Page 13

13

RAFFAELE

A delina’s scream of terror cuts through me like a white-hot blade. My entire world narrows to that spot on the bed where she vanishes under that fucker’s body, and my heart claws its way out of my throat.

“Vito!” I yell, raising my weapon and aiming at the still-alive kidnapper in the corner. I squeeze the trigger, and the bullet thuds into his thigh. He crumbles down the wall with a scream, clutching at his leg while blood pours from the wound. The only reason he isn’t dead is because I need answers, but there will be nothing he can say that will save him from meeting the same fate as his companion.

Rage bleeds through me like lava, pushing through my limbs until even my fingertips feel like they are on fire. Leaping up onto the bed, I abandon my gun in favor of grasping the belt and shirt of the man covering Adelina. Her screams grow hoarse while I haul the dead body off her and let it roll to the side. It’s no longer my concern.

The moment he’s gone, my heart stills in my chest like the cold grasp of death has just made contact with my skin.

Adelina is covered in blood. It stains her skin, splotches her face, and soaks into the mattress beneath her. She gasps wetly, desperate sobs pouring from her open mouth, and in the half-second I pause to quickly glance her over for injuries, I’ve never been more relieved or panicked to see someone alive.

“Adelina!”

She gurgles slightly as her screams taper off into broken wails of pain. I drop to my knees beside her and my hand hovers near her face, aching to soothe her, but her head snaps away from me as she thrashes back and forth in her binding.

“Vito!” My head snaps around to him the moment he sprints into the room. “Give me your knife!”

He obliges instantly, and I slide the blade as carefully as I can through the rough rope binding Adelina’s wrists to the metal headboard. It’s difficult to keep her safe from the blade while she struggles, but the rope quickly falls away from her wrists. As I turn to do the same to her ankles, both of her hands claw their way across my back, and she grips my shirt so tightly, it’s a wonder some of the buttons don’t pop. I cut her ankles free and abandon the knife to Vito, who stands over the injured kidnapper, then swivel back to face her.

“Adelina. It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re safe now. I’m right here. I’m here. You’re okay. I’ve got you now, you hear me? I’ve got you.”

Every warning in my mind screams at me not to touch her until she’s been looked over by a doctor, but her sobs of pain carve right through me. Nothing in the world can stop me from wrapping my arms around her bare torso and pulling her tight against my chest.

Adelina doesn’t struggle. She winds her fists into the front of my shirt and pulls herself closer, sobbing brokenly against my shoulder. Her entire body quakes like a leaf. I keep one arm firm around her body while the other wraps around her head, as if by holding her against me, I can somehow protect her from everything that’s around her.

Not that it will help.

I got here too late.

I should have been faster.

I never should have left her alone in the first place.

“It’s okay,” I say softly, rocking back and forth while she curls her legs up against me and shoves herself so hard against me it’s like she’s trying to crawl to safety inside my rib cage. “I’ve got you. I’m right here. It’s over. You’re safe now, Adelina. You’re safe.” My voice cracks sharply, and while rage still stews underneath my skin, pain rises up.

Guilt.

“My…” Adelina chokes, her voice muffled against my shoulders. “My friend, Marie! We were… I don’t know where… Is she okay? We were just drinking, I don’t know where she is. Where is she? Where is she? I don’t know. I don’t understand, I don’t understand!”

She trips over her words, struggling to get them out past her gasps for air, and as her concern for her friend brings her voice to alarming volumes, she chokes and starts to hyperventilate.

“Adelina!”

Her body goes rigid against me and she pushes away from me, her mouth open as she gasps, but no air makes it past the tightness that’s consumed her.

“Hey! Breathe, Adelina. It’s okay, we’ll find your friend. You’re okay. You’re safe, okay? You see me? Look at me, Adelina. I’m right here. I’m right here. You’re safe.” It takes every ounce of strength I didn’t know I had to keep my voice as calm and as level as I can. I don’t know if it’s my voice that helps or the way I grasp her shoulders and bring her back against my chest, but she eventually gasps raggedly.

“Slowly,” I whisper against her head. “Breathe slowly. I’m here, sweetheart. I’m right here.”

As she dissolves back into sobs against me, I gather her up into my arms and stand from the soiled mattress. Turning, Vito is there with his jacket, which he drapes over Adelina’s naked body. She quivers in my arms, huddling into my chest and latching onto my shirt with her balled-up fists.

Vito and I don’t speak.

We don’t need to.

He’ll find the other girl, and he’ll take care of this.

Carrying Adelina out of the apartment, I use the jacket and my body to shield her from any stray eyes that dare wander in our direction while I hurry down the steps to where we messily parked the cars. This abandoned housing estate is a haven for drugs and crime.

Now I want to burn the whole fucking dump to the ground.

Adelina’s sobs don’t fade even when we get into the car. She curls up in my lap and cries while I hold her as tightly as I dare, tenderly stroking her hair.

“You’re safe now, sweetheart,” I murmur repeatedly.

I’m never letting her out of my sight again.

Adelina falls quiet on the trip home. Her sobs turn into noiseless gasps of air, and then shock seems to consume her and she becomes utterly silent. She allows me to carry her into the estate and up to our bedroom, but when I mention letting the doctor take a look at her, she desperately shakes her head. Unwilling to leave her, I speak to the family doctor through the door, and she informs that me she’ll be back tomorrow but will remain on call if Adelina changes her mind.

She leaves some medication to aid with sleep, just in case.

As much as I want her to be checked over, I won’t pressure her into doing anything she isn’t willing to do.

