one that was important to him.
He couldn't believe how far they had come together. From the very first time they met, that day in January in the stables, he had been drawn to her. He'd been hopeful that this girl from America would be his new friend at school, his only friend, but he'd still been cautious. He hadn't wanted to get too attached so soon, hadn't wanted to seem desperate, hadn't wanted to trust her in case he was left hurting.
She'd shocked him, though. She didn't follow the crowd and believe all the rumours about him and hate him just because everyone else did. She gave him a chance. There weren't many people that gave Killian a chance these days, but she had and he still couldn't believe it. She hadn't been judgemental.
He was so happy with how things turned out. He really appreciated that they'd been friends first, that they'd got to know each other so well before anything happened between them. He'd told her things he'd never told anyone before. He wasn't quite sure when exactly he had fallen in love with her, but when he'd realized it he wasn't surprised; it just felt so right, so easy, to be in love with Gracie Benedict.
As cliché as it sounded, he was so thankful for having the chance to know her. He'd give anything to be with her again. Even if it somehow meant he'd never see his only family again, even if he had to choose, he would be elated to choose Gracie as the one to be with.
He was snapped out of his inner thoughts when the door swung open and Alfie walked in. Killian unconsciously moved a little closer to Willow, knowing already that Alfie didn't like children, especially a Benedict child.
"Killian," he narrowed his eyes when he saw how happy Willow was. "I told you to keep her quiet, not make her so cheerful."
"I'm keeping her occupied," Killian replied with a shrug. He didn't want to let Alfie see how much he intimidated and scared him. "If I wasn't, she wouldn't be quiet and therefore I wouldn't be following your orders. Is there something you wanted?" He tried to sound polite and not pissed off.
"Yes." Alfie smiled maliciously. "You're going to speak to your soulfinder's dad and you're going to say exactly what I tell you to."
Trace was exhausted. Since they'd woken up two days ago and found Willow gone, he hadn't slept at all. He'd only just managed to coax Georgie into sleep a few hours ago, having been worried for her and the baby if she didn't get enough rest. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get to sleep himself.
He was so worried about Willow. After seeing the letter Killian had left Gracie, Trace hadn't been angry like he'd thought he would have been. He actually felt sorry for Killian because clearly the kid didn't want to be doing any of this shit and was being forced into it. He actually trusted him when he said that he'd look after Willow, but Trace also knew that if Killian was overpowered he wouldn't be able to stop Willow from being harmed. Hell, he was worried about both Killian and Willow if he was being completely honest.
After trying and failing to fall asleep, he'd left the bedroom and was now sat downstairs. The house phone was sat in front of him, as were all three mobiles used in the house, and he'd been sat staring at them for at least an hour now as if trying to will them into ringing with any information. If Killian was right, Alfie would be getting in touch any time now and Trace didn't want to miss that call.
When he heard the creak of somebody coming down the stairs, he expected it be Georgie. She could be quite a restless sleeper when she was stressed, more so if he wasn't in the bed with her. However it wasn't Georgie that walked into the kitchen. It was Gracie.
Gracie was clearly another person in the house that couldn't get any sleep. She was dressed in her pyjamas and her hair was ruffled, but he knew she hadn't slept because of the bloodshot look to her eyes and the shadow beneath them.
"Hey," he said gently and quietly. "What are you doing up? It's two in the morning," he added after looking at the clock on the wall.
"Couldn't sleep," she admitted to him with a shrug of her shoulders. "Thought I'd find you down here... I didn't want to be alone."
Trace smiled and pulled the chair next to him out from under the table. "Come on then, you can join me staring at the phone." As she sat down beside him, Trace felt compelled to say something to his daughter that he'd been wanting to say for the past few weeks now. "You know, I'm really proud of how you've been dealing with all of this. Not just the past couple days, but since you lost Killian too. You could have gone down a really bad path after that but you stayed strong and I admire that."
"You stayed strong for years after you lost mum," Gracie pointed out.
"That's true," Trace nodded. "I guess you get your strength from me then," he winked. "You know, what I'd like to know is how you got dragged into all of this in the first place, how you got involved with The Illusionists. You still haven't told me."
"Well," she hesitated before answering. "I couldn't sleep one night so I was wandering up and down the corridors. I heard the teachers talking about how a student had gone missing and they mentioned The Illusionists. I was curious so... Remember that I called and said I had to do a presentation on rogue savants? You gave me your login details for the net's website accounts. Well, I lied. There was no presentation. I used your login to find out who The Illusionists were and it all just spiralled from there I guess."
Trace couldn't stop himself from shaking his head in disbelief and laughing a little. "You shouldn't have lied to me, but I'm glad you knew about them before the bombing and everything. I would have done the same thing; you were thinking like a cop would, Gracie."
She smiled and sat up straighter a little, as if pleasantly surprised by the praise. "Yeah well, I don't think that's a career I'd like in the future. Far too serious for me. Dad... Do you think Killian will eventually come back to me?"
Trace looked into her hopeful eyes and really wanted to tell her what she wanted to hear, which would obviously make his answer a straight up yes. Instead, he decided to tell her what she needed to hear: the truth. "I don't know," he replied to her. "For both your sakes, I sincerely hope so. But not everybody gets what they want, the future could turn out any possible way. If we destroy The Illusionists – which we will, eventually – Killian will come back to you. Or he could get caught in the crossfire and killed. Or he could easily switch sides completely at the last minute and side with Alfie. We have no idea how it will go."
