Page 25 of A Dove To Break (The Dove Institute Collection #1)
Adrian
I have a million things running through my mind.
I can see how badly she is hurting, and I know why.
I need to call Brent when we get to the house.
I’m worried about him, but I’m more worried about Alania.
I’ve never seen someone get mad over being saved.
She isn’t actually angry, though; she’s sad.
She’s never known loss because she has always stayed closed off.
She finally let her heart reach out for Brent, and he walked away.
Worse than that, now Mark is dead. I don’t know why he was even there.
Last I knew, he was going to help Eli. I can’t force information out of her, though.
When we get to the house, I take her upstairs and get the bath ready for her while she stares blankly at the wall. I undress her and have her sit down in the water before I kiss her forehead.
“I need to make some calls. When you get done, try to get some sleep, okay?” I say. When she doesn’t answer, I lift her chin. Her beautiful blue eyes are red from Fredrico strangling her. Blood is coating her face, chest, and hair.
I can’t leave her like this.
I sit on the edge of the tub and grab the washcloth.
“I’ve got it,” she says, taking the cloth out of my hand.
“Alania,” I say gently. “You are covered in blood, Little Dove.”
“Just… leave me alone,” she says flatly. “Please.”
“Okay,” I say. All I want to do is wrap her in a big hug and never let go, but that’s not what she wants.
I can’t force her to accept my affection.
I just need to support her the best I can, and sometimes that means giving her the space she asks for.
I don’t know what else to do, so I gently kiss her and leave the bathroom.
When I shut the door, her sobs crack through the silence, and it breaks my heart.
I pull my phone out and keep walking. “Hey,” Marisol says. “Is she in the bath?”
“Yeah. Just give her space. Fredrico almost killed her, and Mark was killed. She’s not handling it well and asked for space,” I say.
“Calling Brent?” she asks.
“Yeah. Can you listen out for her?”
“Yeah. You go handle him,” she says with a smile.
I turn and walk downstairs. When I get into my office, I dial Brent’s number. He doesn’t answer, so I just keep calling. Around the tenth time, he finally picks up. “What do you want?!” Brent snaps.
“He almost killed her,” I say. “Mark is dead, and I don’t know why he was there. She has completely shut down, and I don’t know how to help her.”
“Mark is dead?” Brent asks quietly. “How?”
“I gather that Fredrico killed him, but I don’t know why he was in there.
During the Hunt, she went to an old equipment shed.
When I got to her, Mark was dead and Fredrico was raping her with his hands around her throat.
She was completely limp, but when I shot him, she started screaming and begging me to let her go.
I’m not really confident she didn’t mean she wanted to die.
She was so angry, but at the same time, she wasn’t. She’s broken…”
“Fuck. I did this,” Brent says with a sigh. “I stopped reaching out to Mark because he just… I had a bad feeling, so I backed off.”
“She’s in the bath right now. Will you please come talk to her? She thinks she made you run away,” I tell him.
“Fuck. Okay. I’ll be there soon. Just don’t leave her alone for too long. She spirals silently, and if she falls too far, she doesn’t know how to catch herself,” he explains.
“I’ll go check on her,” I say. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m… getting there. I’m sorry I did that to y’all. It would have been easier to just explain that he is a fucking psycho. I panicked and ran when I should have just…”
“He shot you, Brent. You have every right to panic. She will understand,” I say. “You got really fucking lucky, so let’s just help her and then deal with that fuckwad.”
“Okay. Thanks, man,” Brent says.
When the call ends, I stand and walk back up the stairs. When I get to the third floor, the door is locked. “Alania? Unlock the door, baby,” I say, knocking on the door. It’s eerily silent, and that terrifies me. Maybe she is still in the bath? “Alania?”
Nothing. Not at first, at least. I listen for a moment, but when I hear the click of a hammer being pulled back, I slam my shoulder into the door and send it flying open.