After the doctor leaves, Adelina stands in the middle of the room with Vito’s jacket clutched around her shoulders. Her hair hangs in dirtied strands around her face, her makeup is all but cried off, and what skin I can see is stained with the dried blood of her attacker.

I have to help her.

“Adelina?” I say softly, approaching her slowly.

Her eyes dart around the room as if she expects something terrible to burst out of the closet, then they flick up to me and she whimpers in the back of her throat.

“Sweetheart, I need to know a few things before we get you cleaned up. I need to know… did they hurt you?”

An obvious question, but I need to know how badly they harmed her. Walking in on her naked with that man on top of her had enraged me in ways I never knew were possible and I regret killing him so quickly. I want to go back and take him apart piece by piece for even daring to look in her direction. But I don’t know the details. She was missing for hours, and the last thing I want is to trigger anything by touching her.

She doesn’t look away from me. Her eyes flood with tears as she shakes her head.

“Are you sure?” I approach with another few steps. “You can tell me. It’s okay. You’re safe here with me.”

She shakes her head again and her lips part, but no words come. Instead, she closes her eyes and the tears fall silently down her cheeks. One is deeply bruised and my heart continues to break for every new painful detail I notice.

“Okay,” I murmur. “That’s okay. Do you remember anything they did to you?”

Again, she shakes her head quickly.

“Okay, sweetheart, okay.” This clearly isn’t the time. While asking her these questions while it’s fresh in her mind would help me, it doesn’t seem to be helping her. I close the remaining distance and as I hold out my hand, preparing to ask her if I can touch her again, she sags forward into my arms with another muted whimper.

There’s my answer.

She’s as light as a feather when I scoop her into my arms and carry her into the en-suite. Vito’s jacket falls away from her shoulders, and I make a mental note to make sure to burn the thing. The fewer reminders she has of this night, the better.

We fill the bath with water and bubbles and a few essential oils to try and soothe her aching body. Not once does she let me move far away from her. Even when I set her down on the counter so I can run the bath, her grip on me becomes like iron and I don’t have the heart to pull myself away. So I work around her need to hold on to me.

“Alright, I’m going to help you into the bath now, okay?” Facing Adelina, I gently grasp her bare shoulder. “Are you ready?”

She gives me a half-nod, remaining silent as I help her back up, remove her panties, and help her step into the warm water. I’ve taken care to make sure it’s not too hot and kept the water running with the plug in halfway to ensure the bathwater will continue to drain away the dirty water.

She sits in the bath and keeps ahold of one of my hands, tears falling silently down her cheeks.

How do I help her?

How do I make sure that she feels safe here?

Those questions and more swarm around my mind as I vocalize my actions while I work. With soap and a cloth, I carefully wash away that bastard’s blood from her skin. She doesn’t move. She doesn’t let go of my hand, either, so I continue to work around her. The constant flow of water stops her from having to sit in dirty water, and soon, there isn’t a speck of blood left on her.

I wash her all over once more, just to be sure, then move on to her hair and face. Washing her hair is the easy part, but things get tricky when I try to wash the makeup stains from her cheeks. She flinches at my touch, so I stop, but then she looks at me with such pained eyes and tilts her head up that I understand she wants me to continue.

I’m as tender as I can be when washing her bruised cheek, stamping down the hatred that rises up each time I look over the marks on her skin.

I definitely killed that bastard too quickly.

Once her face is clean, I spend a long time tending to the rope burns on her wrists and ankles. Each time I ask her if she’s in pain, she shakes her head. That’s the extent of the responses I get out of her, but I make it work. Once she’s fully clean, I scoop her out of the water and set her down on some towels to pat her dry. The longer she’s silent and docile, the more concerned I grow beyond my initial worry.

Am I doing the right thing?

Maybe I should have insisted on the doctor.

Doing things at her pace is only worth it if it helps her, and I’m not a doctor. I don’t know whether her silence is a good thing or not. This is the first time in my life that I’ve cared for someone to this degree, and given the trauma she’s been through, I ache to make it right.

“Alright,” I say once I’ve helped her into some soft pajamas. “Let me get you some water. You need to stay hydrated.”

She doesn’t reply, but she does let go of my hand once I escort her into bed. Using a glass from the side table near the window, I fill it with water from the bathroom sink. As the glass fills, my phone buzzes to life with a message from Vito.

Vito: Found the other girl. Overdosed. Didn’t make it. Asshole’s in the cells.

Shit.

Marie.

I look through the door at Adelina, who sits on the bed under the covers with her hair in a towel and her arms wrapped tightly around her body.

How the fuck do I tell her about her friend?

Knowing that the other kidnapper is at the estate reignites the rampant anger in my gut, so I carry the glass through to Adelina. “Here you go, sweetheart. The doctor left some medication for you, to help you get some rest. I think that might be a good idea.”

Giving her space and privacy feels like the right next step, and I want to get my hands on that bastard down in the cellar, but as I step away from the bed, Adelina bolts out of the bed to grab my hand in both of hers.

“Wait!” she croaks, and hearing her voice makes me jump slightly after so much silence.

Concern immediately sweeps over me like a hot gust of air. “What is it? What do you need?”

“Stay with me, please,” she whimpers, looking up at me with gigantic, sad eyes. “I don’t w–want to be alone. Not in the dark. Please don’t leave me. Please.”

She blinks, and tears glimmer in her eyes once more.

There’s only one answer here, and my heart squeezes painfully in my chest.

“Of course,” I say, sliding back onto the bed and taking her in my arms when she huddles into me. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”