"Are you angry at him for taking Willow?" She asked in a quiet voice.
"Absolutely, of course I am. But I know that it's not as simple as that. Your mother and I are angry yes, but we forgive Killian already. I can promise you that if he returns to you, we will gladly welcome him into our home and our lives; we'll give him a chance to prove himself. He deserves that much."
"Do you mean that?" When Trace nodded, Gracie smiled and tears filled her eyes. "I miss him so much, dad. He's such a great guy, he doesn't deserve all of this to be happening to him. You'd like him so, so much. He's gentle and kind, he understands me and just wants to make me smile every day. He was always there for me when I needed him at school, and he never belittled me or misjudged my strength. He saw me for exactly who I am and he still loved me. I love him. I love him, dad. He's everything I need in a partner and I didn't even realise that until I lost him. I just want him back. I love him so much."
Trace was glad when she didn't pull away as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. It felt like it'd been so long that he'd had a heart-to-heart with Gracie, that she'd opened up to him and allowed him to hug her like this. No matter how old she got, she would always be his baby girl and he just wanted to protect her from all the bad in the world. He hated seeing her so distraught and upset.
"I'm sorry," he heard her mumble against his chest. "I'm sorry for pushing you away. I was just angry and you were the one that I took it out on. I want us to be close again, dad. I don't like not talking to you."
"Shh, that's okay," he reassured her, stroking her hair. "Gracie, it's fine. I knew that you didn't hate me or anything like that, I knew you were just mad and needed time to come to terms with all this. I'll tell you what, once this is all over we'll have a father-daughter day. Just the two of us, nobody else. Not even Mark or Willow or your mum. We'll go to the cinemas or we can go shopping and I'll buy you whatever you want. We'll eat somewhere real fancy and then come home and brag about it. What d'ya say?"
Gracie pulled herself out of her arms and smiled at him, wiping tears from her cheeks and eyes. "That sounds fun. I'd like that, we haven't had a day where it's just the two of us for years now."
"Okay then, I'll set a date in my calendar for that," he grinned. "Look, I know you're worried about Willow and Killian but you really need to get some sleep, Gracie. It's not healthy to stay up all night. I know that sounds hypocritical but I'm going to bed soon myself, I swear. Why don't I warm up some milk for you to take up in a mug, just like I used to when you couldn't sleep?"
"Alright," she nodded.
Gracie sat at the table quietly whilst Trace got a pan out of the cupboard and set about to warm up some milk for her. Hopefully it would help her relax enough that she could fall asleep. As they waited for the milk to boil, the phone started ringing. Trace froze for a second before rushing back to his seat at the table, answering the phone and putting it on speaker so that Gracie could listen too.
"Hello?" Trace asked, putting on his professional, confident voice.
"Is this Trace Benedict?" A voice with an Irish accent asked.
"It is... Are you with The Illusionists?"
"I am. I have a message for you from our leader, Alfie."
"Killian?" Gracie burst out, her voice desperate. "Killian is that you?" There was a pause on the other end of the line. "I know it's you, I know your voice. Please talk to me. Please, Killian."
After another long pause, Killian finally answer. It sounded like he was speaking through clenched teeth, forcing the words out of his mouth. "I'm only calling to speak to Trace Benedict. I will not speak to anybody else."
"I love you." Trace was surprised, and proud, of how her voice sounded strong and she wasn't crying again despite how hard this must be for her. "I understand that you can't reply to me, but I want you to know that. Nothing has changed, Killian. I still love you; I still want you."
"What message do you have for me?" Trace asked when Killian still didn't answer Gracie.
"Willow Benedict is alive and safe," Killian replied. It sounded like he was reading the words from something – which he most probably was. "No harm has come to her yet but Alfie is not afraid to hurt her if you don't agree to his terms."
Trace gulped. "What are his terms?" He knew that he would agree no matter what they were because this was his daughter being threatened here. He'd give his own life to save and protect any one of his children.
"He wants Fernando back. Fernando was one of the best assets to The Illusionists and is the perfect way for Alfie to have more people working for him. He also wants one of the net leaders. He doesn't care which one, as long as they are one of the leaders of the net and very high up in the ranks. Can this be done?"
"Yes," Trace answered instantly. He had no idea how it would be done, but it would be. There'd have to be planning done, plans to rescue Fernando and the net leader somehow, but he'd sort it out as best as he could for Willow.
"Good," Killian answered. "Alfie will meet you in the parking lot of the old hospital building in Denver. It's empty now and on a rough street, hardly anybody will be around. He will give you until five pm tomorrow to get everything in order and meet him. In exchange for Fernando and a net leader, you will get your daughter back. You will personally bring the two people to Alfie. Only you. If there are any other people with you, or hiding out nearby, Alfie will know about it and will kill your daughter before there is time for an exchange. Is this understood?"
"Yes, I understand. It'll just be me there with them, I swear. I understand and agree to his terms."
Killian didn't answer.
The line went dead.
A hint about the next chapter: Trace meets Alfie as planned.