My Name is NOT Cupcake novel Chapter 9

I walked out of the room and down to the car. I hoped in, both excited and nervous to see my brother and father again. Elias held a cloth bag up.

"I'm sorry, I have to do this," he said. I sighed and allowed it. At least he was letting me see my family. Elias drove straight to my house. He stopped the car in front of the house and took the bag off.  I turned to him confused.

"How did you-"

"I do my research, Nova," he answered before I even finished. The way he said my name made me sigh. It just rolled off his tongue like the sweetest desert. I cleared my head. I had to stop thinking that way. I sighed and looked at the house. The lights were on. They were home. "Here, wear this," he said handing me an earpiece.

"Why?" I asked.

"I'll feed you what to say, and I'll be able to hear what you say. It's best they don't look for you at all. People will get hurt if they try," he explained. I sighed before I put the earpiece in. He put one in himself.

"Can you hear me?" he tested. I nodded. He held my hand gently.

"You'll be okay," he assured me. It felt weird having him reassure me; my kidnapper. I hated more that it actually worked. I nodded before I walked up to the door. I rang the doorbell and waited. My brother answered the door. He eyes watered immediately when he saw me.

"Nova," he breathed. He wrapped me up in a suffocating bear hug. I returned it with my own.

"Nolan," I said softly. I peeked over his shoulder and saw my dad standing, watching on shocked.

"Nova," he whispered.

"Dad," I smiled through my tears. Nolan let go of me and I rushed to my dad. We hugged each other tightly. I felt a wave of relief sweep over me.

"Novalyn, we thought you were dead," he cried. He pulled away and looked at me.