Chapter 15: To Get You Back On Your Feet

"It's okay. I'm sure you'll find your parents." Said Savannah.

"I don' think I want to. Not anymore. I mean, they abandoned me, so, who's to say that, even if I did find them, that they would even want to know me? They didn't even bother contacting this place since leaving me here." He spread out his arms, from the tall brick wall to the playground. Then, he placed a hand on hers. "Savannah, everything okay?"

Savannah smiled. Kevin still understood her – could read her like a book, even as she actively tried to hide from him. He persisted. "Tell me, Savannah, what happened?"

So she let it out. At first, she wasn't sure how much to tell. She started with small things, like her life with her aunt and uncle, but soon she was moving onto bigger things, and she couldn't stop despite herself, like a dam that had just broken.

She described her arranged marriage to Devin and how she'd been sent to another man's bed. And how she'd then discovered that he���d been having an affair with her cousin, Valerie. And how, hours ago, she had left Devin and fought with her aunt and uncle and ran away from home - it all came spilling out. Yet, she didn't talk about Devin's uncle, Dylan. Even that seemed too shameful to share.

Kevin listened as she talked, his brow furrowing, his dark under his hooded brow. When she finished, he reached up and cupped her face, bit back his anger.

He thought she would be fine.

He'd lied to her. He had tried to find her several years ago on her birthday. He'd arrived at the Schultz's home with a cake and card, but Savannah was not home, and he said he would wait.

"Don't wait." Said Norah. "Let me tell you, Savannah is married to Devin, the grandson of old Sterling. She's happy. Don't go ruining that!"

Then he'd given her the cake and left. Heard her throwing it out into a waste bin down the side ally. After that, he'd left her alone, as Norah had asked. It made sense, he supposed. Seeing him again would only remind her of her time in the orphanage and of her father's death. He then set about erasing any link they'd had. He asked that his contact details be removed from the orphanage documents and stopped returning almost entirely. He thought that she was happy. Not going through the misery that she had been going through.

"Kevin... " His face had become shadowed. Savannah shook his shoulder, and he quickly blinked it away, his eyes brightening.

He withdrew his hand. "What are you going to do now? Do you have somewhere to stay?"

"Not yet. I'm still figuring that out."

"I have a small apartment," He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's empty if you'd like to stay there a while." He pulled out a pen and paper, and wrote down the address, handed her a key.

"Is – are you saying I can live there? In your apartment?" Savannah stammered.

Kevin hesitated a moment, "it actually belongs to a friend of mine. He moved abroad and asked me to look after it. But it's okay! He'd understand, you need it more than he does at the moment."

Savannah thanked him..

Then, Kevin took some money and pushed it into her hand, "To get you back on your feet, okay?"

She thanked him again, and he hailed her a taxi, waved her off. "Why don't you come with me?" She asked as she climbed in the back.

Kevin shook his head. "I can't, not now. I have things to do. Maybe later." He said, awkwardly, and stood back as she pulled away. He watched as she drove away, felt his chest heave a little, and sighed.

He walked back towards a garage next to the orphanage. A black BMW waited inside, in the driver's seat, Dan. Dan smiled and said, "Kevin, we're done with the kids?"

"Miss Schultz will live in my vacant apartment in Altair. Please arrange some food and daily necessities to be delivered to her."

Dan arched his brow in surprise. "This is the first girl I've ever heard you talk about. In fact, I and the other thought you might be gay." He laughed.

Kevin jabbed him in the arm. They were like brothers. "Shut it. She's an old friend, from way back."

"Childhood sweetheart?" Dan whistled.

"Unlike you, Dan, some of us were able to actually talk to the opposite sex before the age of twenty-five."

"Happily married now, though." He smiled, holding up his ring finger.

"Jesus. Just do me a favor. Don't let her know I own JK, okay? It's complicated." He paused, turned on the radio as the car pulled out into traffic. "One more thing. I need to know the address of a guy named Devin, the grandson of old Sterling, of the Sterling Group" "Kevin said quietly.

"Devin Yontz?" Dan was a little confused, "Why? We've never dealt with them. They're real estate, hotels… we're gaming. What's the angle?"

"Really, you don't need to know. It's personal, nothing to do with the company."

Dan nodded, and they left the orphanage behind. He didn't ask any more questions. He knew that he was planning something, and if he said he didn't want to know, then he really didn't want to know.